Like a Rolling Stone

Happy Thursday! So far this week has been warm and clear and quiet...lovely spring weather. I didn't sign up for three seasons of winter and one of spring. I'm disappointed in you, Ventura. :<

So last Thursday my dad and I made an epic trek across the northern LA area. We had to stop in ... some little place I don't even remember, and then on to Burbank, for his work. Then we got stuck in horrid traffic on the way to Ontario, where I was to meet an online friend in the real life.

(Sorry we were so late, again!)

Which was cute and awkward and fun. But too quickly we were off again, across the street to the Citizen's Business Bank Arena of Ontario!

It was a sorta small place, no more than twice the size of our Event Center at APU. 1.5x the size, more like. So I saw John Mellancamp (yawn) in the flesh. He kept throwing picks to the crowd, but they never made it. I wasn't too impressed with him.

And I was sooooo sleepy. I'd woken up sleepy, and then the long long car ride, and having to sit through an hour of that racket....by the time Bob came on at like 9:20, I was almost gone. I really don't have too many memories of it, because I was just concentrating on staying awake and focusing on making him out. The air was really dry and I kept having to blink (also from being tired) so it was like I couldn't see anything clearly.

It was really like trying to stay awake in class. Staying awake is the end result, but you don't get anything for your efforts.

Bob was really growly, and his band very loud. His harmonica playing was brief but to the point. He strapped on a guitar for maybe three numbers but otherwise rocked out on the keyboards. He wore a hat and concentrated on the show. I think it wore him out.

There was a guy down in front of us dancing his little Dylan heart out. He was probably high.

There were two songs I know I didn't know, and the rest it took a long time for me to figure out what they were supposed to be. Some of the longer ones (Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again, Tangled Up in Blue, Like a Rolling Stone) were parsed down to a more bite sized length. I really dug the one with the banjo, whatever that was.

So it was pretty exciting, and now I've seen one of my heroes with my very own eyes. This isn't my video, but a lot of that concert is up on Youtube. Here's Like a Rolling Stone, which was one of the last songs, I think.

On the way down, I DJ'd the radio, presetting my dad's stations to all the classic rock/oldies I could find. At least three Rolling Stones songs played. "I think I want to get into the Stones next," I remarked off hand.

I think it was because of the Dancing in the Street video? I was like, who is this Mick Jagger, really? I don't even know how it started.

The main reason last week's concert seems like forever ago (srsly, it was only seven days??) is that since then I've fallen super super hard for the Rolling Stones. I mean like, as instantaneously as for the Beatles. I'm even halfway through my Mick Jagger biography already.

It's not that I love them more than the Beatles--the age old question of who's better is just completely unfair. They're just too different to compare. But I am totally like, where were you all my life?! We've hit it off real well.

Ugh, I cleaned out some drawers today and threw out a lot of stuff, but all the stuff I have yet to organize is sitting on my bed. How will I sleep?!

Going to sign up for a guitar class being taught just up the street. It'll be on Thursdays, how cute is that? I've been strumming my new acoustic quite a bit, but I really have no idea what to do with it. So I'll go get myself taught. It'll help with song writing?

Me and Beth had a productive day recently where we each spontaneously generated a song. MDMB, we're gonna be big. Bigger than the Beatles?

Here's a crazy thought: There were no gummi bears in America until the 80s. Madness.

-Steph