Stories, Songs, and an Excess of Cereal

My cereal intake. Why'd I use two bowls? I have no idea.

For the first morning I've had off in a while, I've done a load of laundry and consumed two bowls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It's been a good lazy morning to what was an eventful week.

Last Tuesday my roommate Mara and our friend Gailyn went to The Moth, a storytelling open mic event that I think I've talked about a few times before. This is the first time I've went without putting my name in the hat to tell a story, and it was nice to just sit back and enjoy listening to all the tales. The theme was "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" and we heard stories about traveling and favorite cars that met a heinous demise. The winner was a woman who told us about when she was detained at the airport because her young son had some thumbtacks in his backpack. Next month's theme is "Home" and hopefully I'll have a story to contribute to that one.

Friday saw the opening night of True West at the Pittsburgh Public Theater (which I've reviewed on my other blog, if you're interested). Opening night is always a fun time, mostly because there's a fun after-party we get to attend. Gailyn and my friend Erika came and saw the show and then we all attended the after party. My coworker and friend Jodi had two friends come also, and it's always fun when you combine people together to drink, eat, and laugh (all of which we did a lot of). There's always fun grub at these parties; I was particularly happy to scarf down all the deviled eggs and churros I could find. 

Then last night after work Gailyn and I went to Club Cafe in South Side to see an awesome concert: The Spring Standards and You Won't. I was familiar with The Spring Standards after seeing them on The Mountain Stage, but I'd never heard of You Won't. So imagine my very pleasant surprise when I was totally blown away by their set.

You Won't is two men, Josh Arnoudse and Raky Sastri, who make truly awesome music. Arnoudse plays guitar and sings lead with a high and powerful singing voice, while Sastri harmonizes and plays a variety of instruments ranging from drums, harmonica, xylophone, and the saw. Oh yeah, for at least three songs he played the saw, which is not something you see everyday and really should.

A real highlight was near the end of their set when they had the crowd at Club Cafe (a great intimate venue) form a circle in the middle of the room and shine phone flashlights on their faces while they played acoustically in the center. Sastri played an organ-esque thing that you squeeze a little (I don't know what it's called, I'll look it up later) while Arnoudse sang a beautiful ballad that I'm going to call "Fuck TV" because I don't know what it's name was. But it was fantastic.

Playing the Saw!

Acoustic circle!

Oh yeah, he hopped up on the bar a little too. Fun!

Then the Spring Standards came on and continued the fantastic-ness of the night. The trio hailing from New York City are really amazing performers, each boasting a great singing voice and the ability to play multiple instruments at the same time. They each have beautiful hair that they whip around while they sing, and despite the fact that I was tired at that hour their energy was too infectious to resist. Check them out!

We stayed for their first encore, which involved the acoustic circle and the involvement of You Won't. They sang "So Simple So True" off their double EP "yellow/gold" and it involved so many beautiful voices and, of course, the saw. Unfortunately it also featured the voices of the drunken patrons of Club Cafe who apparently didn't come to appreciate good music, because they kept talking and snickering during the beautiful moment. Some jagoff even whistled in a way to imitate the saw playing. I resisted the urge to beat him up, despite strong desires to do so.

Gailyn and I then high-tailed it out of there, missing whatever else the encore was going to consist of. Not because we weren't enjoying ourselves (we were!) but we had to walk 12 blocks to catch the last bus that would take us home. And if you don't know, South Side on a Saturday night is a shit show. Gailyn and I are both very fast walkers when we want to be and we zoomed through crowds of people. One man was lying on the ground in handcuffs while a crowd looked on, a bunch of college boys were getting into fights, some girls couldn't walk. When I drink I get giggly and sleepy, I can't imagined getting angry and/or arrested. Alcohol isn't for everyone, is it? Anyway, we caught our bus and completed our walk home without issue so it was a successful night.

Aaaand that was my week. I'm about the jump in the shower and go work a shift at the theater. Got a long week coming up, I'm working lots of shifts at both jobs. Which is great, because I like food and things, but I also like excess sleeping so it's little disheartening. But that's okay, I will make it and hopefully have some stories to tell later. Have a good week everyone!