The Ekpyrotic Universe

I was thinking there are concerts I really wish I'd seen. Some of them it'd be completely impossible for me to have seen, like the 1939 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert with Benny Goodman. Others are concerts where I saw the equivalent, for example I saw Sonic Youth in the early 90s, so other concerts from that era really don't count. I'm going to list the top 5 concerts I wish I'd seen with an arbitrary date of 1980 as the cutoff. I was young then, but could have been taken to a show by a parent or older relative. I did see Benny Goodman around that age. Sure, it is a bit of a stretch, but 12 is my arbitrary age.

1) Siouxsie & the Banshees around 1980. Is this the reason my arbitrary date is so early? Maybe. I never saw them, but the early stuff is my favorite. Their shows were supposed to be amazing.

2) The Talking Heads before 1986. I never did see them, though I've seen spinoff groups. Again, their early stuff is my favorite.

3) They Might be Giants any time before 1989. I've seen them a TON since then. I've probably seen more shows by them than by any other band, but I'd like to have seen one of their first shows.

4) The Soft Boys around 1980. They broke up in 1980, but they're one of my favorites. Sure, I've seen Robyn Hitchcock frequently, but it isn't the same. Heck, you could append any early Robyn Hitchcock show to this one too. Anything before say 1986.

5) Vagiant... wait, I'm seeing them Friday. Never mind.

5) Mudhoney around 1992. Piece of Cake is a great album.

Sure, there are lots of acts that vie for that last position and I may revisit this at some point, but that's where they stand today.

Should I have only listed bands I'd never seen? Early TMBG and the Soft Boys are very different from what I actually ended up seeing. Maybe the idea would be better with never seen bands only, though.

Anyway, what bands are on your list?

Because I can't keep track of my own thoughts, chaoticmoth reminded me that I never posted the answer to the "2 truths and a lie" thing I stole from him.

Anyway, here is the answer. Falsehood is in red.

1. I once had 2000 lbs of steel fall on my legs and I walked away with nothing more than bruises


2. My grandmother was Joan of Arc


3. I got out of a speeding ticket by giving the officer donuts

1. I was working as a temp at a company that provided supplies and componants to the companies that made military jets. My manager asked me to restack some steel that had had one end slide off the stack below it and rest on the floor. Each stack was 2,000 lbs and I couldn't simply lift it, so I took a steel bar and levered it up. Since I had my back to it and was using my legs to assist in providing leverage, they were caught under the steel when the level I was using bent suddenly.
   I managed to step out from under the steel after it had come to rest on my legs and it clanged on the floor behind me. They sent me to the nurse and were quite surprised I was only bruised.


2. My grandmother was of French Canadian descent. While she used the name Jeanne, her given name was Jeanne d'Arc Gertrude Frappier. She'd be very upset about my telling people her middle name.


3. The donuts were on the seat next to me and he kept glancing over at them, but I never offered him one. Somehow I didn't get a ticket either.