Pete Yorn

Last night, I went with my dear friend Misha to hear Pete Yorn at a local dive. It was incredible! If you don't know Pete Yorn's music, you should definitely check it out. My favorite of his CDs is musicforthemorningafter. I was pleasantly surprised that he played tons of songs off that album, as it was his first album and he's now on #5 I believe.

Music is soothing for the soul...I had an absolutely fantastic night.

And so, I got to thinking about all my favorite concerts. And I love lists, so I decide to make one right here. Here are my favorite concerts in rank order:

1. Guster at the Georgia Theatre (Hello, I met the lead singer of one of a band that I adore that night. It was amazing!)
2. Coldplay: X&Y Tour at Philips Arena
3. Rolling Stones at the Georgia Dome ('97 or '98...somewhere in there. My parents checked me and my sister out of school. Awesome.)
4. Ben Folds at the Tabernacle
5. Guster at Chastain Park
6. Better than Ezra at Rick's Cafe (This was many, many moons ago...got to meet them too! They do a great live show.)
7. Pete Yorn at the 40 Watt
8. Charlie Mars at Rick's Cafe (Fun college memory)
9. Page & Plant (Can't remember exactly where...some place in Tupelo, MS...another excursion with the parents)
10. Better than Ezra at the Mississippi State Amphitheatre ('97 or '98 - such a fun night with my high school girlfriends)

And there you have it. What's your favorite act to see live?

Labels: friends, music

I Heart Guster

Tuesday night, Bert and I went to a little hole-in-the wall music venue here. I guess the place holds about 500 people and it was jam-packed for one of our absolute favorite bands, GUSTER! If you are not familiar with this band, I highly encourage you to purchase the CD "Keep It Together." It is AMAZING. From there, you will be hooked.

Anyway, the night started out about 8:30pm when we got downtown. I was running late because I had spent two hours after work trying to find the perfect top to wear. You can't see it, but it has cats, mushrooms and a backwards clock. Perfection. Well, we got there and decided to walk upstairs where there was seating. We were in the front row up there. So great.

The first band played...Brett Dannen. I swear the lead singer looked like the guy from The Mask (not with Jim Carrey; with Cher) and the lead guitarist looked like Todd from "Wedding Crashers." Freaky stuff. "The painting was a gift, Todd!" I had to yell.

They were actually pretty good.

Finally at 9:00pm, Guster took the stage. I was beyond excited. The concert was great, I danced my butt off and I knew almost all the words. And those that I didn't know, I made up.

The concert was over after two amazing encores around 11:30pm. But I was not ready for it to be over.

Guster has a reputation of coming out after shows and mingling with the crowd. And I decided that I needed to take a chance of meeting them. After all, I had heard they were super nice, so I wasn't scared they were going to be jerks and ruin their music for me.

So, we went to the car, I grabbed a CD and a hot pink Sharpie and headed inside. As I walked toward the stage, Bert asked me what in the world I was doing.

"It's fine; they will let me meet Guster. I convinced Hector to let me meet Dennis Quaid, so I know I can do this," I said in all seriousness.

Long story, folks. Long story.

Anyway, at that moment, the lead singer Ryan Miller came out. I walked right up to him and asked him to sign my CD. Then, I asked if we could take a picture.

"I promise it's in my purse," I said as I dug through mounds of nonsense in my bronze bag.

"Hey, it's down there in that deep abyss and all we've got is time," he said.

So cool.

At that moment, Bert walked up with his ticket stub for Ryan to sign.

"This is my husband, Bert, and I am Anisa," I said.

He then gave Bert a giant hug and me a high five. I am thinking he was so happy that someone actually just loves their music and wasn't hitting on him. I mean, giant hug for Bert.

Anyway...

Ryan said, "Family photo!!" and then took our picture (above).

It was so.much.fun. What a fantastic night...


Update: Dennis Quaid story is linked here. Enjoy!

Labels: celebs, music