looks like Elvis / bad dress / good boots / put pressure *here* / shuffle play as metaphor

[oiran]

'In a certain light, he looked like Elvis' Elvis Costello was great, of course. He always is, even when he's sick (as he was this time).

I came (very late, I might add) to a realization as we sat crammed in our "pew" amongst uniformly large-assed people: the reason I dread concerts and almost always want to leave as soon as I arrive is that I can't stand the fidgeting and talking and overall stupid distraction of other people innocently going about their business. I am an ADD-having control freak, so this makes perfect sense, and I'm surprised it took me this long to figure it out. Despite the wonderful acoustics, the Ryman's seating arrangements leave much to be desired - long wooden benches so close together that my legs won't fit unless I sit sidesaddle even under the roomiest of conditions. Instead of forcing myself to stay in my seat, I stood up behind the back row (only a couple rows back from our seats anyway) and Mr. G stood with me because he loves me :) Despite the eventual back pain, I do think standing made the experience much more enjoyable. God, I'm so fussy!

Mr. Costello was wearing shoes that appeared to be made of dragon scales of an extraordinarily magical nature. Either that, or silver metal sequins. Very nice, and pointy, too. He also had at least ten guitars with him, changing back and forth between almost every song. He played all (I think) of the songs from his new album with some help from Emmylou Harris, and also played the songs that every one knows. We were, for a nice change, not even close to being the oldest old people in the audience. The spastic flailings and random air-punching exuberance of our chronological peers was both embarrassing and endearing.

Tift Merritt: Local performer who opened for Mr. Costello (she's also his labelmate). A poor sound mix at the beginning thankfully improved over the duration of her performance. Great voice, great songs, terrible dress. She's a pretty, pale-skinned girl with streaky blonde hair whose peach-colored, sleeveless minidress turned a nearly nude shade under the lights. This dress, unfortunately, had red or rust-colored designs over the boobs, ass and stomach and these markings, combined with the gathers under the bust, made her breasts appear to be bare, wizened and deformed. She was also bare-legged above really dark-brown boots. The overall impression was of lots of extra skin hanging in swags above feet that were underlined three times and circled with red pen. The boots were nice, though. The dress in a different color I could have liked. The girl was pretty. The combination was really unfortunate. So powerful was my reaction to this costume that mentally dressing and redressing her took precedence over enjoyment of the songs. She apparently cancelled a headlining performance locally so that she can tour with Elvis Costello for ~3 weeks. When that performance is rescheduled, I think we'll probably go see her.

I do hope she won't wear the dress again.

Emmylou's boots: Cowgirly boots with a narrow shaft and extra-pointy toe with some sort of...thing at the ankle. Like those fringed flaps on a pair of golf cleats or old saddle shoes, but incredibly cool. She appears to have big feet, which I always approve of (*imagines self borrowing Emmylou's shoes*). I ended up staying up very, very late trying to locate similar footwear online, falling in love with many pairs of cowgirl boots in the process but not finding those exact ones. Also, she's just gorgeous, what with the hair and the lovely face and the sweet, sad voice. I realized that one of the good things about living here is the fact that so many musicians like it here, and like playing here, and you almost always get "special guests" at shows. She is on a lot of Elvis Costello's most recent recording, but I'm sure she isn't touring with him and dueting on half the performance. That was just for us, as a reward for living here :)

this is my sternum: And since I'm talking about what everyone on stage was wearing, I will describe my own outfit. Black pants hastily taken in (but not taken in enough) an hour prior, extra-nice black blazer which is the only tailored piece that survives from the chain-smoking era and, amazingly, fits again (which does make me wish I had back all the nice suits and jackets that I gave away in weight-driven despair), and a black silk chiffon top that is so low-cut I can't wear a bra with it. It's one of those things that seems sexy but perfectly fine at home, but perhaps a little too risque out in public. Having no Jane Austen-y fichu tucked in my bag, I simply brazened it out, telling myself I was selflessly serving as a PSA for correct CPR technique.

Wandered away in the middle of writing this post to walk the dog. Started out sunny, ended up dark, windy and freezing cold. It was cold enough that I called Mr. Glove and hinted that he should leave work and come take us home. Thankfully, he was more than happy to comply. Discovered over the course of the walk that I love, love, love my mp3 player, and I love shuffle play. The idea never appealed to me because it seemed too much like radio, but since I like all the songs that I've loaded up, there's no downside to the shuffle after all. Walked along to a soundtrack of primarily Shiina Ringo, Johnny Cash, Radiohead, Boards of Canada, David Sylvian, TV On The Radio, and Tori Amos. They do indeed all go together, but I certainly never would have chosen the tracks or even all the artists that the player picked for me. I'm looking at this as a way of repositioning my perspective, which probably indicates I'm waaaay overthinking it.

I'm feeling awfully talkative today.

Comments

[stone-princess.livejournal.com]

I wore a very low cut black chiffon blouse the Steve Earle show. And it too seemed fine at home and very exposing once at the concert. Although I'm fairly sure the guitarist spent half the show staring at my breasts, which gave me almost enough amusment to have made it worth wearing..

[ilexa.livejournal.com]

Note to self: buy low-cut chiffon blouse.

[stone-princess.livejournal.com]

Mine is similar to this but in solid black and without the satin inset at the top and mine has gathers on the shoulders. It doesn't look like they have it anymore, which isn't surprising, since finding such a thing at Old Navy was surprising.

[oiran.livejournal.com]

I think we have the same one! Does yours have a long, fluttery tie under the boobs? It came in a really bright, 1950s-ish red, too, and I wish I'd gotten that, as well.

[stone-princess.livejournal.com]

Yes! And I wish I'd gotten the red too! It's a great blouse!!! We are sympatico!

[pun.livejournal.com]

That sounds cute. Would it look good on me? I have a friend who throws a fit if I ever go bra-less.

[rhiannonhero.livejournal.com]

Why? You have great boobs. *scratches head* Your friend is weird. Go braless! Let your awesome boobs be free!

[pun.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Rhi! She's really uptight about it and tells me it doesn't look good. I guess her premise is that my boobs are too big and saggy to be let loose in public. But then, she mainly only ever has negative things to say about me and my appearence, so I guess I shouldn't take her seriously.

[oiran.livejournal.com]

Some "friend."

I know your boobs are bigger than mine, but that doesn't make them BIG - at least so far as I recall. Maybe you've had them tied down and under strict control when I've seen you, but I rather doubt it.

I can't help thinking of Seinfeld and Elaine's "braless friend" bouncing blithely down the sidewalks of NYC...

I seem to be back to my old, familiar (and preferred) small B/A cup size, so the no-bra thing is not particularly noticeable in my case - unless I am wearing a shirt cut down past my sternum.

[stone-princess.livejournal.com]

It would look great on you! It's sleeveless, so you'd get to show off your hot arms too!!

[ilexa.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I like that. I got something similar at Target, but solid aqua blue. I think I may need to get a black one, too.

[oiran.livejournal.com]

Note to self: buy low-cut chiffon blouse.

You forgot - Note to self, part B: take phonecam picture of bodacious rack in chiffon blouse and make icon :)

[ilexa.livejournal.com]

Well, naturally.

[oiran.livejournal.com]

I should wear my blouse to the Steve Earle show here, and when I catch the guitar player gawking, I will mention that my breasts are friends with the breasts he ogled in Seattle. At which point, Mr. Glove will tell me that I can't have any more to drink.

[stone-princess.livejournal.com]

Hehehehe! But it make us somehow more connected if you did!

[vylit.livejournal.com]

I have a mix of Johnny Cash, Radiohead, Leonard Cohen, and Portishead that I play a lot while writing, and I find that they go together beautifully.

While I'm a big fan of rock music, I rarely go to concerts anymore because I always seem to get stuck by fifteen year old girls who are shrieking (and not the words to the songs, either), and waving their arms, and driving me absolutely batty.

Also, as a side note, do you have a favorite YnM fic writer? I'm looking for fic, but there is so little.

[oiran.livejournal.com]

Actually, that sounds like a lovely mix. I'll have to try that combination myself. I just recently acquired files of Beth Gibbons' solo record and it's so not-Portishead that I was a little disappointed. However, it probably deserves another listen or two so that I can judge it on its own merits.

I definitely like small shows more than large ones, though I am kind of kicking myself for not going to see Radiohead play at a giant amphitheatre in Atlanta a couple years ago. I do really want to see them live, and it's not like they're going to be able to go back to playing small clubs any time soon.

YnM: ranalore is great. She's written several pairings that I didn't want to like but sort of had to because of her stories. yasminm has written some lovely short pieces (check out her Death Note story, too - though I suppose it probably makes a difference if one has read DN). boniblithe has written a couple of short pieces that are also worth reading. I think all three have their stories in their memories.

There is a YnM fic comm on LJ that sometimes has good stuff. Sometimes. I know I've read some things I liked, but I'm not remembering author's names, unfortunately. As for archives, I'm not personally fond of much of the stuff on the Phantom Moon archive, though those are longer stories, at any rate. The JuOhCho archive (which has an LJ RSS feed) is small but I think the quality is overall better. There's the fuda100 drabble community, as well, though the stories posted are mostly chaff - not to mention, tons of drabbles that are over or under 100 words, which just annoys the hell out of me.

There aren't any really long fics that I've fallen in love with, nor are there really that many long fics at all, and I miss that after coming from SV fandom and its epic-length stories. At least partly due to this state of affairs, I've got some long stories planned out, but that doesn't mean that they'll 1) be good, or 2) ever be finished :)

I haven't joined them yet using this journal, but the velvetglove journal's community list has a bunch of possible fic sources friended.

[vylit.livejournal.com]

I'm incredibly surprised by the lack of long YnM fic. The anime/manga seems to lend itself to long arcs, and while there's a lot of potential to do dark fic with Muraki as the central character, I have to say that I'm particularly interested in the relationship between Tsuzuki and Hisoka. The thing that's most interesting for me is the fact that YnM gives us main characters that are layered and complex like Hisoka and Tsuzuki and fascinating antagonists like Muraki, and that's without even getting into the infinite number of demons that can be played with.

Honestly, I'd love to write some YnM fic myself, but I find that my lack of knowledge regarding Japanese culture actually makes me a bit intimidated. OTOH, the series is just so good, and there's a serious lack of fic, and I adore the characters.

[oiran.livejournal.com]

Tsuzuki and Hisoka are such an unavoidable OTP, though Tsuzuki and Tatsumi having a past is certainly a compelling pairing, as well. I've been surprised at the combinations I have enjoyed, but there is one thing I absolutely despise: any story where Muraki has a loving relationship with Tsuzuki or Hisoka (or both!) where all is forgiven, completely obliterating any semblance of accurate characterization. Muraki is a wonderful character because he is so sexy and compelling while still being truly evil...and I just hate when people choose to ignore how crazy and cruel he is in favor of ooh-pretty-silver-hair!!!

I'm a Japanophile from way back, though definitely a dilettante rather than an expert. Fortunately, there seems to be more cultural information available online for Japan than for any other place or culture. If you decide to write (DO IT!) and want some links to resources, I've got tons on all kinds of topics and I'm always collecting more. Also, besides being loaded with cliches, even yaoi manga (and translator's notes) provide a lot of cultural info, albeit mostly contemporary and schoolboy oriented :)

[reetchick.livejournal.com]

Shuffle play is one of the Best Things Ever. It's as if you've suddenly become Evil Overlord in Charge of Music, and the only songs that are allowed to be played are the ones you personally enjoy.

Or, I could be back on my megalomaniacal streak.

[oiran.livejournal.com]

Hee! It's a great way for a control freak to pretend s/he's loosening up a little. It's a world entirely Designed By Me down to the last detail, but with tiny, planned variations to provide perfectly-timed doses of "surprise".

[rhiannonhero.livejournal.com]

I can actually become a bit addicted to the shuffle play feature on my computer because I want to know what is going to come up next. It's like, "Okay, just one more song!"