After the exhibit yesterday, I had dinner with Jonathan at a great little vegetarian Chinese restaurant. We then met up with Carrie, Emily, Tara, Chris, Taylor, Marty, and Gideon for the Girl Talk show at the Urban Lounge. I was a little reluctant to go to another late show since I've been working all weekend, but if you know anything about Girl Talk, you know it's not a show to be missed.
The opening act was a local band called The Vile Blue Shades, an 11(!)-piece band which included three drummers and a dancing girl who wore nothing but a fishnet body stocking and well-placed blue rope. They didn't come on until 11, but their blend of experimental punk and progressive dance made me not even care about work today.
Girl Talk is actually just one guy, Gregg Gillis. He played the Coachella festival a few weeks ago, and I'd read that his set blew everyone away. The only thing on the stage was him and two lap-top computers, and as soon as the first beat dropped, people stormed the stage to dance all around him. Normally, bands wouldn't permit something like this, but Mr. Gillis welcomed it. His music isn't made up of his own music. It's mash-ups of tons of different artists, but he puts everything together so well, he makes it his own. Plus, there's a new sample every few seconds and it really keeps you on your toes. Few people could mix Fleetwood Mac with Paul Wall with Steve Winwood with Britney Spears with The Smashing Pumpkins and make it sound even remotely danceable. But he did it. The whole dancefloor was completely packed, and not a single person stopped dancing the whole time. About halfway through, he brought his set-up to the middle of the dancefloor, so the entire stage could be used for dancing and everyone could see better. He had to end his set at 1 AM, and by the time we walked outside, I'd traded sweat with half the crowd.
By far, the best line of the night was early on, when we were having a pre-show party at Chris's place. Gideon walked in the door and...
Gideon: Man, I'm pretty drunk already.
Carrie: When did you start drinking?
Gideon: When I was 17.
I laughed and laughed and laughed again.
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