I'm Climbing Up Those Walls Again

Wow

Well, I have finally seen Coheed and Cambria live, and it was quite the awesome show.

I arrived 30 minutes before the show started, only to see a long long line in front of the Manchester Academy. Once everyone got in, there was confusion, because there were two different shows in that building. Luckily I managed to find the door that was going to be opened for C&C, and got near the front of the line, so I got a place right up front-left! Booya! It was a small venue, which was nice, but it filled up a lot by the end.

First band Beyond All Reason was actually pretty good. The second band, who's name I have forgotten, sucked. The lead singer wanted to look just like Matt Skiba.

Finally, Coheed and Cambria came on to the music of The Ring in Return and blasted us all to hell with In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3

Here is there setlist as I remember it:

The Ring In Return
In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
Three Evils (Embodied In Love and Shadow)
Devil In Jersey City
Delirium Trigger
A Favor House Atlantic
The Velourium Camper III: Al The Killer
The Velourium Camper I: Faint of Hearts
The Crowing
Blood Red Summer
Time Consumer

Encore: Everything Evil (with a 10 minute jam stuck right in the middle!)

The sound of the show was great, these guys really know how to give a good performance. Claudio, the lead singer, was upbeat the whole time, smiling and laughing (perhaps laughing a bit too much, several times in several songs he lost his place in the lyrics because he was laughing too hard, one time the band had to stop because they and the audience were laughing so hard).

The crowd was great, Claudio's vocals are sometimes really hard to pull off, but often he'd hold off singing a lyric because the audience was right there with him. The "whoah-ohhhh whoaah ohhhooiiiohh" in the middle of Blood Red Summer was sung completely by the audience; it was beautiful.

The girls were realling coming onto Claudio. Some girl near the front threw her bra on stage, and he attatched it to the end of his guitar for a couple of songs before returning it. At one point someone yelled:

"Show us your balls!"
Claudio: "But why? The scrotum is not attractive in any way.... but the penis!"

There was a big fat guy with a "Weerd Science" t-shirt that was helping them out on stage, and Claudio made him play the cow-bell on Faint of Hearts, introducing him as the 5th member of the band. In the middle of the jam they played in the middle of Everything Evil, the fat guy went up to the microphone and started singing some silly lyrics, and Claudio stuck the end of his guitar up between the guys legs from behind, which was pretty funny.

These guys know just how epic their rock is. The finish was perfect, and they thanked us and walked off stage. Someone threw a broken drum stick, and I caught it!!

So most of the people left, except for a few hanging out in the building and the Academy's bar which was downstairs where they were selling merch. I was buying Beyond All Reason's cd, getting a C&C shirt, and listening to someone explain that C&C didn't come out after shows because the got swamped, when I saw Claudio come out and start talking to some people.

Not only did Claudio come out, but he wasn't swamped, the whole time he was there he never had more than 5 or so people around him.

Luckily I had brought the cover to The Second Stage Turbing Blade. I walked over, thanked him for an amazing concert, and had him sign it. Sadly, I couldn't think of a question about the story to ask him at that moment, so I just said, "Uh... do you have any hints you want to tell me about the story?!?!" to which he replied: "The whole story will be out soon, right before the Warped tour!"

I felt like asking him more, but he looked really tired, and had some other stuff to sign. I noticed that as people thanked him and such, he looked pretty humble, and eventually he walked off and had a drink to the bar. Despite having a video on MTV, Claudio has not let fame and the waiting beds of a few hundred Manchester girls go to his head.

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

---- W.B. Yeats.

"Hah! Reading Yeats on Torcello!"

In my last post, I put forth the notion that English women, while not necessarily being more beautiful than American women, are actually sexier in general than American women. I threw this idea to my father, who suggested that English women were better endowed. I guess I can't really tell. Could this really be the case? I wonder if anyone has done a study on it. I guess I could do it myself, for some real hands-on experience(short drum roll)

Anyway, speaking of the mammary, I might as well talk about the dance I saw Wednesday night. Dad and I went to it on a whim, and despite being surrounded by 14 year old English school girl class, we managed to have a great night.

The group was based in Holland, and the initial performance was danced to very minimalist music. The very first piece involved someone talking in French, and then the same line in reverse, at which point the dancers would dance part of the same piece in reverse. The music was very industrial sometimes, and quite haunting, and the dancing was damn good (spot on).

In the second half of the first piece, two bare-chested men jumped onto the stage, and once of them landed on his back, while the other danced over him. Upon closer observation (dim light) everyone suddenly realized at the same time that the second man was in fact a beautiful woman, topless. This took quite a bit of courage, for she performed the entire piece without a top on. It was actually quite beautiful, and devoid of any sort of sexual snickering or giggling. It feels nice to see the human body treated with respect for a change, rather than with fear. If this production had gone on in the US, there would be signs up everywhere warning the audience that someone was going to take their top off.

Afterwards there was a hilarious piece where, in the music, awoman was talking, often repeating past phrases, and two dancers had a set move for every word she spoke. She was saying pretty silly things, and the dancers were dancing in a very silly way, so it got a lot of laughs out of the audience.

Next there was a dance that was to some very simple classical music, but the actual dancing was beautiful. I'm sorry, I'm horrible at describing dance. It's strange, but I've always loved live modern dance. The weirder it gets, the better.

I've found a link for the company, along with some videos of their recent performances. Check out the first two 27'52 and Subject to change.

I'm off to see Coheed and Cambria tonight, I'll let you know how it goes before I head off to Beverley tommorow.

Someone once asked me if there was a lot of farming in the UK. As I stared out of the airplane window at the patchwork of fields, all different colours, I smiled at the obvious.

As I was taking the train from Manchester airport later today, I gazed out at the pure green landscape I fall in love with every time I come here. Even when I pass some of the poorer suburbs, I realize that England has this ancient beauty that you can't find anywhere else. I can't decide which is the case: America could be my spouse. Something I love and spend most of my time with and occasionally sneak away from to have a love affair with England once a year. Or England could be the spouse I abandoned for America, and every now and then I feel drawn back to the roots of my relationship.

One of Isaac Asimov's characters once claimed that every planet has a different smell. I believe that this is also true for countries. You can stare out a window and look here and there and note that you probably aren't in the US, but once you get a whiff of that brisk Manchester air, you know where you are.

What saddens me the most is that I can't share this with anyone. I want to drag someone along, make them see the sights. Make them smell the smells and taste the food. I want the show them the house that is now in my name, 62 Minster Moorgate, in Beverley. I want to point out that we live across the street from a funeral parlour, and that you can see the sign for 'St. Matthew's Court,' and can also see the towering Minster just down the street.

I can't have this to myself anymore. I've seen it all. I love it, but I always feel this urge to return to the US. I know that someday I'll live here. I don't know for how long, but I'd like it to be with someone who would be seeing this as a new experience.


Other notes:

I think commercialization was only truly successful in the US. When something new comes along, we build an ugly building and put a sign on it, and it stays there. In the UK, and much of Europe, they've tried to make do with the buildings they had, so you see these brilliant looking buildings with all sorts of crappy advertisements (note that Starbucks has invaded Manchester).

The women in England are no more beautiful than they are in America, but I think they certainly are sexier. I really hate the typical Clemson style, especially the way the girls dress and act now a days, so it is refreshing to see so many un-tanned women, walking around being generally sexy. It's hard to explain, it's just the way they act (it's probably maturity, 16 is the age of consent in England, as well as the time you choose either to enter real life or go on a college or technical track).

I'll post again tomorrow, to tell you about the wonderful modern-minimilist dance production Dad and I saw tonight, which involved everything from dancing on chairs to partial nudity!

Cheers everyone.

I guess there isn't much to say. Tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon, I'll get on a plane to Atlanta. At 8 pm, I'll fly out to Manchester. I'll be in England for about 1 1/2 months. My mission is to look at grad school options (more importantly to get my face known in some departments). I'll be going to Oxford, London School of Economics, Cambridge and Manchester.

Also on Friday I'll be seeing Coheed and Cambria perform live in Manchester.

I can't say that I'll be able to update that much. When I'm at our home in Beverley (which will be about half the time) I'll have access to the public library some of the days, so I'll try and post a bit then, but don't expect too much from my end.

I'll be back July 18th (or close to it), so I can start working on my honors thesis topic. I hope everyone has a great month and a half. I'll see you on the other side.

Take care, and be happy.