"Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well." Voltaire

"Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking." Albert Einstein (further evidence in Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way"...ask anyone who has done the program about "reading deprivation" week)

So when I started this blog I was hoping I'd want to write about politics and pop music. Nah. Starting next week my life is only going to have time for three things: libraries, baseball, and pop music. Actually, I should ONLY be thinking about librarianship...but this is my first year as a fantasy league manager.

Okay, back to the Belle and Sebastian story, so I only have to tell this once...

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Rose Melberg with Belle and Sebastian

I could write a novella of my stupid Softies stories...another one I tell was taping "Love You More" off of KAOS my freshman year. I was heartbroken, so I made a tape of it playing over and over and over again and sent it to my ex. I can't believe she still talks to me. I suppose this is a benefit to cd mixes, that no one will ever feel compelled to see how many times one song will fit on a cassette.
Add that to her giggling and saying "I'm glad you got a ticket!" during her set in Vancouver. The crowd talked through most of her set, and she sang songs with Larissa and Nick of P:ano which was lovely. Played a lot of new songs and "Me and the Bees". See, I should have written this down sooner as I'm already forgetting what she performed.

Snapshot memories from the B&S set:
Stuart climbed on the front monitors during "I'm a Cuckoo" and I started to wonder just what he posesses or is posessed by. What a glorious mix of so many pop icons, there is something wonderful about seeing a performer who has both the self-confidence and the faith of the fans to run around onstage and dance and perform with absolute joy. For all the "sincerity" afforded to indie rockers who come onstage sullen, miserable, and fucked up (um...did you ever see Elliott Smith on a bad night? I felt like I was going down with him.) I see everything right with enjoying the spotlight and the love the fans are giving.

The highlight of the show was their gentle America bashing (this must be part of the contract for playing in Vancouver) and a cover of Madonna's Borderline.

Also, as I elborate on the wonderfulness of the fans, the friend of an online friend that picked up my ticket for me turned out to be another Catholic library staff person getting her MLS. They must have a ridiculous number of librarian fans. I suppose they are second to Bloodhag in that respect, although most librarians I know just tolerate Bloodhag for getting teens in the library to have science fiction novels thrown at their heads.

Standing in the front row, everything seemed so real. Like listening to their albums is fiction and the live show is non-fiction.

Okay, I have an attention span of a flea. I'm going to watch a twee anime called Pom Poko, it's about racoons that transform into humans to try to "scare off the advancement of civilization". For some reason the springtime is always "anime month" for me, then I don't pay much attention the rest of the year. I suppose failing to be an otaku is a good thing.