Bazan!
Just got back from an excellent show – managed to get tickets to the house show David Bazan was playing here in Sacramento. It’s a nice concept – only a handful of tickets given out so you can see him play in someone’s living room, who hosts for free, presumably. Anyway, good crowd, good vibe, good set. I’m feeling lucky to have gone, though looking forward to seeing him in a few months at a bigger venue, too.
Seeing a good show always makes me want to relive my life 10 or more years ago. There’s a wonderful sense of escape I get at a show I get nowhere else. I think this is what film buffs get going to movies, or some such. Anyway, there’s a tangible feeling of bliss that settles in me when a band is good, and there’s really no external thoughts polluting my moment. It’s not often in my life I find a place where I’m free from worry, but concerts do it. I think most my happiest moments growing up were at shows, with or without my posse, or with my band. I want to dive right into it again, after a night like tonight. Sitting on that floor, I was planning how I could force myself to go see more bands in Sac and get some of that back, though knowing the whole time that it’s a futile effort. Until I feel free and rich, going out to shows must be an extravagant luxury, both mentally and monetarily.
I should have been keeping track of every time I’ve seen Dave Bazan. It’s uncountable now, the total number. I can think of at least a handful of different venues I’ve seen him in – this house, now, the Independent, the Bottom of the Hill, Bumbershoot, a teen recovery center in Bellevue once… the RKCNDY? I miss the RKCNDY. I tried to find pictures of it online the other day, only to realize that there aren’t many (save this tag set on flickr), This means that the RCKNDY, like so many other formative things from my childhood, exists functionally only in my mind. Like my childhood home(s). Like Teriyaki. Like Marbletop, and the Java Jump, and 2nd Time Around, and the Fremont Sonic Boom. And these days, even like my best friend. I know life moves on, but I wish I had, at some point, realized that I was trading a new world for my old world. I thought I could have my cake, and that the plate would still be there when I got home. Turns out, even the house is gone.
