November
11th, Kryz Reid of Third Eye Blind tweeted that they had a day off in Madison, Wisconsin, and that it was not a typo.
I laughed,
but then I remembered Lisa. This is the Lisa who introduced me to the Misfits,
which set off the chain reaction that got me to being this concert-going, band
reviewing, comic writing weirdo. Lisa had gone to school in Madison, and told me it was the original
Keep It Weird city.
We used to
have desks across from each other. Now we both telecommute, but we have chat
options across the company network. I asked her what there was to do there, and
the answer was a lot more than I thought. I would kind of like to go to Madison now. They have a Mustard Museum,
and a taxidermy museum in the basement of a funeral home, and other cool
things, some of which I passed on to Kryz. The easiest one was probably State Street for people watching and shopping.
He did favorite, and a little bit later he tweeted this:
That felt
pretty cool. I know he might have ended up on State Street anyway, and we are not best friends
or anything. There is still something amazing though, in that one person can
express a thought in one place, and another person can see it, and contact
someone familiar with that place, and get information. There is no searching
for phone numbers or hassle; actually it was fun. It was fun to learn about Madison, and have a somewhat silly
conversation with a friend, and it is amazing that we can do this while our
dogs sleep around us and without having to deal with weather and public
transportation.
In this
writing segment I am struggling a lot. There are all of these points I want to
make, and so I start writing things, and then I realize, no, that one doesn't
need to be said, or that one does, but this needs to come first, and a lot of
that is because of how it connects.
There is a
long post that I wrote most of last week, which does involve Third Eye Blind,
but not only them, and I keep putting it off because it feels like it is too
much unless I cover other things first and build a foundation for it.
Some of
that is because of different platforms. There are music related things in the
post that happen via Twitter, Blogger, and in the real world. There is also a
blog story that doesn't relate to music, but it does relate to the writing, and
the connecting. Beyond that one post, there are things that are important with
the teenagers, but they came about because of the bands. I am starting to get
more involved with online feminism, but I swear it happened because of a comic
book writer. Plus there is the constant circling back, because so much goes
back to Lisa's alternate song list. There were other pieces in place, but she got
the ball rolling, and it is still mind-boggling how much followed from it.
So there is
this messiness that feels like it is holding me back until I sort it out, but I
am not sure how neat any amount of sorting will get it. This is possibly how it
should be; but it is frustrating.
Still, this
segment of the writing is primarily about bands, and that is something I have
been thinking about with following bands on Twitter. My last two concerts were
Third Eye Blind and Reggie and the Full Effect. Both of those involve following
individual musicians. It was interesting, because it led to a greater sense of
anticipation for the show itself as there are updates about the tour's
progress. They're getting closer. They're working their way up.
I'm not
sure how much it changes the experience of the concert itself, because there
are things about it that feel very much like they did before Twitter. There may
be a great sense of investment in wanting the concert to go well, but I think
that is about the same.
I do think
it increases the recognition. It is so easy to learn everyone's name now, and
who plays which instruments. Now there are often stories with the name. As
Third Eye Blind took the stage, I do remember thinking "There's
Kryz!", and then filling out where everyone else was. When I saw them in
2000, I'm not even sure I knew Stephen's name. I know I didn't know any of the
others.
Now I know
who everyone is. Does it change the concert? Maybe. I like it better because I
think knowing people is important, and there are different levels of knowing,
but again, that's where the internet gets messy.
When random
bands started following me, I understood that it was an attempt to get me to
check them out, and that I was one of many follows. Sometimes though, there
would be a reply or something that would make me realize that we had become
people to each other. Maybe we got there at different times, but it was no
longer random. It happened with other fans too. First you are just liking a
picture or answering a question you see, and then it becomes, "Hey. It's
you."
And it is a
messy thing. A big part of appreciating the Reggie tour has been Cory White's
tour diary, which is on Tumblr, but I see the posts because of Twitter. I
posted about him helping me understand something about guitar on Blogger, and
he told me he liked it on Twitter then, but then he mentioned it again in real
life as he gave me guitar picks and hugs, and explained some more things to me.
And that was a night where being there alone was feeling worse than usual, so
bless Cory for recognizing me, and for being so sweet and kind.
As I write
about two bands, I am listening to a third, Gin Blossoms (No Chocolate Cake),
because that was the right mood for now. I have interacted with various members
there, in real life and on Twitter. I am not sure whether I am familiar to
them, or that just sometimes we have good interactions that fade back into the
mass of all fan interactions. That's okay.
I will soon
be switching to post the song of the day, from Coming, and then I will switch
to listening to Pentimento and Dads so I can put their reviews up tomorrow and
Friday. They may see these postings or not, and that's okay. I will listen
while I organize my room and clear things out, in the hopes that some physical
organization will aid the mental organization.
Also as I
write, Alex LeCavalier of Third Eye Blind tweeted about a certain bass line
requiring a pick, and I asked about that, because right now I don't have a feel
for picks at all, but I sense that will have to change. And he answered! It
doesn't make us best friends, but that's okay.
I know that
there are a lot of different experiences to have with the internet, and we will
return to that eventually. For now I have to say that there are a lot of really
beautiful experiences you can have too. Lines blur, and it can be messy, so
respect and kindness are really important, but those are important in other
types of encounters too.
It can be
really beautiful.
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