Musical Memories

MUSIC MARATHON:  Yesterday afternoon and evening, we headed for Seattle Center to see a loooong concert - Deck the Hall Ball, featuring a whole bunch o' 'new music' or 'alternative' bands (whatever that means any more). The show started at 3. We arrived a bit after 4, and spent the next SEVEN HOURS rockin' out. 

I'll let CJ and Annabelle tell you more about it, with CJ's review up first. ... 

On December 9th, I went to Key Arena to see Deck the Hall Ball, a holiday-themed concert run by a radio station called 107.7 The End. According to Wikipedia, Deck the Hall Ball has happened every year since 1992, in varying venues.

When we came to the concert, the band that was playing was a South African band called Kongos, which was followed up by bands including TV On The Radio (yes, you're supposed to capitalize it that way), Young the Giant, Cage The Elephant (yes, the capitalize 'The,' too), Weezer, and Imagine Dragons, most notable for their hit single "Radioactive."

During the intermissions between bands at the concert, what 107.7 The End was currently playing on their station was played through Key Arena's speakers. A highlight of the concert was that when Imagine Dragons was playing their song "Demons," many people started waving their cell phones around as though they were candles.

In the end, I enjoyed this year's Deck the Hall Ball.

And here's Annabelle's take ... 

On December 9th, 2014, I went to see an event at Key Arena called Deck the Hall Ball. It included some popular bands such as Weezer, Cage The Elephant, and Imagine Dragons. There were also other bands up-and-coming such as Kongos, along with TV on the Radio.

First was Kongos. We didn't exactly watch the whole thing (we really just wanted to see TV on the Radio and everyone after them), but it was fun none the less.

Next, TV on the Radio. They played their popular "Happy Idiot" and others. Surprisingly, they had a black singer (which you don't often see in alternative rock)!

Third, Cage the Elephant: I was especially excited for them (I enjoyed plenty of their songs). They played their newest hit,"Cigarette Daydreams" and other songs,such as "Come a Little Closer." After that there was Weezer. Playing many of their popular songs, including, but not limited to, "Undone (the Sweater Song)," with "Buddy Holly" as an encore. They were very fun, even if a little quiet.

And last but not least, Imagine Dragons. They were very fun,along with all the others. my favorite songs of theirs that they played would have to be "Radioactive" and "Demons." Overall,the concert was really fun, and I look forward to going next year!

My thoughts? Cage The Elephant are absolute rock stars, and it was great to see Weezer - though their sound tech was having a B-A-D night. And the whole evening would have been  better if the drunk art teacher from a suburb hadn't shown up and sat behind me. Ya know, if I pay $60+ bucks to see a concert, I pretty much don't want to hear the person behind me babbling loudly about how wonderful their gluten free beer is and all about their problems at work. And why did she even bother coming? She sure wasn't there for the music. We wound up moving seats to get away from her.   That said, overall it was great - and the Center is so pretty at night this time of year!

PAINTING:  The customization of a Nerf gun continues here at MPA. With three or four coats of white down, CJ and Annabelle taped off the areas CJ wanted to remain white, in preparation for some bright orange paint on some of the gun's parts.

As we were all taping, I said aloud, "There has to be a better way to do this." Surely there is a product out there for people custom painting small things (people who customize miniatures for role playing games, for instance). 

White areas supposedly protected, we hit the gun with a couple of coats of orange paint yesterday. Today, we peeled the tape off and while it mostly worked, there were several small spots where the orange somehow bled through to the white. DARN IT. Now, there's a whole lot of touching up to do. Drat. The saga continues.