we think our camera was stolen. i miss it. i don’t like posting without photographs. i’ll borrow one for now and stop my whining. and i feel like i earned this photo borrow, since the photographer kept bothering me while i was trying to fix dinner with the rest of the crew…”uh, excuse me miss…could you…uh…move?”
THE FEIST CONCERT AT MEMORIAL PARK, OMAHA
We walked up to the park as opening act, The Good Life, was finishing up their set. In between songs, they decided to use the stage as a platform for politicizing, turning a free family event into a 3 minute rant on the changing tide of left-vs.-right politics in Omaha. The ridiculous part was that the Feist show had been sponsored by the Mayor’s office (republican). Of course there are all sorts of alleged scandals that the Mayor has been involved with, but it was definitely the wrong place and the wrong time for rallying the troops.
Juana Molina’s following set was beautiful. I didn’t pay much attention to her performance because the WhoCares girls had packed an extraordinary picnic dinner for us to enjoy (Julie’s chicken salad! Cheryl’s hummus! Lindsay’s brownies! Darby’s fruit skewers!), but it was lovely and perfect for a big group gathering with great friends and their husbands.
Leslie Feist is one of my favorite musicians because her vocal performance is so consistently good, she’s light-hearted on stage, confident, fun, jovial, not too full of herself, and rocks out when appropriate. I saw Sufjan Stevens perform in 2005 on the Illinoise! tour and I felt the same way after I left his show–quietly content with the blessings i have in my life and that the life i live is one to be enjoyed. I love it when performers put a lot on the line (ie: sufjan in the IU costumes; feist telling everyone to howl at the moon or assigning vocal parts to a large crowd; alicia doing the napolean dynamite dance for our talent show) and you can tell they’re really enjoying themselves at the same time. It’s a treat to see other people do what they love to do. The overhead projector art was really interesting to watch.
My favorites that night: “Past in Present”, “Mushaboom” (to which someone turned and said, “Isn’t it great to have someone fantasizing about your real life?”), “Let it Die” (which was prefaced by “if you feel like slow dancing, now’s the time”…ha! to “let it die”?!), & “When I Was A Young Girl”.
What a weekend. The seven-turned-ten hours on the train was a dream–reading, writing, watching flooded Iowa out the window [sad], sudoku, orange juice & doritos, more reading, staring out the window!! And then being with friends. It’s hard to go about daily life when you feel mostly like a fish-out-of-water, and waiting for that to change is maddening…but little reminders that you’re still alive & kicking…that you do still have a sense of humor that other people get…and that there are loved ones nearby that know how you tick and they tick the same way. The rich conversation and connection and laughter were medicinal.
Thanks again for the train ticket, girls.
