Ugh.
I haven't been writing much because of the shoulder pain that I have been experiencing. It actually has been not just in my shoulder and neck but all the way down my right arm to my hand. It's at its worst when I'm typing so I've been staying offline.
We went to the Cranes show last night. It was at the Magic Stick. Doors were supposed to open at 8 but they didn't open until sometime after nine. When we got there, it took awhile for the first band to start, then awhile before the Cranes went on. I hate when doors don't open when they say they will, especially on a weeknight show. You rush to get there, and then get to wait for a long time. And you can't exactly plan on showing up later than when doors open in the off chance that they start on time. Making things worse, there was an art opening at Tangent Gallery but the times would have clashed so we skipped it. It turned out we could have gone. Oh well. When the Cranes went on, we found our experience of the show being somewhat interrupted due to a television nearby that had a basketball game on. There was a crowd of guys who, most likely dragged to the show with their girlfriends, hovered around the television yelling on top of their lungs whenever there was a score.
Now I don't get this and I never will. Maybe it was because both my parents were English teachers, not really the types to go "Yay, team!". Poetry readings, plays, museums...these are the kind of things that were emphasized when I was growing up. But I have never understood the need for people to scream maniacally, oblivious to anyone else around them, just because of someone making a score. It's almost as if they're doing this to affirm their manhood and they want to make sure that everyone knows they like sports. I mean, seriously. Okay, fine, you get rowdy if you're actually *at* a game. It's not my thing, but it's part of the atmosphere. But the people that just assume it's appropriate behavior *everywhere*?
What I really don't get is that when you have a bar with a $15. cover, with a high turn out to see the band, and then you do that while the band is mid-song? I'm sorry, that's just rude. It's low class, and it makes you look like you were raised in a barn. If you want to watch the game, stay at home or go to one of Detroit's five trillion sports/neighborhood bars where everyone is doing that.
After awhile it was really pissing me off. Rob and I were making rude comments in between songs, which got increasingly more acidic the more and louder these people yelled. It started off with, after everyone clapped at the end of the song, me yelling "Now is the appropriate time to clap and yell," progressing to him insinuating that they were merely closet cases that only watched sports because they couldn't accept their true sexuality. Finally, I said "Sports fans should be shot. Learn some fucking manners." Well, the last one got overheard as one of these obnoxious fans remarked to the bartender, "apparently someone thinks they're superior." That's right, I do. Not because you like sports but because of how you act when you watch it. I'm sorry, I don't care how bored I was, I would *never* be so rude as to yell and scream at a tv set when a band was on stage. It's rude to the band, it's rude to the fans, and its just plain inexcusable.
Well, then the bartender in question walked passed and glared at me. Which was more funny than anything. Because the fact is, where does all her money come from? From the hundred or so people that were at The Cranes show, getting things like scotch and whiskey and vodka, tipping appropriately? Or from the five or so screaming sports fans, guzzling their beer?
But then we noticed a booth had opened up (I didn't want to stand up, near the front, just because I was in so much pain) and so we sat there, which was cozy.
The show was in fact quite good, though. I mean, distractions aside, they played a great show and I enjoyed myself. I wasn't overly impressed with the Magic Stick as a concert venue, though I liked the downstairs bar that they had, so it was an all right time overall.
I hardly slept at all, because of the neck and shoulder pain. I'd turn in my sleep and wake up in great pain. Then the phone kept ringing and waking me up.
Speaking of which, my wrist is starting to hurt so I'm going to go relax on the couch...