Barenaked at the Xcel

[mrissa]

timprov and I went to the Barenaked Ladies concert at the Xcel Center last night. It was touch-and-go as to whether he was going to feel up to going, but he managed, and I'm glad he did.

Here's the thing about the Ladies: they make me happy. Their set list was really weird last night -- almost all Christmas songs and stuff from before I graduated college -- but it was fine, because they had their usual stage presence and camaraderie and jokes about random things like enzymatic processes. It just warms my heart to have those five smartass geekboys up on stage having people throw underwear and monkeys at them. It makes me warm and fuzzy. It's the world behaving sensibly for once. I was a little disconcerted that Kevin (pianist, accordion-player, all-around useful musician-guy) had chosen facial hair and clothing such that he looked like the Communist character from "Enigma," but, y'know, I liked "Enigma," too; I can see why the tribute.

For some reason or another, they did not play "Be My Yoko Ono" last night.

Comments

[kythiaranos.livejournal.com]

The BNL cds we have are some of my favorite driving-around-town tunes. Somehow, it's hard to feel sorry for my chauffeur self when I'm singing "One Week" at the top of my lungs with the twins singing back-up. :-)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

The car commercial with that song in it is brilliant. Except that I have no idea which car it was for and probably wouldn't buy it because of that anyway. But other than that total failure of marketing, brilliant.

[poeticalpanther.livejournal.com]

Trivia time: I actually went to the same elementary school as the Ladies: Churchill Heights Public School, although I'm about five years older, so they'd have been irritating kindergarteners when I was in Grade 5 (I also skipped a grade), so I didn't really know them, but I was there.

And, y'know, they weren't all that famous then.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Really there should be a service pointing out the future famous people in any given crowd. It would be awfully convenient.

[poeticalpanther.livejournal.com]

Yes. They could have little collars that projected a running holographic version of the things they'll be famous for later. Much more convenient.

Hm. We're having a national election. I wonder if I could get this on the platform for some party?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

You can get anything on the platform for some party.

[poeticalpanther.livejournal.com]

Indeed. I thought I'd just send a letter to these guys (http://www.marijuanaparty.com/), and tell them they PROMISED me they'd put it on the platform, and it's not my fault they spaced it.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Heh. That's fabulous.

[kchew.livejournal.com]

They may not have played "Be My Yoko Ono" last night because it was the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's death (December 8).

A guess only.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know.

[(Anonymous)]

I would have forgotten, but I heard about it on the radio.

I remember the day it happened, and still feel bewildered and shocked that something like that would happen.

[kchew.livejournal.com]

gah. thought i was logged in. sorry for the anonymity.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

No problem. Anyway, I remember some other things from that Christmas, but not John Lennon's death. Within my memory, John Lennon has always been dead.

[retrobabble.livejournal.com]

*cough* And another reason why I like you - you like BNL. *g*

Not that I like them or anything. *waves their demo cassette with the daisy on the front at you* (Thing would probably be worth a fortune, if I hadn't worn it out. *g*)

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Good thing I missed that concert; I would not have enjoyed a concert of Christmas music.

B

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I don't know you well enough to know whether the opening all-Hanukkah-song band would have entertained and amused or annoyed. But it was billed as a "Barenaked for the Holidays" tour, so T. and I at least felt we knew what we were in for.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

"I don't know you well enough to know whether the opening all-Hanukkah-song band would have entertained and amused or annoyed."

Depends. They are four Jew-boys from Toronto, so it kind of makes sense.

B

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yah, there was even an old song in Ladino. They clearly not only knew the stuff from living it (the song about grandma's kugel being way better than mom's) but also from doing substantial research.

I also love BNL's Hanukkah song specifically even though I have no religious or cultural reasons to want a Hanukkah song categorically.

[dreadmouse.livejournal.com]

I, too, am the proud owner of their daisy-laden demo cassette. See, there are real advantages to living in Canada.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Hey, I keep telling Canadians to annex us.

[callunav.livejournal.com]

This is making me regret that I've never heard "Be My Yoko Ono."

It just reminds me irresistably of a song I quite liked even when it was quite mystifying to me because I'd never heard of the BNL song: Dar Williams's "I Won't Be Your Yoko Ono."

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I really do like "Be My Yoko Ono." I like Dar Williams, too, but her silliness is generally of a different flavor.

[ckd]

Another song response is Suzanne Vega's "I'll Never Be Your Maggie May".