night at the opera

i buried my deep loathing of driving to & into san francisco, last nite, because a favorite band of mine & anna's, the the [you read that right, that is indeed the name of the band], reformed & is currently on tour.  anna tells me that the first two albums she bought were the english beat by the dave wakeling led band of the same name, & soul mining by the the.  both albums were unleashed on the public in 1983.

now that we are older we sometimes indulge in a few minor extravagaces.  one such indulgence was prepaying for parking, & access to the VIP room.  why the fuck not.  i've never even seen the inside of a VIP room so when anna purchased the concert tix a couple months or so ago she couldn't resist a little extra something for our rock&roll nite.

only problem is getting to sf.  i took the day off work.  anna went to her office.  the only exigency was to make sure nick was provided for & to get a quick dinner for all three of us before anna & i took to the road.  no problem, no sweat.  even the drive to the bay area was routine & dull.  it was a very hot day in sac so when we saw the fog rolling over the east bay we rolled down our windows & breathed deep of the cool, moist air.  i love california cold, above freezing but chilly enough to warrant wearing a coat.  the next thing is to cross the bay to the city itself.

that we easily did.  i snapped a few pics on my phone of the bay bridge at nite & in the fog.  i texted a couple to nick.  it was when we landed onto the city streets proper was where we lost our minds.  san francisco is a great walking city.  it is a terrible city for driving.  we got ourselves lost on market st.  we took a few loops around market & california looking for the masonic on nob hill.  i don't know why we got lost.  the fucking gps on our phones was telling us the masonic was here when it was really over there.  the experience really fried the nerves.

but a few minutes later we pointed our prius to california st, up nob hill, where we found the masonic buiding on our left.  remember it was nite, dark, & the building signage sucked.  i wondered if the building was indeed the masonic so i rolled down my window, shouted to a security guard, hey!  is this the masonic!  yeah, dumbass!, was the reply.  i didn't see the security guard's mouth move.  huh?  the same voice that answered me said something else. i looked up.  dozens of people were on the balcony facing california st.  rock&roll!, i shouted & drove in to the parking garage.

the rest was elemental.  we only had a few minutes to spare before the the was set to hit the stage.  but we insisted on going to the VIP room.  when we found it the room was nearly empty.  we wanted a glass of wine.  so i went to the bar and several minutes later, for there was a couple who insisted on getting an elaborately made concoction that took forever to make, & 20 bucks light in my wallet, we headed to our seats on the balcony right when the the took the stage.

& the the?  OMG, if you don't know the band i beseech you to stop reading, point your browser to youtube, & watch the video of the song 'this is the day'.  the leader of the the, matt johnson, can change your life.  johnson is the owner of one of the more beautiful & expressive voices in pop music.  deep, resonant, soulful are decent description of matt johnson's voice.  the band's set hovered over three albums, soul mining, mind bomb & dusk along with one song, 'i saw the light', from matt johnson's album of hank williams' covers, hanky panky.  & this iteration of the the was stunning musicianship.  the the are no strangers to synths & sequencers but for this version of themselves they stripped down their sound to keyboards, bass, guitar, drums & vocals.

in the middle of their set anna turned to me & asked if i identified a theme to all of johnson's songs.  i couldn't.  she said, time; they are all about the passage of time & growing older.  forsooth, i looked at the audience.  quite a number looked like me: older, white haired rock&rollers who still loved to rock to their favorite band.

which we did.  but we left a bit early.  the very last song of their set was 'lonely planet' from the dusk album.  a gorgeous song.  but they just plaid 'uncertain smile' a favorite among my very favorites.  anna & i were holding hands as we sang along to the chorus.  we didn't need to duke it out of the garage with a couple thousands other cars.  we beat the crowds, as maxwell smart said, by that much.  we pointed the prius to the bay bridge & getting out of the city, & on toward home to our beloved town of sac, was utterly uneventful.  anna & were still electrified by the magnificent the the performance that she plugged her phone into car's stereo [wow!  i know!  i am 51 years old & never in my wildest imaginations would i have envisioned a smart phone & blue tooth tech when the the's soul mining was released], & we sang along to 'cruel to be kind' by nick lowe [another near perfect pop song] & other tunes as we left the damp foggy air of the bay area & moved into the familiar hard, hot air of the central valley.