Music Lessons

This month, Larkin, Finn and I (and friend John) went to TWO live concerts. First, we went to see Weird Al Yankovic, which, as it happened, was Finn's very first big live music event (other than assorted lawn-style hippie-fests).

It also happened to be Larkin's very first brush with celebrity-induced addlepation when Weird Al came right up to our row. She remains undecided as to whether he pointed to me or her as he sang the line, "You must have fallen from heaven... that would explain how you messed up your face."

I figure any event that leaves you with sore stomach muscles from laughing so much was successful.

I think we can all agree that the natural follow-up show to Weird Al is... Primus!

Finn was outraged near the end of their set: "But they haven't done 'Tommy The Cat' yet!" Unfortunately, they never did, but they DID do "Too Many Puppies" which was the one song both Finn and Larkin specifically mentioned wanting to hear at the beginning of the night.

John (who knew what was coming) made sure Larkin was looking through the binoculars when Les Claypool came onstage in his Mr. Krinkle mask:

Her response? "I'll never forget the horror." She was equally horrified to discover that the person in the seat next to us had a 10 year old at home who refused to come to the show with him.

John and I have competing theories on how Les Claypool makes those sounds come from his bass. John postulates that he's actually playing the bass like a banjo, a technique which apparently involves a great deal of plucking and slapping. That explains a lot. My theory is that if you slap an instrument around long enough, eventually you break its will and it will produce whatever sounds you demand. A deal with the devil may also be involved. I'm pretty sure that explains even more.

We also noticed the audiences for the two shows were quite different. There were only a handful of kids watching Primus, although that might be partly explained by the fact that it was a school night. The short among us were somewhat chagrined to discover that everyone stood up for the whole Primus show (understandable, though... I would have been hard pressed to sit still), while the audience mostly sat for Weird Al.