What to Wear to a GaGa Show

I'm a little sad because I thought I had taken more photos of what the concertgoers were wearing. I did not have my camera so I had to use my phone. My good buddy Amy took a few pics with her camera. I'm telling you, there were so many people dressed up it was hard to chose who you should stop for a picture. The people with the best costumes had crowds of people surrounding them taking picture after picture, making it hard to get the shot.

Here are the pics I managed to get:

There were wigs-o-plenty. Are you surprised I did not wear one? I try to not ever wear a hat and a wig at the same time. It's just too damn hot to do that. The avant garde makeup was also very popular.

There were a million people dressed as Lady Gaga.

These two were dressed as Gaga and Beyoncé from the Telephone video. The girl dressed as Gaga was dead on while the Beyonce gal could have done better. See that guy in white trying to jump in at the last second?

He apologized and said he had always wanted to jump into another person's photo. Then he told me my veil was "so preeeety" so I decided to take a picture with him. The camera did not pick it up, but his chest was covered in glitter.

How funny is that gal in the background? She could give my glittery friend lessons on how to properly execute a photo bomb.

After the show, I saw this cute kid wearing a great jacket. I went over to ask him if I could take his picture. Well, he was with a bunch of girls and I did not have the heart to tell them I just wanted his pic. So, I opted to make it a group shot with myself included. This photo makes me laugh for two reasons: 1. it looks like most of us gals went back to 1985 and raided Molly Ringwald's closet and 2. They are obviously many years younger than me which makes me look like I am their crazy aunt that gave them a ride to the prom.


Here is a cropped photo of just the boy. I love the spikes!


And now, for the pièce de résistance, I give you a photo of my friend Mike. I went to high school with this fella and have reconnected with him through myspace and facebook. Gotta love social networking. Sadly, I did not get to see him at the concert. He went to the Friday show and I went to Thursday show. He posted this photo on his Facebook page and allowed me to use it on my blog.
He wins the award for best dressed:

Mike is also known as the drag queen Nikki Sky. Bitch knows how to work it!

Up next, photos of the actual show plus a review.

Big Show

The last arena concert I have attended (before going to the one I will soon tell you about) was The Red Hot Chili Peppers/Foo Fighters back in 2000. I saw Tom Petty at the Verizon in San Antonio a few years after that, but that show did not seem like an arena show. Maybe it was because I was close to the stage and the Verizon is an outdoor arena. Whatever the case, It's been 10 years since I have been to an indoor arena show.

Why, you may ask? Because arena shows suck.
Just kidding. That was a bit harsh. Really, it's because I have mad love for a good rock show at a small-to-medium sized club or venue. In a club setting, you have a good chance of getting right up to the stage (if that is where you want to be). Dancing is a must. The energy is usually great. There is not so much flash. It's more about the music than the costumes. I can't necessarily say the same things about arena shows.
They are two different animals....I know this.
I just strongly prefer one over the other.

Having said that, I broke my "no-arena-shows" streak of ten years and attended a Lady GaGa concert.
*gasp*

See, I have this friend named Clint. Clint lives in Lubbock which means I hardly get to see him. When I see him, it is because I have traveled to Lubbock. He has not been to Austin since god was a boy. Clint loves Lady Gaga. Clint and I have a friend named Amy and she lives in Denton. At Clint's request, Amy purchased three tickets to see Lady Gaga in Dallas. One for her, one for CLint, and one for me.


Amy, Clint, and Sarah

Amy, like myself, was not a Lady Gaga fan. It's not like she hated her...she just did not care about her one way or another. However, Amy and I are both HUGE Clint Fans so to big show we went.

I heard that some people dress up for Lady Gaga's shows. I love dressing up. I did not know if Clint and Amy were going to dress up in costume, so I chose an outfit that was relatively tame:

The hat is vintage, but I had to sew a new veil on it as the original one had mostly disintegrated.





My get-up was pretty normal compared to some of the concert attendees. I'll show you those pictures and review the show (with pics) in my next couple of posts.

A Life Aquatic

Years ago, I was in the bathroom of some club back in Lubbock when a drunk co-ed came up to me and said, "oooooh my gah, you totally have mermaid hair!"

I knew what she was getting at, though I had never had my hair compared to a mermaid's until that moment. My hair was (is) big, curly, and sometimes unruly.

If you search "mermaid hair" on google images all sorts of styles come up. All of them are long, but some styles are straight, some with loose curls, some with tight curls, etc. I found this one and think it is what the drunk girl had in mind when she paid me the, um...compliment.

drawing by unkeymonkey

Today, I went to Waterloo records for some new music and a store employee paid me another unusual compliment with a similar theme. He said, "you look very....aquatic." I laughed and said, "thanks?" I then said, "It's probably my aqua fingernail polish." and he said. "yup." I said, "and maybe my necklace?" He said "yup."

Here is what I was wearing:



Maybe I should be a mermaid for halloween. Remember when Donna did that on 90210? She could barely walk around because the "fin"portion of her outfit was so tight but, darlin', she looked fabulous. I think Kelly almost got dated raped in the same episode. Oh 90210, you taught us so much.

Back to waterloo, I picked up Leatherbag's new album Hey Day and so far, it's really good. I have only listened to the first three tracks. I will resume listening tomorrow. I also bought Mumford and Sons album, Sigh No More. I have only heard a few songs from this album and I really like it. Sounds a little like Dave Matthews with a bit of an accent, more words per verse, and extra stomp.
Oh, and I bought Heartless Bastard's album, The Mountain, because I gave my copy away to a friend.

Side note: I really need to get something from Deer Tick. I don't know which album to purchase first. I am also thinking of checking out The Dead Weather's new album.

In Other News:
Hacienda plays The Limelight in San Antonio on July 21st. It's a free show and The Hawks (of Holy Rosary) are playing as well.

Leatherbag plays somewhere in Denton on July 24th and at the Parish in Austin on July 28th. I'm there.

The Carrots on July 30th at The Continental. WooP!

Sadly, I missed Delta Spirit's recent show. My back is ridiculous. I am getting some x-rays on Monday to see what is going on.

Cicada

I was playing with my dogs in our front room and noticed two cicada shells hanging on the screen of our front window. Then, I noticed a cicada chillin' next to one of the shells. I looked at it for a long time, taking in it's big eyes, intricate wings, and long body. Soon after my cicada watching, Dale and I went out to run some errands. Over an hour later, we arrived back at the homefront and I noticed that the cicada was still on the screen -hanging out with the empty shells.

I decided to get my camera and take a few photos. Here is my test shot:

you can see me in the reflection

Unfortunately, this poor photo is all I got of Mr. Cicada. Right after I took this, that sun-of-a-gun took flight! He barely missed my camera lens as he vacated the area. His sudden evacuation caused me to jump about 3 feet in the air, backwards! I also squealed like a little girl. It took a minute or so to compose myself and to check around to see if my neighbors witnessed my overreaction. Nope. I was in the clear, thank goodness.

Here is a close up of the cicada shell:


These bad boys live anywhere from 2-17 years! Most of their life is lived underground. They eventually crawl from the earth to a plant (or window screen) and molt away their skin. It's pretty cool. When I was a kid, we would take the skins and attach them to each other's clothes.
Now, the thought of that kind of creeps me out.

Sounds like Lubbock

Last Saturday, a group of us traveled to the land of Pflugerville (a little town just north of Austin) to see LiverDog. LiverDog is made up of three dudes from Lubbock. Back in the day, when I still resided in Lubbock, I had seen two of these musicians play several times. Lefty (on drums) and Chuck (on bass) were in a band called Plaid Joe (eventually it was Plaid Joe Trio). I did not personally know either Lefty or Chuck, but Plaid Joe was one of my favorite bands to go see. I had seen Arnold (guitar and vocals) do his thing in the band Mushroom Groovy. Chuck and Lefty both played the blues jam at The Spoon every Sunday night. I'm sure Arnold played the Jam quite often as well. Oh how I miss the Jam. To a teenager living In Lubbock, it sometimes seems that there is not much to do. Because of this, a lot of Lubbock's youth turn to learning how to play music. You can't swing a dead praire dog (indigenous to Lubbock) without hitting a dude with a guitar. Therefore, there is a lot of musical talent coming from the flat lands of my home town.
Buddy Holly is from Lubbock, as are The Maines Brothers, Natalie Maines, Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Joe ELy, and Butch Hancock. Oddly enough, Lubbock probably has more cover bands than any other city in Texas. Even the bands that play originals throw a bunch of covers into their set. I'm not sure if that was because the Texas Tech crowd of frat boys demanded cover tunes or what, but it's the truth.


Any-hoo, little did I know that when I moved to Austin, I would become friends with the musicians that I admired so much:Lefty, Chuck, and Arnold.

They have all been in Austin for years and have been playing around in different bands here and there. Most recently, they came together as LiverDog. Here they be:




We had such a good time at this show. They played some funky old blues covers and some originals as well. Their set was as tight as a camel's ass in a sand-storm. The rhythm section is something to behold as Chuck and Lefty have played together since god was a boy.

I only wish the photos of the band were as good as the pics Dale took of me and my ladies:





Or even as good as this one:

Yes, that is Cooper wearing a hat.

I'm Not a Fan of the Fireworks.

The 4th of July is not my favorite Holiday. I don't want to be anywhere near the lighting of fireworks for fear that something will go wrong and I will end up with 3rd degree burns on 70% of my body. Seriously, you mix alcohol with bottel rockets and somebody somewhere is going home minus a finger. I especially loathe roman candles, the firework you can aim at your friends. no thanks. I'll be inside reading restaurant reviews while you pop your crackers. Thankfully, I have a friend who does not mind the fireworks. Her name is Tirzah and she took all of the photos (except for the last two) for today's blog. She knows her way around a camera, so we are in for a treat.


Dale In Josh's Shed
Josh and Tirzah helped us celebrat the 4th by hosting a BBQ at their house. We layered on the Off (bugs were out) and mostly stayed outdoors.


Josh has a drum kit in his shed.


It's Amy, taking a break from Law School


I held a sparkler for about a second before a super spark defected from the stick and landed on my toe. That was all it took for me to throw my stick down in defeat. SCREW YOU, SPARKLER!


Sarah and Dale

I kissed the Dale and retired to the safety of the kitchen while the rest of the gang practiced thier devil-magic-pyro show.




Boys with Sparklers?


Heart


Double Loop


Circle


Tirzah


Hope ya'll had a nice holiday. Really, I do. If you were here next to me I would give you a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. I would say, "Hey, I hope your 4th of July was great. I hate fireworks but I know you kind of dig them, and that's ok. You're ok." And then, I would serve you a slice of apple pie. You would eat it and smile.

New Drapes, Fool!

I recently visited my friend Mary at her bad ass home in east Austin. Mary has an eye for design and it shows in the way she has decorated her lovely abode. While standing in her kitchen, I noticed some beautiful curtains. They were colorful, bold, and added so much to the room. I have been meaning to get some curtains for more of my windows ever since I moved into the house. It's been three years and I have only dressed the windows in our bedroom, the office, and one set of windows in the big living room.

Not acceptable.

I went to Pier One and found the curtains I was looking for.
Here is the print up close:


They were in the clearance bin. I got them for $30.00 for the set. Awesome.
I think they were so cheap because they were longer than the standard length of 84". I had to hem them, but that only took about 10 minutes.

Now I have an unruly desire to buy more curtains. I found some at Antropologie that made me drool but those babies are like $200.00 a panel. SHEESH!

Here is another view- with Cooper.


I'm going to check out Fanny's Fabric store in South Austin to see if I cant find something special.
I have already looked at IKEA and I gotta say, I was not impressed. The search is on!

In Other News:
This Saturday, we will be going to Hanovers in Pflugerville for some LiverDog action. For those of you from Lubbock, LiverDog is comprised of Drummer Michael Lefty Lefkowitz, Down Town Chuck Brown on the Bass, and Arnold Wells on guitar and vocals. Should be fun!