Vacation Days: Dresden Dolls and Patriots

I am one to be vacation-sick, i.e. after my requisite 72 hours in my purple robe I grow impatient with laziness and long for a Project. Anything to regain a sense of purpose, even it must be back to the nine-to-five. This year, however, vacation has been refreshingly sweet. The key is to try new things. . .

Saturday we lazed around the house all day pajama-clad. Leftovers were warmed in our new microwave, a high point of the day. Finally about seven we bathed and dressed for our night on the town: a concert at the Orpheum theater in downtown Boston. I prepped the family by downloading two CDs and playing them throughout the day. The band: the Dresden Dolls.

I have to admit, the more I read about the Dresden Dolls and their opening acts, the less sure I was that our twelve-year-old sidekick was ready for the experience of seeing them live in concert. Yet. Going to a concert with your parental types can only be a good thing in terms of nullifying any allure of the less than savory aspects of an "alternative" culture--it renders nose rings uncool if your adults give tacit consent by attending a concert with the same crowd. Our tyke (whose shoes are too big for me and I am not a delicately shod woman) donned his Notre Dame cap instead of any secondary metal.

We missed the first opening act, Meow Meow, mostly by design. A twelve-year-old can only take so much and I bargained that were better off missing the first installment of the evening. You can read about the act in the Boston Globe article "Here, kitty kitty." We did hear the second opening act, a band from Brooklyn, NY called the Luminescent Orchestrii. They were surprisingly good. They opened with a Romanian gypsy-ish song, much to our delight. They played music from all kinds of traditions--French, Bulgarian, Yiddish--but added their own twists. Very fun.

The twelve-year-old was showing signs of concert fatigue by the end of the Luminescent Orchestrii's set. It should be noted that he was keenly aware that the Patriots were playing the Giants in an attempt to complete a perfect season. As we are partly to blame (mostly to blame?) for fostering a love of the Fighting Irish which has morphed into a Patriot's passion, we felt his pain. The concert was LOUD and slightly BORING knowing that THE game was in progress.

We all perked up when the Dresden Dolls took the stage. They are musicians and performers. It was a show to say the least. L. and I could have stayed through till the end, but round about 10 pm the new experience threshold for the tyke crested. Luckily we got to hear "Coin-Operated Boy" before we had to make a mad dash for a cab and home in time for the fourth quarter. We happily watched Tom Brady lead the Patriots from behind to win and thus complete a 16 - 0 season. Revitalized by the Dresden Dolls and thrilled by the Patriots. A good night.

View the video for "Coin-Operated Boy":

Read the Boston Globe's Review of the Dresden Doll's Performance:
Theater is fitting for dramatic art of Dresden Dolls

A sample from the Luminescent Orchestrii's work (available on their website):
http://www.lumii.org/mp3/Luminescent_Orchestrii_-_Taraf_Hijacked_192k.mp3
If you go to the website, you will see that palinka has fueled their inspiration. . .