are you part of the scene?

Last night, Anna, Mark, and I went to a show at The Scene in Glendale. I hadn't been to a concert in a month so it was nice to get back in the groove, take my mind off things. I really wanted to see The World Record (their LP forthcoming from Tallboy Records) and it had been awhile since I saw The Brokedown. The Brokedown just put up a new song ("On the Bubble") and it's catchy as hell. I really dug their set last night. In the past, I have found them (live) far too twangy for my taste, but last night was almost completely sans twang, which will encourage me to see them live more often. Even if I think both Brian and Dan are insufferably rude. They will completely ignore my immediate presence while they enthusiastically approach Anna. She says it's shyness, but come on, I'm not looking for even a hello, just an acknowledgement that you walked past another person. One person's shyness is another person's rudeness. How do they expect to promote themselves with those social skills? Ross, on the other hand, is very polite, especially in his indie rock uniform.

We perched ourselves at one end of the bar near the door. Anna and I had been sitting together for quite awhile when the bartender comes over to me and tells me the guy at the end of the bar would like to buy me a drink. Of course I wasn't cool about it. This sort of thing had never happened and I didn't even know what to do. So Anna told me to get a drink and go over there and talk to him--that he'd make the conversation. I complied. Well, he was already drunk, possibly high, and had trouble understanding everything I said. He was easily pushing 40, heavily tattooed, and from Argentina. The conversation was slow to get off the ground. He didn't actually expect me to come over, I later learned (he claimed that was the El Lay way). I tried to mouth for help, but to no avail. Soon after The World Record finished, I told him that we were going and thanked him again for the beer. He didn't ask for my number, thank god, because I wasn't going to give it to him. I don't play those sorts of games. I knew I wasn't interested in a matter of minutes.

But of course that was not all to the night. Anna and I started the evening by taking a series of photos in the photobooth. I think they're really cute and wait for her to scan them! I won't hold my breath, though, since she's never given me any of the photos she's taken of me in all these months...