Magic Jewball

Thanks for all your efforts but I did indeed get my Deftones ticket. In case you weren’t convinced that the Internets were the most magical thing on earth, it turns out that my post showed up on the very first page if you were Googling people who needed a ticket for that date. God bless you, Sergey and Other Guy.

Actually, I’m not sure my contact found me that way but a few other people did. Either way, I met up with MKB just now and after paying more than I should have but less than I could have, I’m the proud owner of a shiny ticket to tonight’s Deftones show at the Nokia Theatre.

Someone asked me, with concern, if I’d be going alone. Hell yes! It’s not that I don’t like going to shows with friends, but please, the fact that none of my friends share my love for a particular band isn’t going to stop me from hearing them play. It’s not like you and your friend can have a deep conversation during the show. And after all, how many chances do you get to hear the iPod Song of the Week live in the very week it’s featured? Of course, I can’t be sure they’ll play it, but I won’t ask for my money back if they don’t. There’s a singular pleasure in attending a show by a band where you know every word to every song.

Anyway, I’ve put up enough Deftones songs this week and this year and I won’t put another here. Feel free to just play a song by one of your own favorite bands and imagine yourself at their show. If you want to make the identification more accurate, make it an angry song with lots of swear words.

Update 12/6

The show was heavenly, and I’m not just talking about the second-hand high I received five seconds after walking into the place. No, Chino was his energetic self, they played all the right things (including the iPod Song of the Week), and I was able to avoid the mosh pit. And let me tell you, should you ever have any pent-up anger, the antidote is surely the act of yelling “Shove it! Shove it! Shove it!” along with several thousand other people.

Hey! I’m back on schedule! But this week I’m doing something a little different which is to talk about a song in one of my posts, National Friends Day. I put it there, sure, because I was talking about the Deftones, but also because it’s the only song I’m listening to at the moment. When I was on the plane I listened to the Deftones new album, Saturday Night Wrist on an endless loop, mostly because I kept falling asleep and then I’d wake up and there would be no music on and so I’d restart it. But it was the refrain from this song that punctuated my dreams and when I got home I immediately looked up the lyrics to see what could make him sing it like that. I warn you, it’s a downer.

The song starts out kind of ominously but also calmly while he sets the scene.

A sea of waves, we hug the same plank…

OK, we get it, it’s two people in the middle of the sea clutching a piece of wood to stay alive. But when the bridge comes, the music and the voice rise as the action comes up.

If the waves suuuuuck
you in
And you drown…..

And here’s where his voice calms down and changes into something sort of wistful and hopeless, almost dead, for the refrain that played endlessly in my sleep on the plane and really still does.

If like yoooooooouuuu
Should sink down beneath…

In the middle of the line his voice changes again to be sort of a declaration, like he is crying out to her, don’t you understand what I’d do for you?

I’ll swim down

And the word swim is extended and sort of desperate, not because she is drowning but because of what he says in the next line:

Would you? Would you?

But by that line, the panic is gone and it’s also sung sort of wistfully, almost dirgelike, because he knows it. It’s unsurprising. And you see, that’s the poignancy of the song. The feeling that you would risk all for someone who wouldn’t do the same for you and you now know it. It’s the hopelessness of it; there is no way to change that person’s feelings into those that will equal yours. And just after, there’s an electronic sound effect that sounds a bit like a woman’s laughter. Poor Chino.

If you’re not a fan of the Deftones, at least listen to the bridge/chorus I’ve described which first comes at about 0:45-1:25 but gets even more emotional the second time at 2:10.

Deftones – Cherry Waves

What, you forgot? For shame. Oh, I kid, I just made that up right now. Well, yesterday, but I wanted to keep my “please please please get me a Deftones ticket” post up for a bit, plus December 1st just sounds so much better than November 30th for a national holiday.

Anyway, despite the fact that no one has a ticket for me (yet), I did want to take a moment to wax lyrical about the fantastic friends I have. I mean, they’re funny, they know the right things to say, and they’re there for me, what more could you want? And yet, there’s a Mother’s Day and a Father’s Day and a Valentine’s Day, but no Friends Day. Why? All those other people have to love you and be good to you, it’s part of the program. But your friends, well, they could easily move onto other friends if they wanted.

This blog has never really been about my personal life but I have this public forum with which to thank people who really deserve it so bear with me just this once, thanks. I just wanted to say that recently I needed my friends very badly and they all showed up to the party and were fantastic and supportive and brilliantly funny and just exactly the way I needed them to be (OK, 99% of them but the other 1% was acceptable; honorable mention to you). Some of them even put up with six pages of my drivel (although I told them it was OK to skim). I wish I could post all the things they said but I can assure you, nameless friends, that I have kept all your fantastic e-mails, and the conversations will always remain in my head.

And of course, some of them post here and cheer me up with all the nice comments, like that I was missed while I was away. This is not an invitation to do that, and as a matter of fact, I considered closing the comments on this one. But should you like to comment about your own friends and how they’ve been there for you, feel free. After all, it is National Friends Day. Better get in on this one before they commercialize it and you’re required to buy cards and teddy bears for the occasion.

And while we’re here, I especially wanted to give some props to DuchessJane. I don’t know how she puts up with me, really. I sometimes treat her like she’s alive simply to give me advice and comfort. Sorry about that, DuJane. But all I can say is that Blackberry + Jane = Always having someone there for you.

Oh, don’t cry, here, have a box of Friends Day chocolates. I only ate one. And a half.

Deftones – Cherry Waves