We Are Devo

I had to be back at the Chamber of Commerce this morning at 8am for another Walk of Fame meeting. This year is the Walk of Fame's 50th anniversary so there are some events coming up that we are planning, including a Community Festival on July 25 which sounds really exciting. I'm really looking forward to touring the Capitol Records building, which is going to be one of the activities that day. It's an iconic building that's not usually open to the public. My favorite association with that building is in the film "Dig" where Courtney Taylor-Taylor goes there to bitch about the way the record company is treating them - that's about all I remember about it, but it was classic. Maybe Brandon can shed some light on that scene.
I saw on my calendar that it was "Canada Day" so I sent messages to R and J up in Winnipeg.
Later that day I went to the groundbreaking for the Villas at Gower, a project that is going to provide homes for homeless people. I came in the back way and had to walk up this latter from the dig site up to where the event was, which was kind of funny and would have been awkward had it not been for the fact that I was one of the first ones there.
I went back to the office afterward and wrote an article about the event, as I'm trying to finish up the newsletter while Kerry's on vacation.
After work, it was TIME OUT FOR FUN! That's a title of a Devo song, so you know what that means! We were going to see Devo live! They are playing at the Hollywood Park, which is the race track where we recently saw Joan Jett.
I've been a Devo fan since as long as I can remember. When I was little, I think I was fascinated by them because their name was so similar to mine (Devo ended up being a nickname of mine in high school which some people still use to this day) and because they were so - weird! Just like me. I got to see them live once before, at KROQ Inland Invasion, where I was about to die of a heat stroke (not really, but seemed like it at the time). They were great then, but that was about 5 years ago and they are not spring chickens, so I was wondering how they would be. But their new album RULES so I was excited to hear the songs live, and Dylan had raved about them when he saw them at Coachella recently.
Ben met us at our place and then we picked up Brad and Alf. Brandon and Angie were already there when we arrived, and Rebecca and Loren found us in line. We all went inside and had some cheap beer and hot dogs. This time we didn't bet on any races because we wanted to get to the stage right away. It was a very festive atmosphere - there were tons of Devo fans milling about, most of them in either t-shirts or energy dome hats. I had ordered a new Devo t-shirt but it hadn't come in time.
Me, Marc, Ben and Dylan made our way to the stage and got pretty close, considering there was already quite a crowd. It got closer and closer to show time, and I was getting closer and closer to wetting myself, it was not fun. I knew that it would be impossible to get back up there if I left though, so I told myself just to hold it. Eventually it became unbearable and the band hadn't even come out yet. I was completely irritated and said I'd just have to probably miss the opening and then stand way in the back. So I ran to the restroom and on my way back I found Brandon, Angie, Rebecca, Loren, and the group. I told them what happened, and Myles was there, having gotten there later and found them. He was like, "NO! You are going back to your rightful place!" so he took my hand and walked me through the crowd back to where I was. People were being incredibly rude, thinking we were just butting our way up to the front. Someone even said, "Oh Look, and they're GAY too!" because we were holding hands, which is so funny since Myles is so not gay. Someone else made a mean comment to me, and I explained that I had been waiting there for over an hour and had to leave to go pee, but the girl didn't give a f#ck and told me I should have thought of that before I left!!! Whatever, we eventually made it back to where Dylan and them were and luckily most the people right in that vicinity had seen me there before.
The band finally came out and the show was amazing! They were awesome - just as good as ever. I hope I can still rock out like that when I am that age. I have total respect for them. They played a lot of songs I wasn't expecting, like "That's Good" and "Going Under." I could have heard more songs from the new album, but they played a really good mix of new and old. They even closed with "Beautiful World" which Brandon had wanted to hear and I said they probably wouldn't play.
It was really, really late by the time the show ended and Dylan was anxious to get home.
What a great night!

Hello 2010, goodbye junk!
NEW YEARS RESOLUTION LOG ENTRY 181
"Celebrities who got their start at Oktoberfest" T-shirt from Hays, Kansas, 2001. So, obviously this was from 2001 after I had already moved to LA and lost weight, so I don't really know why I bought an XL, maybe it was all they had left. It has a bunch of drawings of 'celebrities' who are known for having problems with alcohol, many of them dead (although most of the dead ones, died from drug overdoses). I guess I thought that was funny?