To All the Concerts I Loved Before - Part 8

Wow, it's been a while since I touched on this, but the holidays are thankfully over, and the 4th draft of the novel is in the bag, so let's do this thing.  The concerts below are still going to read a bit like a Lilith Fair roster and will have more of the (nonexistent) love life of the Donist feel, but bear with me.
Last time, I had dumped the evil ex-girlfriend and sent her on her drug addled way in search of that great, wealthy, heavy metal love of her life, which I believe meant returning to the north to live with her family, but I'm not sure.  Maybe she did end up with Brett Michaels, Slash, Rob Halford, or Vince Neil, I don't really care, I just would not wish her upon anyone short of Glenn Beck.


Ani Di Franco at The Roseland Theater (Portland, Oregon), October 29, 1996 - Okay, lets make this even more personal for a moment.  You might be asking yourself, "Donist, what the fuck were you doing in Portland, Oregon?" Well, little campers, you see, when a man likes a woman very, very, very much, he will do things like take a trip to Portland (that he can't afford) to visit a woman who used to be a roommate, who used to be the girlfriend of another roommate, who moved away and split with the other roommate, who happened to be visiting Santa Barbara and who happened to be staying at La Casa de Donist for another day or so after the Donist had returned from a family trip to Ohio in which he wrecked his parents' car.
Now, the car has nothing to do with the story other than laying on an immense amount of guilt and self imposed horror for me, and possibly making my one or two readers (thanks, Mom!) laugh.   Anyways, long story short, Oregon Girl and I got along famously and I went to visit her for a week in Portland.  While there and for a birthday present, she took me to see Ani Di Franco at the Roseland Theater.  Again, Ani put on an amazing show and the Dilate album was really beginning to take off.  She was still the tiny powerhouse who appeared to be loving every second of every song that she performed and everyone left the show charged with excitement and joy.  Oregon girl and I were charged with hunger, and went to a nearby Cajun restaurant to talk about how devastatingly amazing Ani Di Franco's performance was.  Fun times.
*rrrrckckk (record stops suddenly)*...Wait a minute.  Hold the phones.  This just in.  Contrary to what I just said, my mind just kicked into overdrive to correct me on a few things.  This trip was actually the second time I had been to Oregon to visit Oregon Girl, with her visiting me specifically in Santa Barbara a few months prior to my last visit with her.  It did not go well.  Don't get me wrong, the concert was a great birthday gift and Ani Di Franco was truly amazing, but that was probably the only good point of the trip.  No details as to why--this is about music afterall--but after three days I was about to change my ticket to return to SB and be done with the whole affair, but after much lamenting (and considering the steep flight change fee) decided to dig the knife in deeper and stay.  Still Ani ruled.

Luscious Jackson at the Ventura Theater, February 19, 1997 - After the emotional crushing I took in Oregon, one would think that I crawled into a cave to hide and plot my eventual takeover of Cinnabon, but that was not the case.  Although I did not attend any concerts there were women coming out of the woodwork to such an extent that my life felt like a fucked-up Three's Company episode.  Maybe some day I will talk about the immensely screwed up girl, the nice girl, the nice girl from the bar, the great slightly older woman, the nutball ex-coworker woman, the super crush with the heroin boyfriend in jail, another coworker, and the woman who is now my wife, but we won't go into that today.  "Whoa there partner, that sounds kind of interesting, plus there's no way in hell that I believe that you had one girl to deal with in a four month span, let alone all those other's."  Well, faithful reader Obie the Boston Terrier, let me tell you something...I barely believe it myself, but it is totally true.
Amy and I had met a month after ground zero in Portland.  She showed up to work for the ultra-evil music store corporation that was imploding towards the end of November, and by the beginning of February, and after the store had closed down, things...changed.  I then pronounced us boyfriend and girlfriend.
This was great, but a month prior I had purchased tickets to go see Luscious Jackson with Super Crush and her friend, so the three of us went.  Luscious Jackson was touring for their Fever In Fever Out album and they put on a really good show, but I was in la-la land thinking about Amy and wishing I was back in town with her.  Here I was with Super Crush and her beautiful and kind friend, eating Mexican food, seeing a great show and returning to Santa Barbara for a quick drink and I did not care.  After a drink or two, the evening came spiraling headfirst to a halt when I said that my girlfriend was coming to pick me up.  I kind of got an odd reaction from Super Crush and her friend, but again, a story for another time.

Mazzy Star at Emerald City, March 27, 1997 - By this point, Amy and I had been going out for a really long time...nearly two months!  We had purchased tickets to see Mazzy Star for her Among My Swan album.  Okay, what can I tell you about this concert.  Let's see.  The air conditioner was down and it was hot.  Correction.  It was you have been a bad boy now burn in an eternal firey hell that you paid to put yourself through.  Dear god it was hot.  That and Mazzy took the stage very late and Amy and I bailed after a couple of songs.  At least I lost a couple pounds in water weight, but you know how that goes, it always comes back.

Lori Carson at McCabe's, April 15, 1997 (?) - One of my favorite bands of all time is Golden Palominos, specifically the Lori Carson helmed albums This Is How It Feels and Pure followed by the vastly dark Dead Inside with Nicole Blackman.  Lori Carson's songs for Golden Palominos are at times haunting, others driving but always beautiful, so I had no reservations about picking up her solo album Where It Goes, which is more her style as opposed to that of Golden Palomino's frontman Anton Fier.
Where It Goes is a more mellow and slightly more accessible album than the Golden Palominos albums and the same can be said for Carson's follow up Everything I Touch Runs Wild for which she was doing a small tour.
McCabe's is a smallish guitar store in Santa Monica that also hosts many small concerts, providing an intimate setting that almost seems like a private show.  Lori Carson took the stool with just her guitar to perform songs from her solo albums and even a rendition of Golden Palominos's "Little Suicides" from Pure.  Not the most upbeat of shows, but definitely one that I will remember forever.

That's it for now, until next time when the focus changes back to mostly just the music.

To All the Concerts I Loved Before - Part 8