mr. yuk

i'm sorry to have a piggy-back post, but since i was a part of the original conversation i feel that i can freely speak on this subject.

i went to wikipedia to do a little research on our green friend and here's what i found. it turns out his name does not include a C. he was originally the mascot for the poison center at the children's hospital of pittsburgh. and my favorite bit of information was that he replaced the jolly roger as the sticker of choice to identify poisonous materials in the house. according to wikipedia, the reason is that the jolly roger was too closely associated with pirates, so kids wanted to eat the poisons. it makes sense. what kid doesn't want to be like a pirate. finally, it turns out mr. yuk also has a theme song. he protects kids, he plunder's pirate territory, and he has a theme song. he's the complete man. except, the whole missing body thing. bleaah!

bowie in the park

last night s.gary, sara*, em and myself set off for central park and the arcade fire concert. sitting in traffic on the FDR last night i was worried we would be too late to see the band. we finally break loose and get to the venue. only now we're running through the darkness trying to find the entrance. meanwhile "in the back seat" is playing. we find the will call tent get our tickets and get in. "neighborhood #3 (power out)" begins playing. when the song ends the front man, win butler, declares that the audience has been great tonight. damnit! bands only say that at the end of their set. not all is lost. the opening strains of "rebellion (lies)" erupt from the speakers. well, if we missed the show at least i heard my favorite song. the song finishes, the band exits, the crowd applauds. after a brief repose the band returns to the stage, only now they're accompanied by a man in a white suit and straw hat. mr. butler then informs the crowd that this is a song by david bowie called "queen bitch". awesome! that's one of my favorite bowie songs. wait! the guy in the white suit is singing. he kind of sounds like bowie, too. holy shit! it is bowie. david f'in bowie. awesome! i'm watching david bowie play "queen bitch". everyone there was beside themselves. i don't think i've ever seen s.gary that excited for anything. arcade fire finishes the set with "wake up", another of my favorites from their album. everyone reluctantly stands idly by, hoping for another encore. but the house lights come up and we know it's over.

when the band first left the stage i was a little disappointed i only saw two and half songs performed. but as we're exitting i have a smile on my face. i may have only heard five songs but two of them were my favorite arcade fire songs and one, one was an amazing rock song performed by a legend. good show.