Brick of Self Control

I've made an effort this summer to get out and see more shows here in LA. I've been buying tickets to everything that catches my fancy since I've come back from London. Tonight was the first of the shows I bought tickets for. I first saw Green Day while they were touring for Dookie way back when I was a wee lass. That was back when I was way into my Britpop days and for me to even give a band from California a second listen they had to be as good as Green Day. Over the years I've admittedly only kept up with them through their radio singles and haven't picked up a full album since Dookie. But this is LA and KROQ plays tons of Green Day, I think they played the full American Idiot a few times when it came out. This tour they had Franz Ferdinand in tow and that set me in motion to buy a ticket for this show.

I was out all day today having another wandering adventure with some friends and was a bit tired when I set out on the Vespa down to Inglewood. Shows at the Forum start right at the time listed on the ticket, I had forgotten this fact so I missed half of the Franz set but I'm seeing them in two days so I didn't mind too much. Before Green Day came on there was someone in a pink bunny suit that came out to dance to YMCA. I was buying water and there may have been an explanation as to who this was but I missed it. After the bunny was gone the band came out through the back of the venue and walked along the anxious crowd on the floor. This interaction with the crowd would carry on throughout the show. During various parts of the show the band brought on audience members to sing, play guitar, dance along and at one point they asked for children to be 'saved' and some family handed their kids down to the stage. A boy named Andrew came up and sang "Longview" although he was kind of doing a radio edit version he knew most of the words and didn't seem scared. Near the end of the show they also pulled up a guitarist to play Jesus of Suburbia. This guy came up and was immediately running all over the stage. He knew the song really well, he could be a plant into the audience but if he wasn't he's definitely been practicing his rock star moves.

It was a good show all around, I had a great seat next to this family that had all come out to see the band. I really got a second wind of energy after the band came on and was jumping around with the rest of the crowd after just a few minutes. The band also used lots of pyro and kept running into the audience, just when you're getting too tired and think you'll have to sit down they set off some explosion and you're right back into it.

There was a lot of political talk from the stage and lots of testament to the loveliness of California and how lucky we all are to live here. I don't think either of these things will inspire the young crowd to do much but whatever when you're like 14 you don't care about that stuff. The band played for a full three hours with a full band encore and a second that was an acoustic set from Billie Joe to end the night on a mellow tone and set all of the kids off to fall asleep in the backseat on the ride home. I would recommend seeing them if you're "of the era" especially if you haven't seen them before. Be forewarned though, you may be pulled on stage and when you are you will have to stage dive to get off. You also may be subjected to some band nudity, massive mosh pits, random cover medleys and security staff that isn't doing their job because they're watching the show and singing along. I was most pleased with the inclusion of "She" in the set, which is my favorite of all their songs and with my ride home, La Brea is amazing when it is empty and the view from the crest by Stocker is unbelievably beautiful. Now I have to get to downloading to fill some gaping holes in my iTunes library, I've already started with "Last Night on Earth".

Yes I do have a passport

A Disneyland annual passport that is, well for that matter I have a regular passport as well - duh!  My Dad upgraded my free birthday Disneyland ticket to an annual passport and I hadn't had a chance to use it since that day.  Kirsty came to visit LA right around the time I was getting back from England and we had limited time to see one another.  She was staying at the park and wanted to spend her last night there in the park so off we went down the 5 to give the passport a spin.  I upgraded my passport that night to a Deluxe and have since been four times in the last month.  It's a cheap day out overall, you always know you're going to have a good time and you can always leave when you're tired because with the passport I can come back any time I want.  The first evening with Kirsty was lots of fun and we made her go on the evil swinging gondolas.  The second time was with my sister, Andy and the fabulous Maggie.  This was after the "faux" party she threw for Mary.  She thinks I'm not going to tell her when she grows up that she had a staged first birthday party two weeks after the fact, she is surely mistaken.  We went just for a few hours to get a corn dog and ride on the evil gondolas again.  Andy and my sister were terrified but Maggie was loving it, she's since been on the Matterhorn and loves that too.  That's a 3 year old set to live life on the edge.  

This last Sunday Deanna and I ventured out to the park again because it was the 40th anniversary of the Haunted Mansion and some special Shag product was being released that day.  I loved what Shag did for the 50th anniversary product and from what I saw online I knew we had to head down there that day.  Josh Agle was also signing the product so it was not only a chance to buy some limited edition items but also get to meet an artist I've admired for years now.  The line to buy product was pretty long but it was well worth the wait to mingle in with the Disney fanatics.  I've seen some of these people around the park before trading pins and at the Disney character clearance store but never had a chance to talk to them.  We met a nice woman that was there to buy a $225 pin set - yes $225 american!!!  

She left after she was able to purchase a different $175 set at the gallery in New Orleans square and she had learned that the other set was sold out already.  Next we stood next to two men that were also pin collectors but then switched their focus to the Hawaiian shirts and thermos to get signed.  I had my eye on the cookie urn and one of the lithos.  Deanna had picked out a really cool litho as well but apparently lots of other people liked that one too and it sold out before we made it into the store but she did get a very nice second choice.  Everything was beautiful, even the lunch bags!  I ended up with a third item as well - the tee which has the images of the hitchhiking ghosts and some spirits soaring on the back.  While in line to pick up the merchandise we had just paid for we met Nancy who was our favorite of all the collectors.  She had on the same pair of hideous Mickey mouse Crocs I was wearing and was absolutely devastated when we told her the company would soon be going out of business.  Nancy told us all about the other things she had bought at previous events and about how her daughter was there early to buy some of her own items.  We pointed out Shag to her when he passed through the room on the way to a quick break and we helped her climb under the rope at the other line to get our autographs.  The signing line was much shorter and we were done in a few minutes, the staff helped you unpack your items, took a photo of you then packed everything back up.  It could be that the Disney fans are far more tame then the crowds at the Megastore signings but everything was so pleasant I'm sure I'll attend the next event they have with Shag.  

We spent the rest of the day in park going on a few rides and eating some fine meals.  The day was going great, the weather was fine and we decided to go on Splash Mountain.  We had a fastpass so we avoided the hour long wait in line.  We were seated in the very front of the log and I was starting to get worried about getting absolutely soaked.  It was late in the afternoon and I wasn't worried about being cold more about being uncomfortable in wet clothes, you can get a rash!  I took the option of the very front since Deanna had a white shirt on and well no need to have a wet tee contest going on!  After the first dip I was pretty wet already and was starting to fret about how much water was going to come into the log after that giant fall.  THe ride stopped shortly after the first dip because of a "logjam" but we started up again after about a minute.  The ride continued on through the briar patch without sound then the logs stopped again.  

This  time the log did not start up again and we were told we'd be climbing out of the ride and escorted out.  It was kind of cool, we got to stand inside the ride and climb past the animatronic characters that were clacking away silently and down a flight of stairs behind the ride.  For our trouble we were given a fastpass that would let us go to the front of the line on any ride, even those without fastpass set up.  It was pretty awesome and well worth our trouble.  We spent the rest of the day in the park enjoying a few more rides before giving in to our exhaustion and headed back to the car.  I'll be off to the park again before the end of the month, I'm enjoying spending a summer in the kingdom.  Who knew inside me was a secret Disney fan, although after summer is over who knows how many times I'll head back.  Could this be just a passing fancy?  Who knows I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

So long, farewell...

I'll try to keep this pretty simple because I think you've all heard more then enough from me about the trip and probably would like some more updated posts. I know I'd like to start writing about what I'm doing now. I've been back for a month now and just now getting around to finishing this. So lets just sum up the last few days in London. I came back from a blistering hot Rome to a kind of mild London. It was grey and a bit drizzly but nothing serious. I made my way over from Gatwick to Bayswater to check into the apartment hotel I had rented out for the last bit of the trip. It was great to have a kitchen and I think I'll definitely stay there again, even with the mousetrap maze of hallways to get to the room. The next day it was Oasis! At Wembley! The stadium was recently renovated and it looks amazing although a bit of a pain in the ass to find your way around the outside of the stadium. When I bought my tickets to Oasis I opted for the VIP package because it was that or hang out in the nosebleed seats, I think if the floor option was available I would have been all over it. Being near the end of my trip and being old and very tired I was so happy I did choose to spend the extra money. The Bobby Moore room is pretty spiffy (although filled with cougars) and it has its own little dance club and DJ within the stadium. That combined with the open bar you think would lead to some fabulous dance moves but alas the floor was empty apart from a few tweens during the "cool" songs.

I watched opening sets from The Enemy and Kasabian, both were enjoyable and now I need to go download some of those Enemy tracks. The Gallaghers did not disappoint, the sound system did however - twice! The band has been plagued with sound system issues on this tour and it was worrying that they'd hissy fit out and storm off stage. I've watched a couple of Oasis UK concerts on DVD and remember Noel commenting on how the english crowds have the best singing voices, I must agree. The sound of all those voices coming together was just overwhelming. You get the same thing in the US with the crowd singing along but in LA it just seems like they're phoning it in, maybe it was all of the beer but everyone was really into it. This show did have some beer throwing incidents but nothing like Hyde Park, someone in our area threw a beer into the rows in front of us and was quickly escorted out. After the show it took a while to find Michael who was on the floor for the show and we made our way through the most crowded station ever and onto a train back to Bayswater.

The next day we went into the center of London to check out Harrods and the action on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square. This plinth has been empty and before a permanent statue is placed they're offering one hour shifts to the public to do whatever they would like. The woman that was on the plinth when we went was wearing a fairy costume and had HAPPY FRIDAY banners on the plinth. She had a bubble machine going and was tossing treats out into the crowd, no message, no charity, just wishing a happy afternoon to everyone.

After wandering around town for a bit it was back to Bayswater for a quick set of bowling and some air hockey, we did consider ice skating but that was a bit pricey and frankly looked

dangerous. I being an American was of course victorious in bowling, my air hockey skills are still a bit sub par. That afternoon I also found my dream carport - it had a vintage Mini Cooper with a scooter parked behind it! I had to take a picture of it, also took a photo of the only LXV I saw on the trip. Having only seen one LXV I've now determined I have the ultimate poser bike but I don't care I still love my scooter. The next day it was time to bid a sad farewell to London and back home to reality. No more Eastenders, no more bacon sandwiches and cheap cider! I wonder if I'll ever know who the father of Heather's baby is, I doubt Eastenders is just going to give up that fact its probably going to be a Christmas reveal - damn you BBC.