G: Friday
was a very full and busy day. On my walk with Katy, I was coming home
and sitting on the corner of Ridge and Research were three people with
large backpacks. Katy approached them to say hello so I said hi too. I
asked if they were hiking, and they said, yes, they were hiking across
the country. They pointed to a sticker on the back of a street sign
that said the American Discovery Trail. One of them,
Josh, was walking for
Alzheimer's Association and collecting hugs for humanity. He blogged
about meeting me, (though he spelled my name wrong). It's at the bottom
of the third paragraph...
Another,
Ron, was walking for breast cancer awareness, and
Jodi was walking for Neurofibromatosis.
It
was kinda exciting to meet them and to be able to help them out a
little (Josh came to our house to use the bathroom and I gave him some
clementines and walnuts). John and I both gave him hugs; he is trying
to collect a million (which will take years and years).
Then I finished getting some cds ready to take to the Jonathan Coulton w/Paul and Storm show that night.
Izolda
and I drove to Alexandria early so we could avoid rush hour and get
good seats. So we got to the area around the Birchmere and then found a
Thai restaurant to eat at. The food was pretty good, but nothing to go
back for. We were going to go kill some time at a mall, but decided to
swing by the front door to see if there was a line yet. We didn't think
anyone would be waiting because it had been pouring down rain all day.
But there were. 5 people. I was ready to keep going and come back in an
hour, but Izolda thought it would be best if we stayed. That was 3:30,
the doors would open at 5.
So we stood under a roof a bit back
from the last person in line. He wandered back to stand under there
with us and introduced himself as Drew. Then we all started talking
about JoCo and other things. We had a very nice time, except it was
cold and wet out. It took a while, but more folks showed up to stand
behind us under the bit of roof. As the line got longer we eventually
had to fill the gap up toward the front of the line and deployed our
umbrellas. That was more unpleasant, but in the end I am very glad we
did so. Drew was going to get seats for just him and a friend, so I
figured we might just take almost the rest of the 12 person table he'd
get for our party of 8.
At 5 they opened the door and you get a
number so that the first numbers get to go in first and get a table.
Then you wait around until 6 for the music hall to be opened. While we
were waiting I saw a guy come in who looked really familiar, and
realized much later from reading the
JoCo forums that he made this
very fun video that I adore.
When
they let us in, Drew had grabbed one of the best tables and we sat down
with him and met his friend Aaron. We had a lot of fun chatting with
them, while the rest of our party eventually showed up. John and TVTom,
then Kevin, then Renee and Alex, and shortly after the show started,
Petra-wa.
Someone (who also turned out to be a JoCo forum
member) came around to hand out stuffed animals with a note explaining
to throw them when JoCo and P&S came out for the encore. It was
suggested you attach money or notes of encouragement; a safety pin was
included, to make a "flying tip jar". Aaron ended up rolling a dollar
into a tight roll, using a bit of red packaging for a flame, and making
it a cigarette sticking out of a pink clown fish's mouth, with the
safety pin through it's lips. Izolda called it "Sid Fishious." John
folded a dollar into an elaborate design and pinned it to something. I
got an octopus and put a dollar on it's head.
I hadn't actually
been that close since the first time I saw them, so that was a treat. A
LOT of panties were thrown at P&S at the appropriate time (a
plethora, in fact). Eye patches were thrown for their Pirate song too.
When JoCo came out to sing back up on Nugget Man, he had a video camera
in his pocket. He posted
the video here,
and that is our table it is pointing at most of the time, although you
can barely make any of us out. I am next to/ to the left/ behind Drew
in the white cap, and I wave when JoCo says "Hi." You can see Tom put
both arms in the air a moment later, too. ("During Paul and Storm's
set, Jonathan Coulton turned left, and it was AWESOME.")
A bit
more than halfway into JoCo's set he asked for a volunteer. I knew this
might happen, because I've been following JoCo's web site and forums
and podcasts featuring him and youtube videos and such, but I wasn't
sure because it was for a Xmas song and it's not that time of year
anymore. But he'd done it at the last show in San Francisco (but that
was being filmed for a DVD) and had been doing it at other shows before
that (but they were closer to Xmas). So I thought by this show he'd
drop it, but he didn't. He asked, and I jumped up and raised my hand,
and everyone at my table pointed at me too. JoCo called me up by name
(he knows who I am now) and asked if I knew what to do. I nodded and he
asked if I was sure. I was. So I went up there and said as I got near
the mic, "I'm wearing my Fancy Pants too." (Unfortunately, he didn't do
that song that night.) Then I tried to look at the audience but the
lights were too bright in my eyes and I could barely see anything (just
like the video from the stage). I was turned toward Jonathan, I don't
remember why, but when I turned back towards Paul he had a camcorder
right in my face, surprising me, and I jumped a little. Then I waved
cutely and made a kiss toward the camera. And Paul says, "Great,
someone who craves attention even more than we do!" To which I shook my
head shyly.
I don't remember what else was said but soon the song was started and you can hear
what happened next here.
Did you hear the cheering? That was surprising and really nice. When I
got off stage everyone at my table said I did a great job. But I'd
wished I had rehearsed it a little like I was thinking of doing on the
off chance that that happened. I would have done a better robot voice.
Instead I just went with evil. I wasn't nervous about being on stage,
but I was nervous about my performance. So I wish I'd been better
prepared, but it was still loads of fun and quite a thrill. Often these
things show up on youtube (that's how I knew about it and sort of knew
what to do), but no one at my table thought to film it even though
their phones or cameras could have (including mine if I'd had half a
brain I would have gotten it ready). So far no video has shown up. Oh,
well, pix plus audio ain't bad.
After the show was over I
grabbed the set list off the stage. Then a few people came up to me to
say they thought I was great up there. Someone just called out "Gina!"
from halfway across the room and said something like "You rocked!"
I guess you had to be there...
We
waited around for the crowd and the line for the meet and greet to die
down, but Petra left right after the show to go home and get ready for
a trip, and Izolda was exhausted and John was pretty tired too, so John
took Izolda home. And the rest of us hung around and eventually got in
the line.
I thanked JoCo for picking me as a volunteer, gave him
some cds of Christine Lavin and Dan Hart, got the set list signed,
asked for picture, ended up hugging him for picture. Nice hug. Then he
asked me "How's it going," or "What's going on?" or something like
that. To which I was just like, well I've been looking forward to this
for a while and now I am here. I introduced Tom and pointed out Renee,
group pictures were taken, more chit chat, blah blah blah and on our
way. Tom was pretty excited about the show and we talked
enthusiastically about it on the way home.
A couple of days later Paul and Storm
posted a funny movie they made backstage that night.
Some people did get some of the songs videotaped and you can see them on
youtube here. One highlight was the song "
Soft Rocked" when in the middle they segued into bits of Tequila Sunrise, Peaceful Easy Feeling, Leader of the Band, and Hey Jude.
So... that was fun.
Saturday
I went to a "Tips and Demos" session at the Greenbelt Pottery studio.
Chris demoed making a lamp from a thrown clay base. Lorraine showed how
to make neat impressions on clay by stamping it and then rolling the
pattern back down a little. A couple people had tips, one was to go to
youtube and look at all the clay demos you can find there. Then I
demonstrated how you can brush wax onto a leather hard pot, then once
it dries you rub the pot with a wet sponge, leaving the parts where the
wax is raised. It looks very cool.
Later that night John and I
attended the second showing of The Vagina Monologues that Amethyst
produced and directed. It was very well done and we enjoyed ourselves
quite a bit. Nice party afterwards, too!
John left for CA the
next day for work. I dropped him off at the BWI shuttle, walked Katy,
went to yoga, then a birthday party for Christian's dog Alexander.
Christian forgot about the time change so wasn't quite ready for
revelers when I arrived, so I helped put up crepe paper. Had some food,
played one round of a game, and then watched Alex get to dig into a
pyramid of 300 tennis balls with treats inside, plus a peanut butter
coated ball at the center. Since it was his 13th birthday he was pretty
refined about it and didn't just jump in.
I had to leave that party to get ready for dance night which was fun. No news I can remember now from the rest of that week.