100 dates

On the day, I took the train to the 4th and King station, where Littlestar, who'd been in the East Bay that afternoon, picked me up. After a short side trip onto 280 (who knew that's the only place that street went?) we made our way to the area of the venue, Bimbo's 365 Club. We passed some good dining on the way, but I convinced Littlestar to park near Bimbo's so we wouldn't have to walk some very long blocks after the show finished.

The upshot? Not a lot of dining choices -- but what was there was pretty fascinating. We had chicken tikka masala and matar paneer at Kennedy's Irish Pub Curry House (yup, it's a curry house /and/ an Irish pub). Littlestar ordered a mango chutney that flashed me back to my undergrad years. Turns out this random sauce I used to buy was mango chutney. Who knew?

I think the curious decor of the curry pub was a great start for a fun and unexpectedly extended date.

We waited for a couple minutes in the "will call" line at Bimbo's, where a mime offered a trade (I declined).

Inside, Littlestar angled right for the merchandise table, picking up a Dresden Dolls shirt and book. She has a good eye -- toward the end of the show, Amanda Palmer (one of the pair that makes up the Dolls) mentioned the shirt and book as their two newest items that we should all check out.

Post-merchandise and coat check, we wandered into the main room. We had no clear idea where we wanted to go, and people were sitting at most of the tables, so we started across the floor in front of the stage. Then something started happening and we picked our spot -- where we'd spend the rest of the show -- about three people back from the stage itself.

The "something" was the opening-opening-opening act, Sxip Shirey. Sxip did an awesome solo act, featuring his voice and various curious instruments fed through a whole lot of audio distortion, ranging from an audience-participation dirge (an audience member had to try and keep a marble moving in a glass bowl -- the first guy tried hard, but just couldn't keep the marble from escaping) to a sort of blues song about New York.

Sxip then transitioned us to another first for me on a date -- nudity! The act was called "the titty cats" and featured half-naked cat girls. Not really to my taste, and oddly like going on a date to a strip club.

Following the cat girls we had Paul Nathan, also known as Unkle Paul, magician. Paul had a fun act, using two different audience members -- a fairly freaked-out girl and the very game "Eric," who even stood still when Paul was using a bullwhip to knock cards out of his mouth. Paul's act had some solid magic tricks and really entertaining commentary. We were laughing most of the time.

After Paul (and we've now been standing around for maybe an hour or so, without any complaints), Sxip came out again to do one more song that involved a flute, though not sounding much like a flute.

Then it was time for what I'd thought would be the opening act, The Red Paintings. The Red Paintings came out in full regalia to a late 70s/early 80s spacerock kind of introduction ("Pluto is the ninth planet from the sun..."). They were quite rockin', from the aggressive drummer to the hyperactive lead singer/lead guitarist. Unfortunately, I couldn't really see their violinist from where we stood (and the bass player wasn't quite as active). Along with their own painted selves, the Red Paintings stage show included several people onstage being the planets, painting the people being the planets, or painting canvases.

This was also when we learned that, fortunately, Bimbo's doesn't over-crank their speakers, such that even the thrummiest of guitar work isn't really painful and at no time can you feel your eardrums vibrating. We'd discussed this in advance and Littlestar had picked up earplugs just in case, but we ended up not needing them.

After a really energetic set by the Red Paintings (in which we learned that the little RV next to the nice, big tour bus was, indeed, theirs), there was a bit of a break while the stage was rearranged for the Dresden Dolls. Littlestar tried very hard to get a picture of a particularly cool canvas, but I don't know if she ever managed an unobstructed shot. I have one, of course -- now I just need to figure out how to get pictures off my phone.

Finally, time for the Dresden Dolls. Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione came out to massive applause -- this is when Littlestar and I noticed that the place had really, really filled up. Good thing we were in front. :) The show was amazing; both Littlestar and I were in awe of the Dolls' energy and emotion. Littlestar also thought they were both hot, and couldn't really stop talking about that afterwards. :)

They played music from both of their albums, though given that I listen to them on my computer, I have trouble saying which songs are from which album. As they played, they had an occasional stage show by the performers of Vau de Vire, a local avante-garde acrobatic/cabaret performance group. We were lucky to have gone on Thursday night, as Vau de Vire didn't appear on Friday (of course, Amanda assured the crowd that Friday's stage show would be just as cool).

As Littlestar and I discussed afterward, seeing the Dresden Dolls live really changed my perception of their music. They'd seemed a little cold and perhaps put on before, but in person, they were warm, charming, and obviously really enjoying everything they did. This was Littlestar's impression from the start, since anyone who dressed up as they did had to be in it for fun. She's more perceptive than I am.

I don't know how long the Dolls' performance lasted, but Littlestar and I were in gleeful awe the entire time.

Toward the tail end of the show, we rounded out our concert experience with a touch o' crazy. Some random girl pushed her way past people (including us). Littlestar figured she was just trying to find someone, but then she stopped right in front of us -- this surprised me, too. Rude, but fair enough. Then she started swaying, raising her arms up and calling out during quiet parts of the song she'd come up to hear, sending the slightly drunk folks to our right off into laughing fits. When the swaying turned into "backing into us" it got really annoying. I just stuck an arm out to keep her from actually walking through us. She turned to say something about this during the song, but I just pointed at the stage. After the song, she tried to pick a (verbal) fight with me, saying I'd been rude. Littlestar pointed out that crazy girl was the one who pushed past people and started acting wacky, but crazy girl tried to keep the argument with me. The mock aggressiveness died the second Littlestar grabbed crazy girl's shoulder (for the legally picky, crazy girl had already tried to manhandle me...). Probably freaked out at having her pseudo aggression called, crazy girl bugged out.

I was pleased to watch Littlestar defend her space (and, hey, me!). Good stuff.

After that little incident (my first concert crazy person!), we went back to watching the last few songs of the show. Brian and Amanda came back twice to thunderous applause, returning with Trash McSweeney, lead singer of the Red Paintings, to do a cover of "Mad World" followed by a massive, stage-filling (with the help of Vau de Vire) rendition of their song "Sing." We were right at the stage for this one, and it was great.

Afterward, we stepped out onto the street, ears a little cottony, and traded enthusiastic notes about the performance. We both have a love for a live performance that clicks, and this one certainly clicked. In fact, it clicked for about four hours -- we got out at 1am. Four hours of energy and fun with Littlestar.

We talked enthusiastically on the drive home. I was a bit incoherent the next day, but it was certainly worth it.