Autograph Signing with Tim Robbins!!!

Found out quite suddenly yesterday that Tim Robbins, of Bull Durham and Shawkshank Redemption fame has a band. Also found out he was going to be playing in PDX, as well as doing some record store signings. Huh...My celebrity wall hadn't seen a new pic since Bono so I figured it was time. I showed up at 5:30 so I could rally a good spot for the 6pm show....6:30, still no Tim. Best line of the night? A guy behind me said, "10 more minutes and I start flinging Michael Bolton cd's!"
Luckily, just about that time Tim did walk in. BUT, we were told since he was so late and had no guitar, no show...just cd signings. That's fine...since they had his music playing for the hour and a half we were getting annoyed waiting for him we were all starting to wonder if that's the music they play in purgatory anyway. I'd had enough of his singing for one day.
So I leave my spot I had reserved for the last hour and a half and go to a different spot in the store to stand in line for an autograph (I actually had purchased a cd...seemed polite if I wanted a picture). People in front of me had Shawshank dvds and posters they wanted signed. Tim immediately nixed that with "No movie stuff! I'm here to sign cd's". Wow...that's a huge mistake if you are trying to get folks to love a new side of you...tell them you refuse to sign their beloved movie stuff and come off as an asshole. Hard to get folks to believe they are going to love your cd after you've done that. Oh well...at this point I was just hoping nobody pissed him off so badly that he got mad and left...
Got up there quite quickly for my turn. Told him, "OK, I bought the cd, I only have one thing for you to sign, can I have a picture?" He looked sort of confused and then said, "Yeah, sure!". So I leaned in and the store guy took the picture for me...it's not bad, considering it's just a counter leaner.
While he was signing my cd I said, "I won't make any snarky comments about Bull Durham...." He sort of had this grin on his face and kept signing my c.d. Then he looked up with this DAZZLING smile and said, "Thanks so much for buying my cd!" Pretty funny. And my GOD what a smile. Everytime I get around these guys I don't think much of it until they turn the looks on...then you realize how they got so famous in the first place. That's why they are celebrities I guess.
As I was walking out I just started laughing. I was thinking, "Tim Robbins is sort of a dousche...." But the longer I thought about it, the more I think his douschiness made it a little more fun. LOL!

U2 360 in Seattle...Finally....

I had the tickets for almost 2 years, but finally the Claw came to Seattle. My co-pilot changed several times over that 2 year stretch, but it turned out that my brother Wade ended up going with me. Considering it was Wade's first U2 show, I'm thinking Bono gave it his all!
I saw 360 Tour twice already, once in Vegas and once in B.C. When I saw it before they still had hope for NLOTH to take off so a large part of the set list was from that album. This time they dropped most of that and did a very nice selection of their past catalogue. I was pretty excited that I got to see them play Stay live and accoustic. That was a first time for me. Also a first time for All I Want Is You in concert for me. Loved both!
I'm not sure if "It" was in the stadium or not...I think it's harder to feel that in that large of a stadium...you couldn't really hear the crowd singing from where I was sitting, so it was harder to get the whole comeraderie thing as I have at some smaller venues in the past. However, I won't say "It" wasn't there either...it was a good show and I felt pretty good afterwards. A U2 show continues to be my number 1 happy place!

Billy Joel On My Mind....

It occurred to me I hadn't blogged in FOREVER...last night I had a dream that was interesting enough to inspire me. Won't go into details, but I had a really interesting dream about being at a Billy concert, going home with him afterwards...for some reason my ex love interest was at the concert too but I didn't care because I knew I was hooking up with Bill, etc. One of those REALLY GREAT dreams that make you wake up feeling fantastic. So I decided to listen to all Billy Joel today as a tribute to my dream, and the first album on my WMP is The Bridge. Some of my favorite lyrics EVER belong to Code of Silence...it defines how I feel inside about MANY things. Here they are:

Everybody's got a million questions

Everybody wants to know the score

What you went through

It's something you

Should be over now

Everybody wants to hear the secrets

That you never told a soul before

And it's not that strange

Because it wouldn't change

What happened anyhow

But you swore to yourself a long time ago

There were some things that people never needed to know

This is one that you keep

That you bury so deep

No one can tear it out

And you can't talk about it

Because you're following a code of silence

You're never gonna lose the anger

You just deal with it a different way

And you can't talk about it

And isn't that a kind of madness

To be living by a code of silence

When you've really got a lot to say

You don't want to lose a friendship

There' s nothing that you have to hide

And a little dirt couldn't hurt no one anyway

And you still have a rage inside you

That you carry with certain pride

In the only part of a broken heart

That you could never save

But you've been through it once, you know how it ends

You don't see the point of going through it again,

And this ain't the place, and this ain't the time,

And neither's any other day

So you can't talk about it

Because your following a code of silence

You're never gonna lose the anger

You just deal within it a different way

So you can't talk about it

And isn't that a kind of madness

To be living by a code of silence

When you've really got a lot to say

I know you well enough to tell you've got your reasons

That's not the kind of code you're inclined to break

Some things unknown are best left alone forever

And if a vow is what it takes

Haven't you paid for your mistakes

After the moment passes

And the impulse disappears

You can still hold back

Because you don't crack very easily

It's a time honored resolution

Because the danger is always near

It's with you now

But that ain't how it was supposed to be

And it's hard to believe after all these years

That it still gives you pain and it still brings tears

And you feel like a fool, because in spite of your rules

You've got a memory

But you can't talk about it

Because you're following a code of silence

You're never gonna lose the anger

You just deal with it a different way

But you can't talk about it

And isn't that a kind of madness

To be living by a code of silence

When you've really got a lot to say

 

What's really sad is that Billy claims he can no longer write...he says he hasn't released any new stuff because he can't write anymore...Let's all cross our fingers and hope that the Muse will descend at some point and help him shake his greater than a decade writer's slump!

 

Thanks for being you Billy!