Johnette Napolitano: Scarred

I have three artists that I have loved consistently since the 80's: Paul Westerberg, Bob Mould and Johnette Napolitano.

I started loving them in different incarnations. Paul in The Replacements, Bob in Hüsker Dü and Sugar and Johnette in Concrete Blonde. In 2002, I got to see all three of them play in Portland (not at the same time) which was like triple threat Christmas for me.


One of my top ten favorite concert memories is going to this show in Hollywood, all by myself. Back then when there was a show I wanted to see, I made sure I saw it and having someone to go with wasn't a necessity. I still like to do things by myself. A Friday matinee is one of my favorite treats like last Friday I went and saw Harry Potter #5 which was my least favorite of the movies so far, but still, fun. Is it just me or has every one of those kids had a giant growth spurt except Harry?

The Concrete Blonde show was super fabulous. I got right up to the front and the band sounded great and Johnette has so much energy and such a powerful voice, it was one of those shows that sticks in your head.

I'm not sure how to put this but I often don't like female singing voices. When that whole Lilith Fair thing was going on and for a brief moment in history you could hear two or three women artists in a row on the radio, it was great for gender equality but I think some women sound like babies when they sing and this makes me want to stick forks in my ears. Johnette does not have one of these voices.

In August, Johnette played a solo/acoustic lunchtime show in Portland which I wrote about here. And I was contacted and asked if I'd like a copy of the big solo album to write about here. What are the rules when this happens? Are you supposed mention it or pretend like you ran out and bought it on your own? It seemed sketchy not to mention it and I *LOVE* the cd and would have raved about it anyway so not like I'm just pimping by rote.

The photo is a crop from the cd cover and I don't know who to credit so we'll say Hybrid Recordings. I think this is fair use but you never know these days.

You can go to myspace and hear some songs right now. Listen to Amazing ("Amazing you're amazing / And I am only OK") and The Scientist ("Nobody said it was easy / /Nobody said it would be this hard") my two favorite songs on the disc. Actually, I like the song Scarred, too, which isn't on myspace but for good reason because it's a song you want to listen to in private. It's a scary honest song about pain and healing.

I am finally getting the myspace thing. Johnette's page is one of the first I've seen that didn't look like a big ugly mess. I love that you can listen to songs. I remember the days long ago when I had to buy records before I heard them. I think that was shortly after the invention of the wheel. Johnette loves Almodovar, too! And John Trudell is one of her friends. I'm not doing myspace because I can barely keep up with blogging and Flickr. I don't need any more excuses to hangout online nor do I regularly need to be reminded that I have only 3 friends.

Not long ago I was joking around with friend about seeing some 80's rock band, I can't remember which one. She had gone to see them at the county fair and they played some new songs and she was like: "Who cares about new songs? Play the old hits." Which made me think how many artists can you think of that put out consistently good music for over 20 years?

I was afraid I wasn't going to like this and turns out I've been carrying it around with me so I can listen to it in the car and at the office. My first heavy rotation disk in a long time. Thanks, Nadine.

I'm working on a post but I *still* haven't finished it so we're going for another half-asser until tomorrow.

Last week we went to the dry cleaners. Colleague had 3 pair of pants and I had 1. As we walked in he noticed the sign that said: "Clean 3 pair, get 1 free."

He said: "Damn, I should have waited until I had one more pair."

I put my pants on his pile. Score, he got the deal.

As we were walking away, I said, "You realize this didn't benefit you whatsoever."

He said, "Yeah, I got the deal." (And he picked up my pants from the dry cleaners. Score!)

In other news, my dear husband has a giant crush on Drew Barrymore. I have pledged not to stand in their way, should she fall madly in love with him.

There have been rumors lately that she's been hanging out with the Mac guy — and I figured this would break his heart. But when I said, "The Mac guy" - he said, "You mean Hodgeman?"

Poor Bob was hopeful because Hodgman is a well-fed, nerdy glasses wearing guy and I guess he thought he might have a shot.

The Mac guy, I said.

Early To Bed
I was ready for bed at 7:30p last night but I didn't actually crawl in until 8p and didn't turn out the light until 8:30p. Bob was already asleep. I had to move his laptop and turn off the movie he was "watching."

On the occasions where we go to bed that early I'm always worried someone is going to phone. What are they going to think if they wake us up before 9pm?

A couple of weeks ago our thermostat acted strangely. It seems like we've had long stretches of weather this summer that were at the threshold. Not really warm enough to kick on the air but almost.

One night I noticed the air kicked on after 7pm when I had all the windows opened. I figured it was warmer than I thought and closed everything up. A half hour later the air was still blasting and the thermostat said it was 80 degrees in the house. When it went to 82 I turned off everything and reopened the windows and wondered how serious this problem was. I noticed a weird display on the screen and part of it said "batt." The other part said something like "6|o9b" but I guessed it was the battery.

I found the user book and read what it said about batteries but I couldn't figure out how to get the unit open. I pulled, pushed, squeezed and slid but everything seemed like it was going to break it. The user book offered no clues of how to do this.

I checked the website. In fact, numerous sites would let me download the same user book I already had. No one said how to get the thing open.

I jotted off an email to the contact at the website that I needed a new battery and didn't know how to do it and they responded to open the unit and replace the old one. I realize my question was poorly worded but it would seem that anyone smart enough to walk upright would know where the battery went, the thermostat is about as big as a pack of cigarettes.

I sent another note, explaining that I couldn't get the unit open and a guy named Woody sent me instructions: you need to insert the tip of a screwdriver into the seam and twist. Worked perfect. I think they should put that in the book.

Finally, one of my favorite online quotes of all time at my new fave guilty pleasure website Jezebel.

She's interviewing this guy on the phone (backstory omitted) and in response to his question of whether she's hot:

Um, not right now. I fix up okay. But "hot" isn't, like, my selling point. I'm more of a "fun" type person. Like, I am really hungover right now, and probably not looking so good, but it's because I was "fun" last night. Anyway I'm not sure why I'm telling you this.

Def Leppard and Styx at the Clark County Amphitheater September 12, 2007

Subtitle: Bringing On the Hottie

Last night was the big rock and roll girls night out starring Def Leppard and Styx at the Amphitheater in Clark County. I've never been to this venue before but I've heard a lot about it because there was a huge contingent of locals who weren't too happy about it being built. Also, Clark College graduation is there so Bob gets to visit every June.

Rock and roll is tiring when you're old. My eyeballs feel like they spent the night in a dust bowl. I was too wound up to sleep when I got home and then I woke up at 4:45am. By 5am this morning, I was dorkily fixing the photos, wondering if this outing was worthy of a Flickr stream. Given the time constraints and upon closer inspection of the photos, I decided, not.

I finally got lithium batteries for my camera and it works a million times better. They should tell you that in the user guide. Last night I accidentally hit the "scene" button which is where the camera helps you take a portrait or landscape or whatever. I never use it so I don't know how it works but it kept making a smiley face that was creeping me out. I'd have the camera pointed at the blanket and there would be a giant smiley face on the screen.



Here we are, ready to rock. That's me, Jenny, Meredith, and Cousin Kathy. The last concert Kathy and I went to together was Spinal Tap sometime in the 90's. It's been too long.

We headed out at 7pm raring to go. Before we were 3 miles down the road we all agreed that we were game to head home early, if we were ready. I wish I could go back and visit my 23 year old self and tell her how tired her 43 year old self will be. But then, why go and depress her. How excited would I be if some old lady hobbled up to me and said she was my 63 year old self and I had no idea what tired was at 43? Well, if she had lottery, horse-racing and stock tips, I would be happy.

One of the local issues was with traffic flow and wow, this place is set up like a well-oiled machine. There were blinking signs, orange cones, flashing Washington Patrol lights and Officers waving at us from every direction. We had 4 people in our car so we qualified for Y.E.S. (your enhancement of service) Parking and I had printed out our pass and we taped it to our windshield.

As we were finding our lot, I told the ladies about Hysteria: The Def Leppard Story a movie about the band. They'd never heard of it. I hope I still have the tape stashed somewhere because it so totally worth watching.

A young man who looked about 12 and wearing a orange vest waved us into a lot close to the venue and even better, close to the exit.

We marched in with the crowd and stopped to get our drinking bracelet. The guy made it clear he was looking at my ID only to humor me. Inside we threw down our blanket and Kathy and I ran out to buy our $9 beer.






Styx was already rocking when we returned, the lights low, the smell of Otto's jacket wafting over the grass and the keyboard pounding Blue Collar Man (Long Nights). Doesn't get any better than that.

Last year I wrote about my teenage infatuation with Styx here. Kathy said she and Jennifer (another cousin) had a big crush on Tommy Shaw back in the day and used to fight over him. I said: "Jennifer's not here. He's all yours." Kathy knew the words to all the songs and laughed at the keyboard player who had a rig where he could run around in circles and I think he was contractually obligated to do 50 circles per song.

Styx did a very Las Vegas super exaggerated show with every rock and roll cliché in the book including synchronized guitar swinging and hair flipping, and they were FABULOUS. And they played all the songs we wanted to hear.



At the break we zoomed to the bathroom which was like: Toilet Barn. I kept saying they had about 60 stalls but they had two sides so it was more like 120 stalls – no waiting! The person(s) responsible for that should have a statue at the entrance and possibly a legal holiday in their honor.

Crowd watching was fun. About as diverse as they come. Well no hipster types with distinctive eyewear. The mullet watch was a wee bit disappointing. Old. Young. People with kids. There was a group of teenagers sitting in front of us that weren't even alive when I listened to Pyromania 10 times a day for a year.


Can you believe it? Almost 24 years to the day, I saw Def Leppard for the first time on the Pyromania tour. That is a story in itself but this post is already 10 times too long. It's impossible to convey how insane I was over this band.

I even wrote a sort-of record review of Hysteria (which, initially, I was disappointed with) in the form of a letter to the editor of Creem magazine which was printed and reappears here.


These shots of the stage are an intentional joke because how can you get a decent shot of a stage from 5 miles back with a cheapo camera? That's Joe Elliot in the lower left corner. See him?

I'm sad to tell you that Def Leppard was pretty much doodoo. As we returned from the bathroom (me for the 3rd visit because apparently if 1 beer goes in, 10 must come out) I said, "I'm disappointed with the sound" and Meredith said, "I'm disappointed with the setlist." And she was right. Except for Foolin' and a few songs off High N'Dry, they didn't play songs that you wanted to hear.



This particular potty break took place at the end of the guitar solo-bass solo sequence leading in to cover of Rock On. Guys, I don't care how tired you are of playing the hits, you're playing a short set and that's what we came for.

Shortly after we got back to our seats, the band played an acoustic version of Bringing on the Heartbreak.

Meredith says: "More unplugged? That's enough."

Moments later we were out in the parking lot, still empty, hearing the classic Photograph riff, the one song we wanted to hear, drifting over the barrier.

"We can listen to it at home," I said.

It was still fun and we zoomed out of the parking lot and I was in bed by 10:45pm.


Here's my new notepad. I can wear it around my neck for easy note taking. A couple years ago Bob gave me that pen which is also a teeny flashlight – perfect for note taking in the dark. The left side says, "Or is he [referring to Styx's keyboard guy] original? Big lighter moment-I used my pen!" and the right side says, "wow synch guitar swing hair flipping AWESOME!"

When Styx played Come Sail Away it was the lighter in the air moment and I waved around my flashlight pen. Remember the big Come Sail Away moment on Freaks and Geeks?

Here's a link to Meredith's review of the show.

I hate to hit the publish button because I'm sure this is filled with errors and grammar nightmares but I'm tired and have to work for a living so this is what you get. If you're still reading.

Butter Bar
I thought about making a list of 10 things I would never write about here and then writing about each one. But the only things I could think of I would never write about.

Several decades ago when I was in college I ate buckets and buckets of air popped popcorn on a daily basis. At the time I was a major binge eater and calorie-wise 10 cups of popcorn was a better choice than a loaf of bread with peanut butter. It was also cheap and tasty and had an enjoyable crunch to it. And when I say better choice, I was a poor college student and couldn't afford a new pair of fat pants every 2 weeks.

My popcorn eating dropped off dramatically after college, but I owned an air popper for a long time and made popcorn now and then.

About 10 years ago I had a popcorn ordeal where shortly after eating popcorn my gum became inflamed. I vigorously brush and flossed and had swelling and terrible pain for my troubles.

I finally did an emergency trip to the best dentist on the planet, Saint Shoneen Sendelback, who moved so I can't see her any longer. It's been years and I'm still not over it. Dr. Sendelback with a touch like angel breath, very carefully examined my poor tooth and gum and couldn't find anything. She decided to give it a good cleaning and give me some rinse and we'd have to wait and see.

During the cleaning she found, deep in my gum, a tiny piece of popcorn kernel the size of a pencil tip. That tiny thing was what was making me so miserable. My mouth was tender but back to normal and I quit eating popcorn.

I will eat kettle corn but I prefer not to have it in the house because it's one of those foods that I eat 10 pounds of in 5 minutes, shoving it in my mouth faster than I can chew. I'm the black widow of kettle corn.

A couple of years ago my office merged with a larger law firm (start at Feb 23). These people microwave popcorn every single day. What is up with offices and microwave popcorn? I wish I invented it.

The Future’s Open Wide
Last night I gave blood at yoga. I bet you thought it was just a bunch of women with ponytails stretching on mats and not a blood sport. I don’t have time to find a photo for you (try this) but it’s a pose where you balance on your forearms, Pincha Mayurasana. A couple of weeks ago I was trying a variation using the wall for balance so I was up there for awhile wiggling around and ended up wearing a raw spot on both elbows.

The raw spots turned into scabs and the scabs rubbed off a little last week and one totally came off last night. For the first time in my yoga career I have to scrub blood off my mat.

In other news, one of my very favorite songs of all time is I Melt With You by Modern English. It’s one of those songs that I can listen to over and over, I can hear it anytime and it always sounds good. One of my favorite movie moments is the end of Valley Girl when that song starts.

You can imagine my horror when last night I heard my favorite song pimping some new product in a commercial for Taco Hell. The wiki says it’s been used in a number of other commercials but I guess I never noticed. I was so distraught, I had to go to bed early.

My Latest Disaster

It’s hard to believe that I can be so consistently lame at something I do so often. Another pie crust disaster, possibly my worst disaster of all time. I have a folder filled with “no fail” crust recipes and for some reason I decided to try a different one yesterday which is a half butter, half shortening and turned out this pile of crumbs. Thanks a lot, Sunset.

As soon as I saw what a mess it was I took the recipe out of the folder and tossed it into recycling. Then after I “rolled out” the bottom crust I took the recipe out of recycling, violently crumpled it up and threw it on the floor and stomped on it and then I put it back in recycling.

If you’ve ever made a graham cracker crust, you know how you mix the crumbs with butter and then smush them into the pie pan? That was more or less my method. At the end of the day all we need are yummy peaches mixed with a delicious baked crumble. I just kept the pie pan shape to humor myself.

The top crust went equally bad and I scraped up crumbs and flattened them with my fingers and then lay the resulting crumb blob onto bare peaches. Then I took this picture.

Every time I see one of my photos like this I think: I need to spring for a better camera. And then I think how little sense it makes to have a fancy camera to photograph baking mayhem. You can guess the punchline: it tasted fabulous.

Also, Children of Men is an excellent movie.