Another Trip to the Birchmere
IP and I attended the Jonathan Coulton/Paul & Storm concert at the Birchmere last night—third time seeing Coulton, fourth time seeing Paul & Storm. And I have to say, Paul & Storm were a little out of it, especially Paul. Even though they were on stage for an hour and a half, it seemed like they were rushing through their set (or rather, I thought Paul was rushing it; Storm seemed inclined to interact with the audience while Paul’s attitude was more of a “Get me the hell off of this stage” kind of deal). Also, the sound at the Birchmere sounded kind of bad this time around; it’s like they needed to turn the volume way up. IP and I felt like the performers were miles instead of just tables away from us.
When Coulton came on, though, he saved the night for us. His set was full of songs that neither IP nor I have paid attention to (thought we’ll be rectifying that really soon). There were impromptu rants about the new Battlestar Galactica (which I don’t watch, but I read enough of the Crown Princess Marie Chantal of Greece message boards to sort of know what’s going on), a case of on-stage Rickrolling (I can now say that the first time I was Rickrolled was by Jonathan Coulton during “Mr. Fancy Pants”—and I want a Zendrum just for the hell of it), and random Vader/harmonica references.
Finally, the edit to “The Presidents” was greatly appreciated (and hoped for when Coulton introduced the song). Not only was Garfield’s assassination year corrected, but we got the updated verse marking the end of the Bush Administration and the start of the Obama Administration:
“W’s reign of terror’s finally over,
Obama’s pretty excellent so far.”
Perfect! Exactly what the song needed. I didn’t do the little dance I do when listening to the song at home (it’s a combo of weird aerobic arm movements and poofed out cheeks), but I was doing it secretly, in my heart. IP is happy that the edit finally came, noting that Coulton seemed so apolitical in the original version of the song. I figured he was just being sarcastic (by 2005 that legacy was pretty damn well set in my opinion). Coulton endorsed Obama pretty early on, though, so when he won the election you knew it was only a matter of time before the edit came. I figured it would be harsh on Bush simply because . . . well, it’s Bush. When Coulton sang the line about Obama, a cheer went up in the crowd. I wonder who they voted for in November? Hmm . . .
I think the evening was summed up nicely when, prior to the show, the bartender asked IP and me what type of concert this was. “Everyone’s ordering soda,” he complained. IP and I sat up a bit straighter, proudly clutching our nearly finished second beers, and explained the evening. “Folksy music, but comedians,” I said, failing to add that they were geeky comedians. But I think the lack of alcohol consumption among the crowd clued in the bartender quite nicely.
After a week of doing wedding stuff in Michigan, it was nice to forget about the big day and just relax with the geeks. The wedding’s actually on the back burner again; IP and I technically have bupkus to do for the wedding until April, so I’m going to stop planning for about two weeks, then just dabble. Next week we might be having a bar night with IP’s former (but very nice and cool) colleagues; the week after that we’re taking advantage of a voucher I had for one of the boutique hotels in the D.C. area and stay the night there (along with a $100 credit for their restaurant—woot!). Coincidentally, that’s the weekend of our seven-year anniversary of knowing one another (dating anniversary doesn’t come until the end of March). Hey, one’s got to do something in the next 13 weeks of day-offlessness that we have ahead of us, no? Damn the stretch between President’s Day and Memorial Day (which this year is actually my birthday—the big 3-1). You can bet I’ll be taking time off during the next 13 weeks.
Speaking of Michigan and JoCo/Paul & Storm, if you’re in the Ann Arbor area I’d highly recommend going to their show at The Ark on March 6. I promise that you will laugh and have a good time. I mean, Dominick’s isn’t open yet; this is probably the next best thing!
