Weekend Recap
Reggie and I went to see INXS at the Greek Theatre on Friday, spawned by my infatuation with Rockstar: INXS (or whatever that reality show was called). Actually, I never actually watched the show…just clips of the songs on msn’s homepage. But they were an internet worktime obsession for me, nonetheless. So JD Fortune, this arrogant but charismatic Canadian dude won the show, is now their arrogant but charismatic lead singer who is living his dream. I doubt he would have ever believed a few years ago that he would win a TV show and be the lead singer of INXS.
I was bummed I missed them the last time they were in LA when Marty, the runner up, was opening for them. I liked Marty and he seemed like a nice guy, but I have to admit that JD had some pretty ridiculous stage presence and the over-the-hill members of INXS must have had their ears ringing with the sounds of C-A-S-H from the way the (female) audience devoured him.
I was even more bummed to find that opening for them this time was… Scott Stapp. Of Creed. Who recently got caught with Kid Rock getting blowjobs from skanks on video. And he looked at the camera and said, “It’s good to be the king,” and all of a sudden, I didn’t know what was right in the world anymore.
We decided that we had to miss Scott’s act at all costs, so we went to the gym, came home, surfed the internet, took a leisurely drive around the city, found the Greek Theatre, figured out where to park, searched out a nice little dive-y restaurant, had dinner, chatted with the waitress, walked into the wrong-gendered bathrooms respectively…before heading over to the 7:30 show at 9pm.
I was disappointed to find out that INXS had already taken the stage, but as I said…we had to miss Scott Stapp’s set at all costs.
The Greek is a pretty awesome venue, second only to the Hollywood Bowl in terms of atmosphere. At night, it feels like a concert held in the middle of a forest a la Lake Tahoe, and in the summer, the temperature is just perfect. Our seats were in the lower intestinal end of butt f-ing Egypt, last row before the bleachers where overweight women in their 40’s were screaming for JD to take his shirt off as the men lethargically sipped from their beers. JD meanwhile, was most definitely high. Ecstasy was my guess. He’s quite a performer and has an amazing voice, but he couldn’t stop jumping, kicking, slinking and molesting anything and anyone within arm’s reach (he kinda looked like one of those long-armed balloon things that wave at you from car dealerships as you drive along the freeway, only slightly more fluid and slightly more ridiculous). I think half the crowd was there because they wanted to hear all of their favorite INXS songs, while the other half were barely-of-age girls who had seen him on the show. But even though he was technically this guy living his dream who had gotten a chance to play with his favorite band (as Reggie put it, it would be like me winning a contest to get to direct Steve Martin, or as I put it, Reggie getting a chance to sing with New Edition), it was clear that this was HIS show and the guys of INXS were just the back-up band. It got pretty obnoxious at times, especially when they all walked off stage to take a break before the encore, and he wouldn’t get off the stage, hamming it up and doing that whole, “You love me, you REALLY love me” bullshit. And plus the whole acting really high and stroking everything in erotic fashion was embarassing.
I called Michael when they played his favorite INXS song, “What You Need,” and I was relieved that we didn’t miss my favorite, “Never Tear Us Apart,” which they played in the encore. Love it when the sax comes in. Overall, it was an entertaining show but it felt like we were all there just to stroke one man’s massive ego.
Saturday night was Brian and my joint birthday party at Daddy’s. I discovered late that my breasts were quite willing to Tara Reid themselves out of my dress, so I had to wear tape on the inside in a feeble attempt to keep them reined in. The party was a blast, as always. I love it when my birthday comes around because it’s an excuse to plan something where I can see everyone and it’s such a warm and fuzzy thing to be reminded of what great people I have in my life. We took inappropriate pictures as usual including a paparazzi assault on some poor a-hole who thought he could sneak into the women’s room to hook up with some chick. I had 2 Irish Car Bombs, 2 Rasberry Stolis/Sprite, and I think Eric of Dos Spanish Flies gave me his gin and tonic, but I’m not sure because I was super fuzzy at that point and drinking anything anyone put in my hand, regardless of whether I was capable of getting the liquid from the glass to my mouth. I’m really surprised I handled that much alcohol that well. I remember at one point, I went to the bathroom and looked at my face and I honestly couldn’t understand why I couldn’t recognize my face as my own, yet I was able to remain on my feet the entire night.
Sareet emailed over her awesome pictures from the party on Sunday, which prompted me to hook up the photo printer Reggie had gotten me for Christmas (I know, I’m a jerk, but it took me a while to remember to buy an extra power strip). I tested it by printing out these pictures I took at a family dinner, only to find that 60 pictures in, the yellow ink cartridge ran out. How ironic. I guess we Asians really are yellow.
Speaking of colors, when we were up north, Reggie and Candice were talking about interracial relationships because her sister just had a baby with her black boyfriend. Michael was hovering, eavesdropping on the conversation and trying to find a way to jump in. At one point, Reggie says something about race and Michael interrupts saying, “Does Julia talk about your race? Because that would be rude…” Reggie and Candice vehemently assured him that he’s got the wrong idea, that they were talking about something else, but Michael continues, “Because it’s rude to talk about people’s race, whether they’re black…or peach….”
Yep.
Michael thinks we’re peach.
But I’ll be happy to let him know that according to my new HP printer, we’re clearly heavy on the yellow.
Today I had to go back to work. Nothing makes you hate work more than having too much fun on the weekend.