Henry Rollins understands me.

I've decided to re-read Henry Rollins' "Smile, You're Traveling." Since I originally read it in 2003, I've started traveling on my own on a regular basis and felt I could relate to it even more now than the first time I read it. In fact sometimes I think that it really might have been this book that inspired me to fly around the country at a moment's notice by myself, solely for the purpose of seeking out fun times and good memories.

The only reason I bought this book 4 years ago was actually to keep me occupied while waiting in long general admission lines at shows. It was around then that I started to go to shows on my own. I was tired of dealing with my concert buddy at the time. I felt like they only paid me back for concert tickets after I chased the hell out of them. Besides that, their constant sourpuss kept me on edge all night, worrying whether they were having fun or not. In other words, they were a drag, and I found out that I had more fun on my own than when they were there.

When I read his book, I walked away having a whole new appreciation for this man. I always liked listening to his interviews on Stern and thought his spoken word show was entertaining. Reading it again, I am already right back on the level with him where I left off after finishing a few years ago.

"Sharon (Osbourne) told me that the original line up of Black Sabbath were reuniting for two shows in their home town of Birmingham, England on December 4th and 5th. I told her that I would be there without fail. There was no way I was going to miss that."

Henry doesn't detail his emotions about why he's intent on being there. And you know what? He certainly doesn't have to, especially not to me. I get it. I SO get it. I get it so much that, to give you an example, I flew to the Middle-Of-Nowhere, USA just to see my two favorite bands play a one-off together. It ended up being one of my favorite days ever. Although I felt sort of weird about going at first, I am glad I got over it and made my way to that show.

For me, flying out somewhere just for a show that lasts a couple of hours is really not that big of a deal. In my mind, it's like going to any other show, it just takes longer to get there and will obviously cost me a couple bucks more than if I stayed local.

The positives outweigh the negatives of dealing with airport hassles and cheap hotels: I get to see a part of the world I would never go to otherwise, I meet cool people from all over the country, and I have great stories to tell my friends when I get back. I have experiences that I never would have had if I decided to give into my insecurities about looking weird and stayed here and did the same ol' same ol' instead. So yes, I smile when I'm traveling.




OK seriously I need to work on how to wrap up blog endings better.

KanYAYYYY!!!

When I saw last Thursday that Kanye West was playing Mohegan Sun Casino with Lupe Fiasco and Common in less than a week, I blindly bought a ticket. I did not care that I would have to sit in rush hour traffic and make a 2 hr drive back home on a work night. I mean what else would I be doing instead? Sitting on my computer or watching TV? No thanks. I needed to go to this. Badly.

I unfortunately arrived too late to catch Lupe's set. But luckily I sat down in my seat two seconds before Common hit the stage. I'm about to annoy some of you because I don't know a lick of his music with the exception of "Go" and his joyous Peace, Love and Gap ad that I looked forward to almost every TV commercial break during the Christmas season. But after his set, I've been inspired to check out his music.

Common's energy is contagious. It's impossible not to bob your head along as he bounces and bounds across the stage. Even though I don't know the music, his set was fun and kept my attention. And I think I really need to look up some of his lyrics, because apparently he can get kinda hot with them. "Freaky like the daughter of a pastor, said I was bait for her to master"? Hello.

During one song, he brought up a girl from the audience and serenaded her. She was obviously a total fangirl, saying all the words along with him, so that was kinda sweet. I don't know the song, but I know I wished I was her for the moment he ran his hand up her thigh. Damn Common.

What really brought the house down was his freestyle about Connecticut. You'd think it'd be hard to rhyme my home state's name with anything, but not for Common. "Predicate." Why didn't I ever think of that? Probably because I haven't tried to rap lately. Or ever. But I digress.

Because the sound wasn't so great, it really frustrated me that I couldn't make out with him- I MEAN- make out what he was saying. Like I said, I'll have to check out some of his songs later.

Next up was Kanye. The lights went down and as the Daft Punk sample began blasting out of the speakers, the girl in front of me leaned over to her friend and said "Oh it's TIME to stand up NOW." And so we did.

Kanye came running out in a wildly-colored jacket wearing his shades announcing "That that don't kill me can only make me stronger" as we all waved our hands like we just didn't care. I was so psyched for this song. I can't get it out of my head, nor do I want to. When the beat kicks in, it makes me want to bust out dance moves that would rival those of one of the greatest movie scenes in history: The House Party Dance Off. But because the people around me seemed to be a little more subdued and not likely to gather around me in a circle while I battled the older couple next to me, I kept to my low-key stationary bounce.

Kanye had a string section behind him made up of young women in long silver lame gowns, who wore Zorro-style masks. OK. He also had two backup singers (a guy and a girl) who were dancing and singing like they were having their own party in the back.

I came to two realizations at this show. First, that the jeans I was wearing were way too baggy, even by Fred Durst wannabe standards. Second, hip hop shows don't always play well in arenas. It's hard to get the same kind of vibe going that you would in a club. I wanted the whole place to erupt into a dance frenzy when Kanye came out, but they didn't. I don't know what it is that gets lost in the translation. All I know is, that I've thought the same thing at every hip hop show I've been to.

As I don't actually have any Kanye CDs, I was glad I knew the majority of the songs, not knowing maybe 3 songs. From what I remember the setlist was as follows:
-Stronger
-Diamonds of Sierra Leone
-Heard 'Em Say
-Through the Wire
-Can't Tell Me Nothing
-Workout Plan
-Jesus Walks
-Slow Jamz
-Gold Digger
-Touch The Sky
-Get 'Em High

The highlights for me were pretty much everything. Common came out for Get 'Em High which rocked the house. And like he was shot out of a cannon, Lupe came out for his part of Touch the Sky. When I saw how nuts he went on his verse alone, I was immediately sorry I didn't leave work early to see his set. I wish I could have seen him do "Daydreamin'" too. Oh well :(

Here are some super crappy shots from my new cell phone camera. I should have tried to bring my regular camera because security was very loose at this show. (Try to) enjoy:


Kanye on the Jumbotron.


My awesome view (6th row on the side).


Common on the Jumbotron.


Kanye and Common.