coulda shoulda

It's really not such a big deal...I mean, I've seen some really wonderful things in my life. Oh, but sheesh! the ones that got away!

Last week Bjork came and went and I couldn't get tickets. Couldn't. Could not. Tried and tried and, short of E-Bay, really tried everything. She played at a fairly small and intimate theater, which undoubtedly proved a lovely venue for the hundreds that were lucky enough to get in, but it just seemed Elitest to those of us who've waited and waited for her. I mean, imagine the scores of Industry People in there!

That was Wednesday.

Friday saw Smog come to town. He played at a tiny bar but because he's no Bjork I probably could've gotten tickets. Could've. Could have.

I'm not a big Smog fan but someone and then something told me I should go. Should have.

Well, that night, the elusive, delightful Will Oldham showed up and ended up playing with Mr. Callahan and Neil Michael Haggerty for an historic evening of music that people are still talking about...even Sam in Minnesota wishes he would have been at that one.

Aaargh...I know I can't very well go see all the interesting things that come to town...it's the picking and the choosing that gets me crazy sometimes.

But hey! I once got to see Shellac play an early Sunday morning in a dark and dingy Entry with cartoons in the background and toasters toasting pop-tarts -- that was cool. David Sylvian on the Words With the Shaman tour was truly transcending. And Robyn Hitchcock sitting on Ryan's counter singing Across the Universe made me cry. All afternoon.

In the 70's, those early Cheap Trick club shows blew my young mind. World Saxaphone Quartet sets in the 80's tore my head completely off. And all the Major Minimalists I saw in the 90's (Reich, Riley, Monk, Glass, Adams, Young...) kept that same head rolling.

Yeah, that's fine, I've done pretty well.

But Bjork with an orchestra!! (sigh)

Maybe it's like what the great poet and philosopher Don Henley once wrote:
"You always want the one you cannot have..."

Oh, it's a hard one.

Copyright © 2001 Alice Kenner