18,542

18,542. More than eight thousand words better than last time. And we're only at the halfway point. Woot. But writing is hard, yo. Dag.

Anyways, updates!

As you might could tell by my last.fm page, I have a thing for Regina Spektor. Just a tiny thing, that involves me listening to her twice as much as anything else in the world. I absolutely love her voice, and her song writing. You hear the Tori Amos/Fiona Apple comparisons all the time, but frankly? She's much better. (I can't believe I just said something mean about Fiona. What has become of me?)

Normally this (obsession) would not be worth mentioning (as I am a bit obsessive about a million things), but last Thursday Regina was at the Gypsy Tea Room on her first headlining tour.

And I got to go! (Thanks Jordan!!!! One million times.)

Now, okay, I don't go see a lot of live music, I will admit that. So maybe I'm not the best judge of such things. But seriously, it was just the amazing concert. Ever. We got there at just the right time (10 minutes before the opening band), and we had excellent spots on the floor without having to wait forever.

The opener (Only Son) was not bad, which is all I ask of an opening band. I say band, but it was really one man with a guitar and a magical backup recording. He was sort of a cross between the lead singer of Death Cab and Mitch Hedberg. Which...yeah. Whatever, at least he was interesting.

Then Regina came out and, omigosh y'all. That tiny obsession is officially blown out of control. I am trying so hard not to sound like a 14 year old Livejournaler, and am failing wildly.

Soooooo good!!!1!eleven!1!

Talent all over the place. Even better live than on the CD, and I love her Soviet Kitsch like it is my own child. She played plenty off of that album, every single one of my favorite songs off of Begin to Hope, and a few original songs that are just for her live shows (e.g. Dance Anthem, which I really wish I had a recording of now).

The show alternated about half and half between her solo on the piano (for things like Flowers and Summer in the City (which is one million times better live)) and her backed up by her band (coming up for her more electronic songs, like Fidelity or Hotel Song (my favorite of all her songs, which was the final encore of the night! Swoon, for serious.))

The entire thing was completely surreal, because it was so unlike most small venue concerts I've been too. Big crowd, but still plenty of standing room so you weren't crushed, no overly drunken fools, no loud talking during quiet songs (because a lot of Regina Spektor is quiet, or has long pauses), and an almost 2 hour long show. An excellent experience all around.

And did I mention that she did Poor Little Rich Boy, with a drumstick in one hand and a piano at the other? Which I guess I understood empirically was how it was done, but Wow, in person, crazy impressive.

So now, yeah, totally obsessed. I have 11:11, Songs, Begin to Hope, and Soviet Kitsch running on a continuous loop on my iPod. LOVE.

And feel free to shoot me, but this music video makes me so happy that I might spontaneously combust.