A Hurdy Gurdy of a Night

I went to a Decemberists concert last night. I don't know too much about this band, and I came to like them in a round about way. But like them I do. Back when I spent most of my time at work surfing blogs (no, not yesterday. I mean way back when), I was really hooked on MP3 blogs and downloaded all kinds of random songs. One of the songs I downloaded was "The Soldiering Life" by a group I had never heard of called The Decemberists. I included the song on one of my many random mix CDs, marveled at the lead singer's funny accent, and then eventually forgot about it. Then a few weeks ago, Andrew asks me if I've heard of the group The Decemberists. He said he'd heard a song of theirs on the radio and really liked it. I said, yeah, I think I have a song of theirs somewhere. So Andrew plays the song he downloaded and I recognize the quirky voice immediately. The next day I sifted through the CDs scattered in my trunk (don't ask), found the one labeled "Yet Another Random Mix," and played it for Andrew so he could hear "The Soldiering Life." Andrew was excited to "find" another not-yet-big group, and I was excited for him, enough so that when I saw they were coming to town, I swallowed my irritation at being taken in by a racketeering scam and purchased overpriced tickets off of Ticketmaster. And not only that, I hand-picked the seats. Of course Andrew had to burst my bubble and tell me that the seats that I thought would be really good would be way in the back, behind the general crowd. So of course you can appreciate my inner (well, outer too, since I gloated) triumph when the seats turned out to be exactly where I thought they'd be - not the best seats, but good. We settled in early and people-watched. The opening act was odd. A band from LA called Lavender Diamond. The songs were decent enough, although lyrically limited. But the lead singer was a ditz. Or high. Or mentally challenged. I am not sure what her deal was, but it was a little bizarre. And then after a looong pause, the Decemberists came on stage, preceded by a English accented voice-over introduction. I have a horrible memory so cannot remember their set list, but each song was as entertaining as the next. Four guys and two women, and they kept mixing it up: everyone played more than one instrument - guitars, bass, cello, fiddle, keyboards, drums, accordion, clarinet (?), and even a freakin' hurdy gurdy. I was suprised at the violent creepiness of some of the songs - they bathed the stage in red for "Shankill Butchers" and they worked up a subdued frenzy with "Culling of the Foe," during which the lead singer took a cell phone from a fan, took pictures with it, and called someone. Fun little antics, good chatter, dorky-looking lead singer, and a general old-timey manner that pleased me most. My two favorite songs were the duet "Yankee Bayonets" and "We Both Go Down Together." It was a good show.

The only downside to the evening was the fact that I had a headache the whole night. I was worried I wouldn't be able to last at all, but luckily I did. But by the time we had walked back to the car, I was feeling awful. And then things got really weird because spent the next 2.5 hours in the emergency room. Yes, yes, I am sure I was overreacting. I tend to do that. But I was really scared, and I just didn't want to wait any longer to have someone check me out. They gave me the most for my co-pay, that's for sure. The full curtained bed, gown, IV of morphine treatment. Plus a bonus CT scan. All results were normal, and I was sent home with another prescription and a sympathetic smile. But I have had the headache for over a week now. Yeah, I think that's a little weird too.