Da Pixies, etc!

Hey folks! I got back from Boston last night around 12:30 A.M. and Boston was great. I checked out the Boston commons and several old cemeteries. There were tons of chubby squirrels in Boston Commons that were used to being fed by people, I think. I saw one and approached it with intentions of taking a picture, and the little creature came right up to me and swiped around like he was waiting for me to drop whatever precious morsel I had. I didn't have anything to feed it, but man was it cute. I ate a bison burger which actually really upset my stomach. It was from a fast food health food joint, which sounds like a bad idea anyway, but in practice it's even worse than one might believe. Their menu had things like "unfries" and hamburger wraps. Hyper processed health food isn't any healthier than hyper processed versions of anything else. Either way around, I enjoyed the buzz of the city quite a bit. I went into a Macy's to piss on the corporate machine (a.k.a. use their facilities) and was met with crowds of screaming girls. Low and behold, the musician AHMID was there and signing autographs. He was signing photos, shirts, and people's faces. Some girls were standing outside and having pictures of their faces taken, with signatures on them. Last night was also the opening night of the Nutcracker at the Boston Opera House, so the whole block was decked out. Macy's (I guess??) had conducted some christmas event that was fun to encounter. A crowd of people had gathered to eat popcorn and sausage and watch the stage. People were singing and their was a countdown of sorts to the blowing up of a Christmas cannon, which shot red and gold glitter all over the streets. Of course, I walked up two seconds too late to be a part of the crowd, but I was on the outskirts. Perhaps an outsider might have mistaken me for a crowd member that had decided to turn around before the crowd parted and created sidewalk traffic. Anyway, the theater was cool and the crowd was great. There was a definite Jay Reatard and a definite Pixies crowd; there were cute punkers, working stiffs, and students of all shapes, sizes, types, and genders. My favorite audience member was this adorable Asian lady in her early to mid fifties. She was thin, tiny waisted, and about 5'2 tops. She had a bold haircut cut right at her chin, and her hair was still dark rich black. She was wearing a tight black dress that buttoned down and big jewelry. AND she was totally rocking out the whole time! Adorable! There wasn't too much dancing from the audience at first, but by the end of the show it didn't matter. Jay Reatard played a mixture of his old singles and things I had never heard that sounded like his old singles. It was extremely fun to see, and I was so happy that I actually cried during the first few songs. I had forgotten how emotional it is to see live versions of things that one has immersed oneself in during times of emotional fragility. The Pixies played the entire Doolittle album plus random B-sides and a few smash hits. The guy sitting next to me tried to start a conversation about Fight Club, and how awesome Fight Club is, and how he hopes that they play that song from Fight Club. He was a bit stiff, but fun to talk to. He complained about having to pay $39.00 a month for his health insurance.

The Pixies had their stage set up with four glowing orbs that changed colors to match the video they were playing in the background. They had goofy/artistic/interesting videos to match all of their songs except for the encores (there were two!). My favorites were for Crackity Jones, Into the White (ok, technically part of the encore), and Bleed. Crackity Jones, if I remember correctly, featured Hispanic looking clay puppets that danced along to the music. Into the White actually didn't feature a video but was instead an eerie combination of smoke machines and bright white lights. Bleed was incredibly simple; the video was cartoon blood dripping down in beat with the music, and the four glowing orbs were red and moved up in down in sync with the bloody cartoon. It was so simple but perfect. Silver featured a black and white view of the desert (or I suppose a silver view of the desert), Tame featured a bunch of legs, La La Love You featured cartoon hearts running around chasing each other, than catching on fire. Some of the songs just featured long mugshots of the Pixies looking at the camera laughing, smiling, and nodding their head to the music. Kim Deal was the only person that spoke the entire time, but she was witty and silly. The Pixies had all gained some weight and were a bit round. There was this funny guy behind me that kept yelling things like "KIM DEAL IS MY SUGAR MOMMY! I LOVE YOU KIM DEAL!!! PIX-YIES!" He also yelled, not sung, but yelled most of the song lyrics.

But yeah. It was a lot of fun. Thanks, Nic, for the awesome Christmas present, and thanks, Ashley, for letting me borrow your car to get there. But did I mention that I got ripped off on parking? I got to Boston early in the day and ended up having to pay 28 bucks for parking. Oi vey! Next time, it's the train for me.