the weekend is free!

this is a shot of the congress theater in between modest mouse's sound check last night and when the doors were opened. i was there to take the picture because i was an usher for the event. that's a job which doesn't pay but does afford one the opportunity to watch the soundcheck...and, you know, actually see the show for free, from more or less wherever you want. plus it provides a fun format in which to chat with other enthusiastic concert-goers, and the ageless quandary of what to wear to the show is handily resolved: i think i'll wear black slacks and a button-up white shirt.

i had a great time, in other words, and really enjoyed the show. this was my first time seeing modest mouse live (but not my first attempt) and they were the rocking energetic crazies i had expected them to be. plus they played the view and paper thin walls and that made me pretty happy. and as an added bonus it's at this exact same theater i will reprise my ushering role in a few weeks for bjork's concert, whom i have also never seen in concert (that one ought to be memorable--i'm excited nearly to the point of incontinence over that show).

friday night was ushering a play called black diamond, which was about liberia and their civil wars and bloody history. that was not quite the same pick-me-up atmostphere as the rock show, but it had some very solid parts to it (amongst the gritty violence and occasionally dismal moments) and i'd say i benefitted from having seen it.

i wish i could say i had some point to this post other than to brag about going to concerts and plays for free, but it seems to me that's all i really have to say right now.