Today was my birthday and I celebrated with my first day after giving my work the good old two weeks notice. I got bitch eyes from the bosses but it felt good to know that the evil was in them all along and that I got to see it after I was out of their grip.
Also in celebration of becoming a man I went to see the "new" Friends Forever at CCAC's Design Branch on 14th and Wisconsin. When I got there, the campus security was harassing us to bring our alcohol into the concert area and to not drink it outside. He kept mumbling about all this crap and even when I was communicating that we were on our way inside he was still quite persistent. I have never been encouraged to rush into a venue with outside liquor before, I guess there is a first time for everything.
I am going to spare you all of the details of the embarrassing free-access-style-television show that was being filmed and was the reason for the free concert on campus. Lets just say that it was fucking cold outside and the pre-show entertainment wasn't warming anything up.
I saw Friends Forever play the first month I came to San Francisco about 3 years ago. It was at my friends loft in SOMA (formerly the Clit Stop now just 58 Tehama) and the Hospitals played along with someone else I must've missed. All I remember is how people were talking about how the last band would be performing live and outside in the parking lot. The band was supposed to be from Santa Cruz and they only played out of their tour van. Very fresh to the Northern California music scene and pretty fresh to party life in general I had no expectations.
Lets just say Friends Forever was quite the initiation to the things to come on my new life in a new city.
If you don't know anything about the band already, go check out their DVD of the same name, its become a cult classic over 2 years its been out.
A quick synopsis of a Friends Forever performance is fireworks, lasers, lights, more fireworks, smelly keyboards, spastic hardcore jamming, smelly kids, and more fireworks. Mostly, the band captures a crowd by surprise and the dancing is only led by diehards and fans. Everyone else is usually so shocked about the sensory overload and the dangerously close contact they are making with the action that they are usually stunned still. The band, although they interacted with the crowd and infiltrated the spectators space, created this pulling energy where more and more I felt like we were less watching and more actually responsible for the madness. Needles to say, it fucking rocked my whole world. I'm can't necessarily pinpoint it to exactly that night, but I do know that concert had something to do with my acceptance of beer as a new option toward doing evenings.
So is life that in three years I found myself at another Friends Forever show, about the same time as the last one (late summer), this time 10x wiser, with great expectations, and already a couple of beers into my belly. But, its seems as though the band and I have been going through some changes over the years. Yes, our balls did drop, literally. Friends Forever is no longer the original Friends Forever. Now it is Friends Forever with 3 girls in bikinis as opposed to 3 boys in smelly vegan-kinis. New line up, similar sound, a van, all out Friends Forever energy, and yes more fireworks. I heard rumors about the gimmick that they would be touring with three girls in bikinis but was skeptical of its validity. Its true, but don't get to caught up in the cleavage, these girls fucking ROCK a smidgen harder then the original kids. During their interview before they performed, they mentioned something about not being able to play their instruments and that is why they added the skimpy outfits. Well, I agree, they aren't winning any Grammy’s anytime soon, but they songs fucking rock. I also feel like their energy and the new songs are a little smoother and more accessible. The songs are just as long as the jams I saw a couple of years ago, but there is something clearer in their structure then I remember from the original trio.
Regardless, the legend lives on and if you get the chance go see them. Rent the movie to tide you over until then.
Also in celebration of becoming a man I went to see the "new" Friends Forever at CCAC's Design Branch on 14th and Wisconsin. When I got there, the campus security was harassing us to bring our alcohol into the concert area and to not drink it outside. He kept mumbling about all this crap and even when I was communicating that we were on our way inside he was still quite persistent. I have never been encouraged to rush into a venue with outside liquor before, I guess there is a first time for everything.
I am going to spare you all of the details of the embarrassing free-access-style-television show that was being filmed and was the reason for the free concert on campus. Lets just say that it was fucking cold outside and the pre-show entertainment wasn't warming anything up.
I saw Friends Forever play the first month I came to San Francisco about 3 years ago. It was at my friends loft in SOMA (formerly the Clit Stop now just 58 Tehama) and the Hospitals played along with someone else I must've missed. All I remember is how people were talking about how the last band would be performing live and outside in the parking lot. The band was supposed to be from Santa Cruz and they only played out of their tour van. Very fresh to the Northern California music scene and pretty fresh to party life in general I had no expectations.
Lets just say Friends Forever was quite the initiation to the things to come on my new life in a new city.
If you don't know anything about the band already, go check out their DVD of the same name, its become a cult classic over 2 years its been out.
A quick synopsis of a Friends Forever performance is fireworks, lasers, lights, more fireworks, smelly keyboards, spastic hardcore jamming, smelly kids, and more fireworks. Mostly, the band captures a crowd by surprise and the dancing is only led by diehards and fans. Everyone else is usually so shocked about the sensory overload and the dangerously close contact they are making with the action that they are usually stunned still. The band, although they interacted with the crowd and infiltrated the spectators space, created this pulling energy where more and more I felt like we were less watching and more actually responsible for the madness. Needles to say, it fucking rocked my whole world. I'm can't necessarily pinpoint it to exactly that night, but I do know that concert had something to do with my acceptance of beer as a new option toward doing evenings.
So is life that in three years I found myself at another Friends Forever show, about the same time as the last one (late summer), this time 10x wiser, with great expectations, and already a couple of beers into my belly. But, its seems as though the band and I have been going through some changes over the years. Yes, our balls did drop, literally. Friends Forever is no longer the original Friends Forever. Now it is Friends Forever with 3 girls in bikinis as opposed to 3 boys in smelly vegan-kinis. New line up, similar sound, a van, all out Friends Forever energy, and yes more fireworks. I heard rumors about the gimmick that they would be touring with three girls in bikinis but was skeptical of its validity. Its true, but don't get to caught up in the cleavage, these girls fucking ROCK a smidgen harder then the original kids. During their interview before they performed, they mentioned something about not being able to play their instruments and that is why they added the skimpy outfits. Well, I agree, they aren't winning any Grammy’s anytime soon, but they songs fucking rock. I also feel like their energy and the new songs are a little smoother and more accessible. The songs are just as long as the jams I saw a couple of years ago, but there is something clearer in their structure then I remember from the original trio.
Regardless, the legend lives on and if you get the chance go see them. Rent the movie to tide you over until then.
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