Except this time, the natural disaster never happened. Phew.

This weekend’s tsunami warning should not be confused with the several watches and advisories (which are both lower than a warning – the links lead to definitions for each term) that were sent out the past few months. The 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile was enough for us to be seriously concerned about a tsunami threat, especially since the one that hit Hilo in 1960 was generated by a Chilean earthquake, as well.

And let us not forget, 8.8 is damn powerful – in fact, thousands of times more powerful than the Haitian earthquake in January. Having experienced only one earthquake in my lifetime so far – Hawai‘i’s 5.3-magnitude quake – I can’t imagine what it’d be like to experience something as powerful as those quakes. And I was living at the top of a 12-story building when the Hawai‘i quake hit. Bless the people of Chile and Haiti who’ve lived and died through those disasters.

This is selfish and horrible to write, but a part of me was hoping that we’d get hit by a tsunami. A destructive tsunami hasn’t hit Hawai‘i since 1975, almost 40 years ago. Several generations who have never experienced a state of emergency due to a tsunami. Now, I’m not saying I’d like to see people getting hurt or killed by one, or anyone suffering because of one – who would? – but I suppose I’m curious to see how our state would fare in an event like that.

That said, judging from what I saw on the news, it looked like city officials, emergency personnel, and volunteers did a damn good job executing a long-established emergency plan for the state. The road closures and evacuations seem like they went off pretty smoothly. Buses travelled along Wai‘anae, picking up anyone who needed shelter from the impending tidal surge. We also found out about kinks in the system we had, like the failure of Civil Defense sirens in a few neighborhoods. Either no one cared to report that they didn’t work during monthly testings, or they just happened to fail on the day they were being used for an actual warning.

Kudos also go out to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, of course. They worked tirelessly for over 30 hours straight analyzing data that would help assess the tsunami threat. And the representatives who were grilled by our local media – that is not an easy experience to be subjected to, to not know how powerful of a tsunami it could be, and to not be able to give any solid answers.

At times, I felt like we were expecting these reps to bust out the crystal sphere and tell us our future. The initial data could only tell us whether a tsunami was coming or not – the earthquake in Chile was powerful enough to trip buoy alerts set up around the Pacific. As later measurements came in from buoys in places like the Solomon Islands and American Samoa, it got clearer that a destructive tsunami was most likely not going to happen – just tidal changes that were perhaps most visible in Hilo Bay.

I appreciated how the local media (or at least Hawaii News Now) treated this story. Perhaps because it was local, and perhaps after Hawaii News Now anchors grilled tsunami warning center officials late Friday night/early Saturday morning, it was understood that this was a waiting game, with no knowledge of any specifics about the tsunami. No one jumped to the conclusion that this would be a major disaster, unlike national news outlets like CNN, who, in their typical fashion, over-dramatized the situation and claimed we were expecting 30-foot waves.

The majority of my news-watching time was spent on Hawaii News Now. Occasionally, I flipped to CNN to see this story unfold on national news. Unlike CNN, who focused on explaining tsunami-related terms, fiddling with magic walls, and talking every now and then to a reporter on vacation on the Big Island to see how she was doing, Hawaii News Now covered many angles of tsunami preparations: updates straight from the warning center, footage of locals and tourists alike making preparations, traffic cameras that showed our roads busy one hour and deserted the next, interviews and statements from government officials, and an exclusive camera set up at a perfect vantage point at Hilo Bay.

The only thing I appreciated from CNN was their local news feeds they would cut to occasionally from KHON and KITV, a way of showing what we were watching. They also interviewed KITV’s Justin Fujioka to get some perspective on the situation.

You’d think in this day and age, the national news media would get some basic facts straight about Hawai‘i. (Or maybe not – mass media generally does a good job displaying our society’s ignorance and lack of depth.) Like how “Hawaiians” are people of our islands’ indigenous race, and isn’t a term used to describe all residents of Hawai‘i – the Associated Press stylebook was updated five years ago to acknowledge this. Or the basic knowledge that Hawai‘i is a US state – MSNBC allegedly reported that there is “a large American population” here. Go figure.

The big event I did NOT appreciate at ALL was when a CNN meteorologist lost his temper with a guest professor – a meteorologist who just moments before was bragging that this professor was his “phone-a-friend” for tsunami-related terms. That outburst was disgustingly unprofessional and unnecessary. I hope he had a talking to.

The general public, on the other hand, gets a big high-five from me. A lot of people took the safe route and stocked up on food, gasoline, and water in case of outages the tsunami could generate. Now, maybe we should have had these things well in advance, especially since hurricane season just ended, but just seeing people not take any chances about what could happen was impressive in my eyes. 500 people, most of whom I figure are homeless families living on beaches along the Wai‘anae coast, took up shelter at Nānākuli High School.

Judging from Twitter trends, Hawai‘i was the center of discussion, as it was the number one topic on the site at one point, followed by #hitsunami. I like Jennifer Chandler’s take on these Twitter trends – that this was NOT a sign of the world talking about us, but a sign of Hawai‘i as a community banding together in a time of crisis.

It would have been interesting to see how naysayers would have reacted if a destructive tsunami actually happened. No destructive tsunami and they were proven right. It makes me think about what would happen the next time a warning is issued. Would a “boy who cried wolf” effect be in place? That is, repeated false alarms desensitizing the public to the possibility of a tsunami? Or would the same thing we saw this weekend happen again, with the masses taking action to prepare?

Reading this article, I realized how fast technology both progressed and was embraced within a decade. In the story, I mention that I had a 35 mm Minolta, your run-of-the-mill, point-and-shoot film camera. At gigs today, I shoot with a digital Panasonic Lumix with a 10x optical zoom and HD video recording capability!

The details in this piece made reading it a little bittersweet. On top of forgetting that I had written this, the memories in this piece are all but vague now, almost ten years later. It makes me wonder how, in 2020, I’ll look back on the gigs I had attended last year, and the Muse shows I’ll be attending this year.

* * *

6:10 pm and we had arrived at the Pipeline Cafe—10 minutes after the publicized doors-open time. People were still waiting for the doors to open (okay, so we weren’t late, the people running the cafe were). My mom—she’s hip, all right?—and I joined them. While we were standing there, I saw two women peering through the tinted windows, pointing, you know, like they were at the Bishop Museum or something. I had a feeling that I knew what—or who—they were pointing at. Sure enough, there was Adam “Adrock” Horovitz, Beastie Boy, fellow BS2000 member, and at-the-moment main exhibit, having a little chat with security at the bar. (He was probably telling them to look out for “knuckleheads”—people endangering the safety of audience members). He was wearing a white t-shirt, and his hair was sticking up (my personal favorite hair-do on Adam). I was frozen there; I don’t know why I didn’t pull out my zoom-in, 35 mm Minolta camera (which can take pictures through tinted glass) when I had the chance. When I finally thought of it, though, Adam started climbing the staircase leading to the dressing room. Oh, well, serves me right.

After maybe 15 or 20 minutes of waiting, the doors finally opened. I noticed that people were setting up a table to sell BS2000 and Le Tigre t-shirts and tiny buttons. The crappy part was that there was only one t-shirt design and one button design for each band. But being a fan, I bought one BS2000 item each, totaling up to less than . For the rest of the night, I wore both.

About 45 minutes of sitting, waiting, and watching the lighting effects passed before Le Tigre came on stage, sporting matching dark blue windbreakers. Kathleen Hanna announced that this was their last appearance for the tour. Their set, which lasted for an hour (sorry, I don’t know the set list) comprised of songs blended with dance and punk music. I thought they were a cool band, with their beats and beliefs. Plus, they connected with the audience pretty well. Hanna brought up the fact that she saw the Grammys, which was on TV the night before the show. One of them cracked, “This next song we’re gonna do features Elton John on the chorus!” They also brought up, among other things, last year’s Amadou Diallo shooting, racial discrimination, and did a little choreographed dance on stage. They even brought up this college guy, who kind of advertised this organization he’s part of at the University of Hawai‘i. During the BS set, they threw down towels to the band from the dressing room balcony.

Amery Smith, a.k.a. AWOL.

After Le Tigre’s set (and not to mention another wait), BS-two-triple-o walked on stage to, appropriately, “We Are BS2000″. AWOL, Adrock, and additional back-up members Jazz Thompson and Alfredo Ortiz took their places behind three keyboards and a drum kit, respectively. Adrock was wearing a yellow button-up shirt over the white shirt he had on earlier, along with dark green pants. He welcomed the crowd and proclaimed that he was having a bad hair day (he had combed back his hair) to which an audience member responded, “Your hair looks great!” “Thanks! Okay, I’m having a great hair day!” Adrock said.

BS also connected to the audience, holding both political and casual conversations, just like what Le Tigre did. Ortiz mentioned eating Portuguese sausages, scrambled eggs, and rice (a local favorite breakfast platter) at Loco Moco Drive Inn (a local favorite diner) that morning. Adrock was like, “What was the name of the place? Coco Moco?” The audience was shouting, “LOCO MOCO!” Then Adrock sang a portion of “Locomotion” (“C’mon baby, do the Locomotion!”). Adrock also did his best to succinctly explain each of the mostly political meanings behind the songs, but I think Hanna did a better job at that. (No offense, Ad.)

Adrock.

Their performance was super-cool (naturally) and the concert-goers enjoyed themselves (including myself). But some people were REALLY enjoying themselves. These male college kids (probably frat boys, but I’m not sure) were at the front-and-center part of the crowd, acting like they were in a mosh pit. One of ‘em even collapsed right in front of me. I mean, it wasn’t some big arena concert, just a small club show. In fact, several times during BS2000’s set, Adrock looked at them and mumbled, “Crazy kids.” Most of the audience seemed to be of the college crowd, though I did see some teenagers around my age, an elderly man, and a couple with a baby. I guess Adrock was starting to worry about our safety (the teens, the elderly man and I were among the people right in front of the stage) because he asked us, “Are you guys doing alright? Are you guys feeling okay here?”

I think I caught Adrock looking at me. After all, I was probably the only audience members wearing my newly purchased BS shirt. I even took a picture of him looking right at the camera. Unfortunately, like most of my pictures from that night, his eyes came out looking all red. I also took pictures of AWOL, whom I was standing right in front of (I was to the left of the stage, near the merchandise booth), yelling his head off in the microphone, while playing his keyboards; and Ortiz, playing the drums (sorry Jazz, I had a hard time trying to take a picture of you). Plus, I remember that this nice woman, who was also taking pictures, let me go in front of her so I could take pictures of Adam, too. (Thanks, it really helped a lot!) Also, both bands brought up a fluorescent yellow, glow-in-the-dark Hacky Sack on stage. When Adrock had it, people actually started bidding for it. He finally said something like, “The deal’s off!”

Adrock rocks the Casio.

I don’t remember the actual set list in order, but I do remember that the first song was “We Are BS2000″ and the last song was “The Scrappy.” They also did a Blondie song called “I Know But I Don’t Know,” “Nobody Beats BS2000″ and most (sad to say, not all) of the Simply Mortified tracks. I also remember that the audio was LOUD and the Pipeline Cafe was PACKED.

Then, the moment came when it was time for the show to end. People were calling out, “Hana hou!” (Hawaiian for “Encore!”) and “We love you guys!” Many of us felt disappointed because it felt so short. Plus, I didn’t get to meet BS2000. They could’ve free-styled or talked more or SOMETHING. I could’ve played something, since I take piano lessons. If the show was a month later, I could’ve even played some Simply Mortified songs; I learned some by ear during the Spring Break. Oh, well. I guess us Island fans have to wait for the next Hawai‘i Beastie or BS appearance, whenever that will be. (Note: It was in Hawai‘i, when the Beasties made their so-far only public showing here in June 1995, that Adrock and AWOL got the idea for BS2000.)

Here’s a bunch of photos from that weekend on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/libperalta/sets/72157622917593013/

And a couple of videos I shot in Vegas:

So as you may know, I spent December 10-15 in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, to watch my favorite band Muse perform at two different radio station holiday festivals. Here are the highlights from that memorable weekend.

- Stayed at the California Hotel my first night there (Thursday), since I hadn’t been to Fremont Street when I went to Vegas in May with my sister, Yvonne, and Jon. There were tons of people wearing cowboy hats; the national rodeo finals was taking place that weekend. Cowboys and Muse fans in the same city, the same weekend. Hehehe.

- On Friday night, I walked through the Venetian, the Forum Shops at Caesar’s Palace, and Harrah’s with Jae and her husband, who flew in from Chicago for the gig. They’re so sweet!

- The Vegas concert on Saturday was at the Hard Rock Hotel’s venue, The Joint. I made it a point to go to this gig because this is probably the last time in a while that Americans will witness Muse in a mid-sized venue (The Joint has a capacity of about 4,000 people), since Muse is doing an arena tour in the spring. And I’m glad we stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel because everything was right downstairs. I lined up at 7 am to find that I was the first one there! At 10 am, though, security told the 20 people who had gathered to disperse, since lineup starts at 4 pm. That was disappointing, since we were already in line for three hours before someone actually told us, and we weren’t in anyone’s way, since we were in a separate lobby from the casino, but it was still a fire hazard. We anxiously lined up outside and kept checking the front of the venue inside until then.

- To pass the time, we started a sign-making campaign to get Muse to play “Bliss,” one of many songs from their previous albums that they rarely play these days. It spread to other people who waited in line with us, and soon, there were a bunch of us sporting signs requesting it. Unfortunately, when it came time to enter the venue, security didn’t allow signs inside, so we had to throw them away.

Mine is the neon yellow one. And yup, those are my star lei… which I’ll talk about in a bit.

Muse fans for “Bliss”!

- The Las Vegas gig was my first time seeing Muse (“popping my Muse cherry,” as it were). And it was AMAZING. Front and center on the barrier! After watching three other bands — Afghan Raiders, Paper Tongues, and Cage the Elephant — it was time for Muse. It’s surreal seeing a band you’ve always watched onscreen at home, then seeing them in the flesh for the first time. Though they didn’t play many oldies, they did bust out “MK Ultra,” one of my favorites off their latest album, and apparently this was their first time playing it in the States. I made sure to call my friend Kylee, who was back home on O’ahu, during the song, so she could enjoy it along with me.

Lead vocalist, guitarist, and pianist Matt Bellamy.

Bassist Chris Wolstenholme playing the harmonica during “Man with a Harmonica,” the Ennio Morricone song the band uses as an intro to “Knights of Cydonia.” My favorite live photo I took that night.

Drummer Dom Howard.

- Thinking there was no way I would be able to meet the band afterward — and note, I feel very uncomfortable about throwing things onstage — I thought, “screw it,” and, after seeing someone throw their jacket onstage (???), I threw one of my lei toward frontman Matt Bellamy during “Starlight” (you know, because it was a lei of origami stars). But…

- Matt, drummer Dom Howard, supporting musician Morgan Nicholls, and “fourth member” Tom Kirk were at the official afterparty. The great thing about the party was that it was free, as long as you showed your photo ID (you had to be 21+) and concert ticket stub. Two very brief encounters with Matt Bellamy: one in which I actually “lei’d” him with another lei I had, which incited his hilarious giggle (I didn’t “lei” him like that, you pervs!); the other in which we took a photo together. I need to get over being so nervous around people I admire. I also had a scare with my wallet, which turned out to be in my room, but had a ton of fun with the people I was with after I found it. We were standing the next booth over from Muse’s booth. I glanced in the band’s direction a few times while I was hanging out with other fans, and it was a bit awkward catching Matt dance to music like Usher’s lol.

Me and Matt Bellamy. Oh. My. God.

Dom and Matt, who’s wearing my star lei. Props to Christina for taking this photo.

- Flew to Los Angeles the following afternoon for KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas. It was interesting because I had an opposite vantage point from the previous evening; I sat with a few friends in the balcony. In addition to Muse, I got to see bands like Metric, Phoenix, and 311 perform, as well. The downside was seeing Cage the Elephant, who played before Muse the night before in Vegas, again. I didn’t enjoy them because, in short, their lead singer is epileptic and incomprehensible live. Muse, who headlined this festival too, brought it, of course. Complete with the big balloons with confetti inside them for the pit to destroy at the end of “Plug In Baby.”

After my back-to-back Muse shows, I went to a Craig Ferguson taping. I have no photos from that, since people aren’t allowed to bring cameras and cell phones inside CBS’s studios. But I must say, the guy who amps up the audience before the taping did an excellent job putting everyone in that laugh-out-loud mood. And Craig himself is hilarious, of course! I watched the episode that night, and I could barely hear my hoarse laugh. (Yeah, my voice was shot after the weekend!) That night, I had dinner with Vasthy, a friend I made at my inaugural Franz Ferdinand gig in April, and talked about traveling and concert plans for next year.

Thank you to everybody who helped make this such a memorable weekend… and thanks especially to Muse. See you again in the spring, I hope!

The documentary No Impact Man got me thinking about how so many of the things we take for granted every day have some sort of impact on our environment, and thus, each other. As the film’s subject, Colin Beavan, says in the film, we live in a throw-away world: shaving razors, diapers, plastic bags, napkins, toilet paper, Starbucks paper cups—we’re all guilty of mindlessly consuming and rapidly disposing.

No Impact Man follows Colin’s project of curiosity, as he sets out to discover what it’d be like to live as sustainably as possible for a year—taking his shopping/reality TV/caffeine-addicted wife and their toddler daughter along for the ride. Along the way, quite a few laughs are shared; I mean, come on, just imagine what kinds of clashes ensue between the Beavan couple! But it’s also helped me think a bit more about what my family already does and what I could do to live a lifestyle that’s a little more sustainable.

Some of the things Colin and his family do are pretty extreme—no toilet paper?!—but others are things my family has done forever. Hand washing clothes, for instance. As the audience in the theater laughed at Colin, his wife Michelle, and their daughter Isabella stepping on their clothes in the bathtub, I thought, “Hey, this is something I saw all the time as a kid, and something my family continues to do to this very day!” As a child of first- and second-generation Filipino immigrants, this was just one of the things I’m glad my parents continue to practice in America. Even though we have a washing machine, a lot of the time, we actually prefer hand washing our clothes. I guess old habits die hard. Good thing it’s an eco-friendly habit.

But why is decreasing our impact on the environment important? Well, we need to remember that “the environment” isn’t just about beautifying our flora and fauna—it involves the impact on people, too. Without the indoor comforts of electricity and television, the family spends more time outside their New York City apartment. Colin and Michelle spend some time at the beach, take their daughter to the farm where the veggies they buy are grown, and splash in the local fountain. While volunteering, Colin learns about how a garbage dump in the South Bronx is taking its toll on the quality of life of its residents, with more children developing respiratory problems and the disturbance of hundreds of trucks passing through the neighborhood every day. The family also develops relationships with vendors at the local farmers market, and a neighbor at a community garden, who shows them the ropes in raising their own vegetables. Simply put, they are forging connections with each other and within the community. And the more connections are forged, the more accountable we feel about how our actions affect the people we care about.

I’ve already taken some steps before even seeing this film in reducing waste. I have a reusable drinking water bottle I’ve been refilling, I carry several reusable tote bags when I go shopping, and I’ve been helping clear trash every month with some friends in Ke‘ehi Lagoon. I’ve taken note of a few more things from the film that I’d like to do: make more trips to the nearby farmers market, spend more time outdoors, and help my parents grow a few more veggies in our own farm.

At the same time, I admit, there are a few behaviors I can say I won’t fully abandon: I love my computer and am way too used to using toilet paper. So I’m not saying completely and drastically change your lifestyle, because that’s unrealistic and very difficult to do. But I’ll continue to do what I can, a little at a time. I hope you can do the same.

Some links to check out:
No Impact Project
Inspired by No Impact Man, an undertaking to promote behavioral change to live more sustainably.

Story of Stuff
A comprehensive look at the production/consumption cycle and how it impacts us.

Kanu Hawaii
A local website where we can put in pledges and share ideas on what we can do to do our part to preserve our island environment and communities.

MA‘O Farms
A local social enterprise growing organic food and providing opportunities for Wai‘anae youth.

Bela‘Aina
A burgeoning project to preserve our island’s watersheds.

Click on a thumbnail to see its full size.

Videos: YouTube Playlist • Photos: Flickr Set

A week ago today, I was in Los Angeles, roaming around in “the world’s largest independent record store,” Amoeba Music, sifting through vintage rock posters, walking among aisles of CDs and vinyl records… and brushing shoulders with director Michel Gondry.

Oh right, ’twas Hollywood.

Vasthy, Liz, Christina and I had just come from eating dinner at Hard Rock Cafe on Universal City Walk. At Amoeba, we were all exhausted but willed ourselves to get lost in the music – literally. I mean, it’s why we were all here. (And Michel Gondry? Turns out he was there for a performance at Amoeba. He plays the drums.)

Franz Ferdinand would be performing the following day at the Hollywood Palladium. This would make it my second time seeing the Scottish band live; my first Franz gig was only about five months ago in Tempe, Arizona. That experience remains as among the best and luckiest I’ve ever had: we scored killer barrier positions right up front, chatted with the band (with frontman Alex Kapranos and bass player Bob Hardy, twice), and made a bunch of new friends — especially the coincidental meeting with Tracy, the other Hawai‘i girl who was there. It was definitely a surprise to find out we had both come from the same island – heck, the same side of the island — to see the same band. How did we not know of each other earlier?

This time around, Tracy couldn’t join us, and neither could Aurora and Cris, two good friends I had made in Tempe and on the online forum for my other favorite band, Muse. I missed them and wished they could have joined us. There were others I’d be meeting up with, though, mostly from the Muse boards, including Lisa and Christina, two Musers I’d also met in Tempe.

The next day, around 10am, Christina and I arrived in line to find about 10 or 15 others already queued. The group at the front of the line were part of our Muser group — Caroline, who was numero uno, had been sitting there in her lawn chair since 4:45 am. She was with her sister, Jackie; a friend of Jackie’s; and Liz, another Muser. B, as we call her, also joined us. Ashley, also from the Muse forum, was in line earlier, but had taken off. Turned out she got in to a small radio-hosted acoustic performance with Alex and Nick McCarthy, the band’s other guitarist and keyboardist.

The front of the line.

For about nine hours, we took turns sitting in lawn chairs, underneath umbrellas, guzzling water, waiting for the doors to open at 7pm. The sun was a scorcher. On occasion, someone would cross the street to the Coffee Bean to fetch cups of ice cubes, or to the nearby Rite-Aid or Denny’s for chilly snacks and beverages. (At one point, Christina handed out extra popsicles to fellow fans in line.) We listened to music from my iPhone that was blasting out of Liz’s portable speakers, chatted with other people in line, and made signs to hold up during the show. Around 3pm, the building across the street with the Coffee Bean cast its long shadow over us, finally relieving us of the sun’s heat.

As the time to enter the venue got closer, a verbal ruckus formed at the front of the line. At this point, about ten people had trickled in and cut in the middle of our group. Christina got frustrated and spoke up. Two or three friends being let in front of us – okay. Ten? No way. A girl said she was in line at 7am, then left to go to work, where she had just come from. Of course, this didn’t make things fair for those who waited all day in the sun. Someone behind us used the perfect analogy, calling it “touching bases.” After security got involved and gave her the ultimatum of moving to the back of the line or receiving a ticket refund, she and most of her friends huffily made their way to the back of the line.

Finally, the time to enter the Palladium was coming close. Erin, her sister, and Lisa had all arrived from San Diego. Lisa’s friend, who she calls “Hobo,” had also arrived. Females made two security check lines and males formed one. I made my way into the venue after the security officer checked my large purse, which contained my copy of Alex’s book, Sound Bites; my camera; iPhone; and the origami star lei and greeting card Tracy and I made for the band.

The lei.

We scored barrier positions again, though our group was separated. In Tempe, I was in front of Nick. The coveted barrier spot for fans is usually between Nick and Alex. This time, I was on the other side, in front of Bob, along with Liz and B. The others had made their way to Nick’s side.

After two opening acts — local bands Neverever and The Blood Arm — we were ready for Franz Ferdinand. A skinny, flamboyant guy who had introduced The Blood Arm earlier came back onstage to introduce the headliner. Hilariously, he deemed Franz Ferdinand “the most evil band in the history of Scotland,” more evil than Satan; whereas earlier, he called The Blood Arm’s sound better than Jesus himself. (Uh yeah, talk about some high standards!) With that introduction, Franz Ferdinand came onstage and opened with “Bite Hard,” a slow starter with a punchy ending. One of my favorite songs, “The Dark of the Matinée,” was next, followed by “No You Girls.”

Everyone in our group got their signs out. Christina had the brilliant idea of each of us holding up individual signs that all read “Van Tango,” a b-side that has become a live rarity. (Wanting some Hawai‘i flavor to my sign, mine read, “Van Tango Mango,” while Lisa’s read, “Van Tango Dammit,” also my idea.) The plan was to hold up our signs during “No You Girls,” which always happens early on in the show, and they would play our request soon after. It worked. At least at that point, we thought it did. When Christina got a setlist later, “Van Tango” was already on there… right after “No You Girls.” Huh. Talk about coincidences. At least Nick was nice enough to dedicate it to our group.

I’d like to think Alex was trying to read my sign in this shot. At that point, I was the only one on the barrier holding a sign. It said, “You survived Green Day – now come to Hawai‘i”

“This Fire” came after “Van Tango.” It’s so weird how that song is now early in the setlist because for a long time, it was the very last song played in shows. Plus, when Franz first came to town a couple days before, the wildfires had started that same day. “This fire is out of control / We’re gonna burn this city, burn this city.” It’s all Franz Ferdinand’s fault! (Just kidding, guys.)

Not gonna do an entire play-by-play of the setlist… because I have a photo of Christina’s setlist!

For most of the show, I sang along to the words and bobbed my head to the beat. Along with b-side “Van Tango,” I was surprised they played “Darts of Pleasure,” their very first single that these days has also become a live rarity (we requested they play “Darts” via signage in Tempe); and “Auf Achse,” a deep cut from their debut album and one of the first Franz songs I remember liking.

One thing I did notice a few times during the show was Alex making a motion with his pointer finger across his neck — looked like he was telling someone off stage to stop something. What this something was, I had no clue. I didn’t hear any technical problems.

Here’s a favorite that’s become a Franz ritual: the drum circle at the end of “Outsiders”:

They ended the set with “Lucid Dreams.” That song alone was worth the trip there. In Tempe, the band had played up until the electronic outro was supposed to start, but some sort of technical glitch happened that (I’m guessing) prevented the sampler from triggering. So in Tempe, that epic dance outro was aborted. But this time… musical bliss. Fifteen minutes of it. Of course, I wasn’t gonna spend the entire time filming it — I had to relish it and dance along — but here are a couple of snippets of it (the second video is part of the electronic outro):

For the curious, here’s “Lucid Dreams” in full, from the iTunes festival in London, July 2009:

The downside to them ending with “Lucid Dreams” was that the band didn’t take a final bow; each band member left the stage, eventually leaving Paul Thomson banging on his drums at the end. After the concert ended on that note, we made our way out of the venue. Before leaving the GA floor, a girl who turned out to be Stephanie from the FFG flagged me down; she had recognized me from some photos taken in Tempe. We all made our way to the side of the venue, where about 40 other fans were waiting for a chance to meet the band. While we waited, Stephanie and I chatted for a bit. Turned out she was staying at the same hotel we were — a shame we didn’t know sooner! During the 90 minutes we spent waiting and talking with friends and other fans, people gradually dispersed. It was pretty clear they were not coming out to meet fans. Our group of friends gave up at 1 am and made our way back to the hotel. It was a bummer I couldn’t present each band member their lei and give them the card Tracy and I made, but I just think it was meant to happen at another time, preferably with Tracy, Aurora, and Cris there.

All in all, it was a fun experience. It certainly will not live up to Tempe — for me, the Tempe experience is difficult to top — but the crowd was pumped up, Franz Ferdinand delivered a strong performance, and we got lost in the music.

Before I write about the concert, let me explain how I won the tickets. It was a brilliant yet simple idea on BAMP’s part to have contest participants use online social media. To enter, participants posted a message on Twitter announcing the contest. Then, they visited BAMP’s blog and posted a comment stating which band they’d most like to see in Hawai‘i. Being the über fan, I said Muse, of course. I figured, hey, it’s an opportunity to vouch for Muse; if I won the tickets, it’d be icing on the cake.

Sure enough, last Monday, I received a Twitter direct message from BAMP that I had won a pair of tickets. Fellow local .mu Muser Kylee had also won tickets, so we used this opportunity to finally meet each other in person.

The day of the second show, I picked up Tracy and the three of us met at the Blaisdell Center box office. After retrieving our tickets, I showed Kylee the Muse, Franz and Beastie stickers on my Santa Fe. We talked about Adam Yauch’s cancer, Muse and Franz, and life in general.

Afterwards, Tracy and I headed over to Ala Moana Center to visit some friends at Apple. After a lengthy catch-up chat with my former boss there, we went to Barnes and Noble downstairs and I bought the issue of NME with Muse on the cover. (I mention Muse way too much in an entry that’s supposed to be about No Doubt – sorry, it’ll be the last time.) Dinner was at Green Papaya, where we had some fresh Vietnamese cuisine. Yum.

By the time we finished dinner, it was about time to head back to the Blaisdell. Finding parking was easier than I expected. We got in the general admission line, had security check our purses, and received our green wristbands. You know what that means? Standing room floor spots. The only way to gig it. (It’d be even better if Tracy and I were each half a foot taller, but c’est la vie.)

Half an hour after Tracy and I secured spots on the left of the stage, about three rows behind the barrier, opening performer Matt Costa came on stage. The story is that Tom Dumont, No Doubt’s guitarist, helped record some stuff for Matt, and that Matt has some history here in Hawai‘i. When he first addressed the audience, someone behind me thought he sounded British. I didn’t think he sounded British at all. Maybe because he’s from Huntington Beach, heh. At one point, a girl screamed, “Can I have your babies?!” to which he replied, “No, I’d like to keep my babies.” Instant classic quote of the night. A classic I had to tweet right then and there.

Matt Costa went through his 30-minute solo acoustic set. Usually opening acts pump up the audience, priming them for the headliner. Though I enjoyed his set, I could tell there were audience members who wanted it over with. Matt’s mellow repertoire is not one you’d usually choose as opening act material. If he had his band with him, there may not have been as many naysayers in the audience as there seemed to have been that night. At least one audience member bought some of his music as a result of his set, though; the last song he performed, “Mr. Pitiful,” is a current favorite of mine.

About 20 minutes after Matt Costa finished, No Doubt came out rocking. I wasn’t familiar with their live performances, but they proved to be an energetic act. The bass, synths and drums pulsed through our bodies as Gwen Stefani jumped, danced and pranced on stage. I (and I’m sure many others) have a gripe with Gwen’s voice (Gwen herself has wondered how people can listen to her nasally voice), but everyone around us was having a good time, dancing and singing along, so it became a minor issue. At one point, Gwen did push-ups, which I remember from concert footage in the “Don’t Speak” video. She’s way too fit to be a mom. Her abs were ridiculous. See?

Gwen's monster abs.

Gwen says buh-bye.

More photos taken with my trusty iPhone can be found on my No Doubt Flickr photoset.

Seeing a band who you aren’t very into is a much different experience from seeing one who you are very passionate about, and I experienced that with this show. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful that I got to go with a friend to see a band that was once my favorite for free. No Doubt proved my, er, doubts, wrong, and demonstrated that they are indeed an excellent live band. I jumped around a little bit when everyone else did and sung along to the few songs I knew. Though my ten-year-old self would have been ecstatic, present-day me had a difficult time getting into the show 100 percent. And time, oddly enough, seemed to fly. Before we knew it, they closed the show with “Sunday Morning” – my favorite song during my No Doubt phase – and it was time to follow the throng out of the arena.

Despite the vague feelings, I still say last Wednesday night was a blast. It was a relief to break the weekday routine and hang out with friends in town for a night of tasty food, live music, and good fun.

“Starlight”

“Butterflies and Hurricanes” (take two)

Philippines | Click here to view photos on Flickr
After our week in Manila, my mom and I went to Iloilo, where we reunited with most of my mom’s side of the family and met my three-year-old adopted sister, Loren. She’s very cute, smart, and has a phobia of any room or building that looks like a hospital. (She had a traumatic experience in one.) After spending a week there, we went back to Manila, where we reunited with my mom’s aunt and uncle. We stayed at their house for a few days, went to an open market, and took lots of pictures of my mom’s aunt’s cats and roosters. Back in Manila, I met up with Audrey, who I met on the Muse messageboard. We met up twice – the first time, we had lunch; the second time, we walked around a nearby SM (their chain of huge malls there), since traffic and weather foiled our original plan of going to the zoo. The day I came home, I had a scratchy throat, which usually means I’ll be getting a cold. My suspicions were correct.

(I should mention that I have another sinus infection. A month later. My immune system sucks. And no, it’s not the swine flu.)

Las Vegas and Grand Canyon | Click here to view photos on Flickr
A week after arriving from the Philippines, I flew to Las Vegas with Yvonne and Jon – two good friends from high school – and my sister Lori. It was our Memorial Day weekend vacation we had planned out for ourselves; it was my sister’s first time on the mainland. (She’s traveled to Europe before traveling to the mainland!) We stayed at the Sahara. We rode the rides and did an old-school Western-themed photo studio session at Circus Circus. Got to see a Cirque du Soleil show (Ka) at MGM Grand and the Tournament of Kings show at Excalibur. Spent half a day at the Bellagio, taking photos, relaxing and enjoying dessert at Jean Philippe Patisserie. Sunday was our road trip day to Grand Canyon; driving back took longer because of traffic at the canyon and at Hoover Dam and we ended up missing Dane Cook’s show at the Palms. (My sister and Jon were particularly looking forward to that one.) We spent the last day checking out the California Hotel to see what the buzz was about with that place; it really does host the entire Hawaii tourist delegation. They had a good breakfast buffet and I actually won $1,000 at a couple of their slot machines there. (My luck has been unusually decent these past few months…) We walked around Fashion Show mall, where outside, facing the Strip, the iPod Touch ad featuring “No You Girls” played in an almost continuous loop. Good thing I like Franz Ferdinand and Apple. If it was any other ad, I would’ve been really annoyed. By the time we left to check out Paradise Island across the street, I was… borderline annoyed. From the new logo to the change of its feature show (pirate fight replaced with siren musical?!), I found it strange that Paradise Island (“P.I.”) has been obviously trying to add a dose of “hip” to its image.

Back Home | Click here to view photos on MobileMe
Back at work… been making websites. After six months of being in my office, I finally hung up some framed posters and a couple of nice boards with photos from my recent travels. I’ll post a photo later. I’ve been taking driving lessons with Kermit Brown, who is an awesome instructor; my road test is on Monday. Saw Up and Star Trek with some friends and my sister. Had some good food a couple of times with Tracy, who I met at the Franz Ferdinand gig. My good friend Yvonne announced she was moving to Florida, so some friends and my sister (I take her around everywhere!) celebrated with a day of bowling, Fun Factory, and seeing Up in 3D. (Yeah, I saw Up twice. Good movie!)

So as you can tell, it’s been a fun-filled month or so! Lesson learned: I need to update this blog more regularly to prevent making summary posts like this!

The last couple days, we’ve been exploring the area we’re in now – along Aurora Boulevard, surrounding the Araneta Coliseum. Muse was supposed to play here a few years back, but for some reason cancelled. EDIT: Muse was rumored to play at Araneta as well as the Philippine International Convention Center in 2006. (Source: MuseWiki) It’s a huge arena, painted blue and yellow. Surrounding it are several mall complexes, sort of like the Ala Moana and Ward shopping areas in Honolulu.

My mom grew up in this area, though by talking to her and observing her expressions, you wouldn’t have known. It’s been a couple of decades; so much has changed. An elevated rapid transit track and brightly colored footbridges dominate the immediate skyline along EDSA (Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue). The shopping district surrounding Araneta Coliseum is all relatively new – you can tell by the fresh cement and paint.

The skyline along EDSA.

We ventured out today to find my mom’s alma mater, Carlos P. Garcia High School. After eating lunch at Taco Bell – an establishment that’s been present in the Philippines for a mere five years – we walked to the nearest bookstore and bought a map of Metro Manila. According to the map, the high school was at the opposite corner of EDSA and Aurora Boulevard from our hotel. Of course, when we crossed the footbridge to the location, a huge taro field – yes, taro – was at the corner. Neighboring it was Cubao Elementary School. Mom says the elementary and high schools shared a campus. No longer.

Random, giant taro patch in Manila?

My mom and I walked around and asked random people about the whereabouts of my mom’s old high school. From our experience here so far, my impression is that Filipinos have no idea where anything is. When we were at the SM mall in North Edsa, we asked people who worked at the mall where the nearest Philippine Airlines ticket agent was. We got different responses from different people, from “in the SM Supermarket” to “outside, down the street.” Of course, the ticket agent ended up being right outside one of the mall entrances.

But back to our search for my mom’s alma mater – from security guards to street vendors, no one knew where Carlos P. Garcia High School was. Finally, we found a tricycle driver that knew where it was. He drove us to the school’s current location: seven blocks away from where our “handy” map said it was. It must have been relocated fairly recently, in a quieter location, away from the hustle and bustle of the Araneta shopping district.

The gate to the new Carlos P. Garcia High School, my mom's alma mater. Sort of.

But no matter how much things change, certain things stay the same. The surrounding area is still pretty filthy, despite the local government’s “Metro Gwapo” (“Metro Handsome”) beautification efforts. The poor still roam the streets, begging for cash or selling goods, no matter how minor, even tiny individually wrapped candy, to survive. And despite me being 9,000 miles away from home, I’m still watching “MythBusters”. Right as I type this, in fact.

We drove through horrendous Baclaran traffic – impeccable timing with post-church and open market crowds. I spent the time looking around at the traffic, the crowd, and the palengke stalls from within the confines of Uncle Jess’s jeepney. To our left, a few beggars were lined up alongside the road; one of them in turn was lining up plastic figurines. A couple others were kneeling on the stumps of their knees; they were legless. To our right was a row of stalls, where swap meet-ish clothes, sparkly Converse knockoffs, and ice cream, among other things, were being displayed and sold. And all among us was an unrelenting crowd of people on foot, passing around and between the cars stuck in traffic. It was almost like the apocalypse had hit, except no one was in panic. Lining the street we were on were drug stores, local eateries, and a few familiar names: McDonald’s… Dunkin’ Donuts… and 7-Eleven. Somehow I can never avoid 7-Eleven. I mean, I work right across the street from one and get my lunch there all the time. But it was an interesting contrast seeing those American establishments among the hustle and bustle of an impoverished Filipino community.

While I was making these observations in traffic, my mom exited the jeepney and entered the drug store we were “parked” in front of. Traffic was moving at a snail’s pace, so the jeepney hadn’t moved very far by the time she came back. She emerged with some newly exchanged pesos and a tube of Colgate gel toothpaste to replace the one that got confiscated at Honolulu International. (Apparently my mom didn’t hear me when I said I wanted her to put it in the checked luggage, because she had the toothpaste in her carry-on. And we’re talking about a standard-sized toothpaste tube.)

This sounds horrible, but by the time we got to the vicinity of our hotel, we stopped at… a McDonald’s. Yeah. The awesome thing about McDonald’s in the Philippines is that they serve two food items they don’t serve in any American McDonald’s that I’ve been to: fried chicken and spaghetti. It’s insane how fried chicken and spaghetti seems to be so popular here; it seems as though every fast food place serves them. The special thing about Filipino spaghetti is its sauce: sweeter than your typical meat sauce, and there are little slices of hot dog in it. So of course, I had to order the one-piece fried chicken and spaghetti combo. My mom was boring and got a Filet-O-Fish meal she ended up giving to her aunt and uncle, even though she also ordered each of them two-piece chicken combos. After some debate about which motel/hotel/apartelle we would stay at, we settled on the one we are currently staying at, on West Avenue in Quezon City. It was a half-hour wait until we got a room, which ended up being on the fifth floor. Though it’s a pretty inexpensive hotel, the lobby is really clean and classy, with a Japanese theme going on. The room too, aside from some dust that hasn’t been cleaned off above the headboard. Soon this hotel will have a sixth floor; this is apparent with the constant hammering that’s been going on somewhere above us. It’s fine though because it seems to stop by bedtime – at least it did just now and last night).

I woke up at 6 am today, unusually early for me as of late, but I still felt well rested. I checked my usual Web sites and did some work-related stuff on my laptop – this place has free wi-fi – and turned on the TV. I discovered this MTV-ish channel (but better because they actually play a lot of music videos) called “Channel V,” which is apparently based out of Australia, though most of the announcers sound American. I flipped back and forth between Channel V and MTV. A Lady GaGa song came on on MTV, and I felt some “spidey senses” (which turned out to be “Franzy senses,” apparently) tingle. I switched back to Channel V and a few seconds after I did so, the video for Franz Ferdinand’s “The Dark of the Matinée” started playing, followed by “No You Girls”. That was a nice way to start the day.

My mom and I spent most of today exploring the nearby SM North Edsa mall—the largest mall in Asia. When we got there, we ate a hot dog and fruit smoothie breakfast at the only place that was open at 9 am, the SM Hypermarket. (I guess bigger than a supermarket? But not really.) The mall opened at 10 am, so after some minor grocery shopping at the “Hypermarket,” we took the escalator up to the rest of the mall. We took pictures at the center court the escalators dropped us off at, with a player piano in the middle of it. We bought a couple of tote bags and walked around the mall for five hours, stopping to eat at Chowking and a few kiosk vendors along the way. During those five hours, I failed to find both a music store (though I found several musical instrument shops) and the bowling alley (though I did discover the big Fun Factory-ish arcade on the third level). We did, however, accomplish getting our plane tickets to Iloilo, where we’ll be going next week, and getting my watch battery replaced.

When we came back to our hotel room, I turned on the main power switch for our room, which turns on everything, including the TV. And what was playing on Channel V to greet us back? Muse. “Sing for Absolution”. Channel V, coupled with my Franzy/Muse senses, is a winner in my book. My mom and I ordered some fried chicken, chop suey, and rice and ate it in our room, while watching Channel V and Oprah. It’s been an embarrassingly Western day.

I’ll be staying in the Philippines for the next couple of weeks. My mom’s really just accompanying her aunt because she can’t travel alone, but of course it makes for a good excuse to visit the place where my parents are from. (Well, my mom was born and raised there; my dad was born here but grew up in the Philippines.) I haven’t been there in a decade, so this trip should be interesting, seeing what’s changed and what’s stayed the same.

My mom and I are pretty much playing things by ear as far as the travel itinerary goes. Right now, it looks like we’ll be staying in Manila for three days, then taking a one-day ferry ride to Iloilo, the province where most of my mom’s side of the family live. I’ve never taken the ferry there before; it’s always been a plane for me. Heck, I didn’t even know there was a ferry option.

It’s quite odd not having my iPhone with me. In its place is my fifth-generation iPod that I rarely use. I figured there was no point in bringing along a phone I wasn’t going to use at all for phone calls and didn’t want to risk losing it or getting it stolen. Plus I use it mostly for music anyway, and my iPod has my entire music library on it. Battery life on the iPod is a downer, but I don’t think I’ll be listening to music for 12 hours on a plane. I could if my iPod could take it, but I won’t. I’m too tired.

Okay. I’m gonna take a break from this computer and rest my eyes. See you when I’m in the P.I.

And my friend Aurora finished her blog entry – nay, novel – on our Tempe experience, which is posted on her Myspace blog. So if you want all the nitty gritty details – way more detailed than the one I posted – read it!

This has officially been the best weekend of my life. I flew in from Hawaii to Phoenix to see Franz Ferdinand live—and it has been more than worth it!

Pre-Gig
I flew in early that Friday morning. Later that day, I got to meet fellow Franz fans I’ve gotten to know through the official message board for Muse, my other favorite band. (Franz Ferdinand by far has the longest thread in the “Other Bands” section on the forum.) These friends were all from out of town: San Diego, Los Angeles, and El Paso. Only one of us in the group lives in the area, though she originally hails from the Netherlands. We went out to Mill Avenue Friday evening and had dinner, drinks, and basically amped ourselves up for the concert the following day.

Late Saturday morning, two of my friends and I made our way to the Marquee Theatre. We would’ve left for the venue earlier, but we knew there was a charity run and that routes to the venue were blocked until 10:30 am. When we pulled up to the venue, we spotted their tour bus parked behind the venue and got a bit giddy. We were relieved to find that we were the first ones there. We sat on a curb in the shade to see if anyone from the band would come out. Sure enough, we spotted Bob walking back and forth between the bus and the back of the venue. He eventually saw us and made his way toward us. We bought the band a bottle of tequila the day before, so we presented it to him. He was sincerely thankful for the gift and said Paul would especially be appreciative of it. After talking about Coachella, his new shoes, and some photos, Bob made his way back to the bus.

Me and Bob Hardy, Franz Ferdinand's bassist.

About ten minutes later, while we were preparing to write some messages to the band on our friend’s SUV (the one featured at the beginning of the Phoenix Kyte video), out emerged Alex Kapranos himself. He literally made a beeline towards us. We introduced ourselves and chatted about Paul McCartney and Morrissey, mostly about the strange things Morrissey was saying onstage about burning flesh and how he hoped it was human. We figured Morrissey needed some water and a cookie. Alex suggested he needed a veggie burger.

Alex also told us how Nick injured his foot and that he was in the hospital getting some x-rays done. Our Dutch friend with the SUV told him what we were going to write on it in German— “We came here to see Franz Ferdinand” — and Alex was able to translate it to English, thanks to his being around Nick all the time. He also asked us where we were from and he repeated it back to us: “So you’re from Texas, you’re from Holland, you’re from Hawaii… and I’m from Glasgow!” Very cute.

Alex even helped us take a group photo with him, suggesting we set a camera down on the hood of one of the few cars in the lot. We also took individual photos. When it was my turn, I did something I’ve been dreaming about doing when I ever met Alex—I taught him how to make a shaka sign with his hand. (It’s a Hawaii greeting. Look on YouTube for President Obama’s shaka during his inauguration parade.) We also had him give Bob a toy officer’s badge we bought for him (“Arizona Sheriff Bob”).

Me, Alex, Christina, and Aurora. Photo from Aurora's camera.

Me and Alex Kapranos, Franz Ferdinand vocalist and guitarist.

After he left, we wrote the German message and “Get Well Nick” on our friend’s SUV.

"We came here to see Franz Ferdinand" in German

Our superfantastisch message to Nick.

The rest of our group arrived and we told them about our encounter with Bob and Alex. They were a bit jealous to say the least. We set up our little line party in front of the venue, with bum cushions, picnic food, water and a portable fan. We made a few signs on neon poster board. Three girls one of our friends knew from the franzferdinand.org days arrived a few hours before the doors opened; they just came from driving from Coachella. It turned out one of them was also from Hawaii—30 minutes away from where I live!

Showtime
The gig itself was easily the best I have ever been to. Our group scored barrier positions as we hoped, and were subject to Alex and Nick’s “eye sex.” One notable occurrence was that they played “Darts of Pleasure”—a rare instance in recent Franz gigs—instead of “The Fallen” because my friend held up the sign I wrote requesting it! It was cute how they apologized how they played the song afterward, but I didn’t even notice anything wrong… we were all excited to hear the song live! Nick saw my “Aloha Franzypants” sign and chuckled. He also dedicated “Tell Her Tonight” to our friend with the SUV. I was a bit bummed that they messed up/omitted the electronic outro to “Lucid Dreams” during the encore, but that was minor in relation to everything else that happened that day. I bounced up and down to a few songs, so I was surprised that my legs weren’t hurting after the show.

Alex's eyes boring his way through me.

Nick strikes a pose.

Ethereal Alex Kapranos.

The set list from the gig. Note that "The Fallen" was replaced by "Darts of Pleasure" upon our request!

Most of our group, most of whom I know from the Muse online forum.

Post-Gig
We waited outside near their van in hopes of meeting them (again), especially because most of our group wasn’t there with us that morning. The security guards told us that the band wasn’t coming out, and basically everyone else aside from our group left. The band eventually came out and graciously took photos and signed autographs for us. I got a few pictures with Nick as he told us how he hurt his foot in Seattle.

Photo by Christina.

Photo by Christina.

Photo by Christina.

I suggested they come to Hawaii sometime and Nick said he would love for the band to go there someday. After a while, the guys really had to go. Our group dispersed into smaller groups as we figured out where to go to eat afterward—we settled with Whataburger—and got each other’s contact info. I caught Alex looking at us as we were doing this. I wonder if he was wondering how we all knew each other. Perhaps he was amazed at our dedication and willingness to go through great lengths to see them.

Franz Ferdinand put on an amazing show and were very gracious about meeting with us, their fans, before and after the show. Thanks to them, I have made a bunch of new friends and experienced a weekend I will never forget. Mahalo, Franz Ferdinand!

After receiving a text message from Aurora with their room number, I walked downstairs to hang out in their hotel room, a.k.a. Franz HQ. The first thing I saw was a mass of blankets. I soon realized it was a small portable gazebo covered in sheets—the “fort” Christina and Aurora talked about building in the Franz Ferdinand thread in the Muse boards. Sure enough, as I entered the room and walked around to the right of the fort, I spotted its entrance.

That's "Lucky lucky yeah!" in German

Hanging from the top, inside the tent, was a small disco ball that you could shine a flashlight on. We talked about people potentially being able to see the disco ball-lit gazebo from outside the hotel room. It only meant fun!

When Cris and Lisa and her friends arrived, we hired a cab to take us to the nearby Mill Avenue district. We had a Mexican dinner at Macayo’s, where performers were singing lame acoustic covers. At one point, we launched into singing mode, with Muse and Franz songs, of course. It was pretty obnoxious but way more entertaining than the restaurant’s “entertainment.” Ha.

Afterward, we walked along Mill Avenue. Lisa really wanted to go to Fat Tuesday so we went there. The atmosphere reminded me of Waikiki on a weekend night. Loud music, college-aged kids, a few of them dancing. We found a seating area on the sidewalk and took over a corner area. We proceeded a picture-taking spree—it didn’t matter whether they were good photos, just that they were candid and random. We talked to a couple of guys who were ASU students and told them about our upcoming Franzy adventure. Neither seemed very familiar with Franz Ferdinand, though one of them very obviously pretended that Franz “was his shit.” Uh huh. We suggested they check them out the following evening but of course they made excuses about not knowing what their friends were up to that night. We had Mr. “Franz is My Shit” go check with the DJ if they had any Muse or Franz songs on deck. He came back with a no. Of course. Shortly afterward, we left. Lisa later apologized for bringing us there.

Back at Franz HQ, we hung out and blasted and sang along with—yup, you guessed it—more Muse and Franz songs. We also learned the choreography during the chorus of the “Dark of the Matinée” video, so we could perform it during the concert the following evening.

Saturday, April 18 (late morning/early afternoon): Lucky lucky
After a quick stop to the nearby Safeway for some snacks and ice for our line party cooler, Christina, Aurora and I arrived at the venue at around 11:30 am. We were planning to arrive earlier to ensure we were first in line, but road blocks from a charity run this morning prevented it. It didn’t matter though because we were still the first ones there. And perhaps this arrival time was meant to be because not too long after we got to the venue, we met Bob Hardy (bass) and Alex Kapranos (lead vocals and guitar)!!!!

So here’s how this happened. We noticed the tour bus parked behind the venue, so we nonchalantly sat by a parking lot median, underneath the shade of a small tree. It was the only spot that had decent shade anyway. It was near the buses but not too close that it made us look suspicious.

We waited in the shade for a few minutes and caught a glance of Bob walking from the bus. After a few moments he emerged and stood by the neighboring curb. I waved and he jutted out his chin in casual greeting. Christina said “hi” as Bob walked over. Aurora and Christina had me present the bottle of tequila they had purchased for the guys, since they were afraid they would drop the bottle out of nervousness. He was really appreciative of the gift and said Paul would especially appreciate the gesture. Bob also said they’ll drink it after the gig… not such a good idea to indulge beforehand. Then we talked a little bit about Coachella the day before. Aurora asked if the shoes he was wearing were the new ones he mentioned in the official blog and he said they were indeed. We took photos with Bob, and we both made sure not to trip over the tequila bottle we set down on the asphalt. We thanked Bob for coming to talk to us and he departed with the tequila bottle.

Me and Bob Hardy, Franz Ferdinand's bassist.

A few minutes later, Alex emerged and made a beeline towards us! He asked us if we were the girls who gave them the tequila. We said yes and he thanked us. We were amused that he introduced himself, even though we knew who he was, but appreciated his manners! He talked about Paul McCartney and said something like, “Who isn’t a Beatles fan?” Then he talked about a strange comment that Morrissey made on stage about how he could smell burning flesh (hamburger meat is what Alex thinks Morrissey was talking about) and how he hoped it was human flesh. (Morrissey is vegan.) I commented that it sounded like he needed a cookie and some water, and Alex suggested maybe he needed a veggie burger.

Christina told Alex what she was going to write on the back of her SUV with glass chalk: she said, “We came here to see Franz Ferdinand” in German and Alex was able to translate it to English. A consequence of being around Nick, he said. Speaking of Nick, Alex told us he was getting his x-rays done at a nearby hospital, so he wasn’t at the venue yet.

Afterward Alex asked where we were from. He repeated it back to us: “You’re from Texas, you’re from Holland, you’re from Hawaii, and I’m from Glasgow.” The “I’m from Glasgow” line we found amusing because it was something we already knew, but it’s something Alex likes to say. (We proceeded to use it as a running one-liner joke throughout the rest of the weekend.) He graciously signed some items we had with us: Aurora’s copy of Sound Bites, my Franz Ferdinand CD sleeve, and Christina’s dollar bill. We wanted to take a group photo but we were the only ones in the parking lot. Alex suggested we put one of our cameras on timer mode and place it on one of the few cars in the lot. He genuinely got excited that the idea would work.

Me, Alex, Christina, and Aurora. Photo from Aurora's camera.

We took individual photos with Alex. For my photo, I taught Alex how to do a shaka sign—something I was planning on doing in the event I ever met him! Again, Alex seemed to take genuine interest, as he was learning something new!

Me and Alex Kapranos, Franz Ferdinand vocalist and guitarist.

After our photos, we each hugged Alex and thanked him. He’s tall and I’m quite petite so I had to tiptoe to hug him!

After he returned to the bus, Aurora noted that Alex’s lips were stained purple with wine. Someone’s been drinking wine in the afternoon! (Doo doo doo doo-oooh-oooh!) We also noted that Bob and Alex both complimented Christina’s Bavarian hat.

A little later, we witnessed Alex, Bob and Paul board a white van, presumably to get lunch, visit Nick at the hospital and/or go back to their hotel. On its way out of the parking lot, it passed behind Christina’s SUV, where the girls already wrote their German message. Aurora waved and through the tinted windows, she saw the guys waved back. She was ecstatic.

Part Two coming later

I grabbed my checked bag downstairs and caught a cab. Mo, the driver, was super friendly. He moved from Iraq to Phoenix about 15 years ago. It was cute how curious he was about Hawai‘i. He asked me questions like how long the flight was (six hours), how many people live in Hawai‘i (1.2 million) and if people there still practice the art of traditional tattooing (yes).

I got to the hotel and checked in with the front desk. At first, the woman there looked really tired but after I broke the ice (!!) she opened up. =) She was also curious how long my flight took.

So now I’m here, laying on my stomach, typing out this blog with the TV tuned to ABC. I was hoping to catch Franz Ferdinand’s performance on Jimmy Kimmel even though I know well enough that I missed it. No biggie because I’m seeing them live tomorrow night! This weekend is actually happening, yes!

Time for me to go to bed. I’m gonna explore the neighborhood and meet up with some fellow Musers (Muse forum peeps) tomorrow.

Click here to see the graph. (You may need to scroll down.)

The average SAT score in this study is ~1070. If you must know, I scored an 1120.

In Sound Bites, the author, Franz Ferdinand lead singer/guitarist Alex Kapranos, details his adventures with food while on tour. I like how he starts off with his earliest memory involving food—sampling different food at his family’s housewarming party, then trying a peanut and learning he is acutely allergic to them, causing his stomach to churn, his drool to uncontrollably rush out of his mouth, and his vomit reflexes to kick into play. But I really liked his last thought in his introduction:

I think about the food—its flavours and how it felt in my mouth, how different each thing was, how it could taste of joy, revulsion or painful destruction. I don’t think of it as a thing that stops me from being hungry. I know it is much more than that. Food is an adventure.

After reading a few more pages into the book—particularly when Kapranos mentions his hapa-Greek background and how he went to a Greek festival with his family—I realized that I hadn’t had Greek food in a while… it had been at least a year. I really missed gyros and hummus, and I wanted to try some new things, as well.

It was time for an adventure with Greek food.

The original plan before last night’s reading session was that I would spend the day at home, finally watching Burn After Reading and having tea and snacks with Yvonne. But our plans changed as the yearning for some Greek food set in. Yvonne mentioned that she had Greek food—spanakopita, to be exact—only one other time. So it was a plan.

The “closest” Greek restaurant was Leo’s Taverna on Bishop Street. I say “closest” because it’s an hour-long bus ride away. But I love Leo’s—I went there regularly when I was going to school at HPU and working in town. So yes, we got on the Country Express to begin our journey. The bus ride didn’t seem long at all, considering Yvonne and I always found things to talk about. Plus, at this point, I’m used to it.

We got off the bus at South King and Bethel and walked to Leo’s. On our way, we got sidetracked because of the open-air market that I forgot happens on Fridays (and Tuesdays) on Fort Street Mall. We stopped by Honolulu Soap Company’s booth. After some pondering and discussion about the benefits of using natural soap and oil, we each bought some jojoba and kukui nut oil, and a couple of bars of natural glycerin soap. Perfect timing, considering Yvonne’s taken up an interest in natural soap and solid shampoo (as opposed to liquid shampoo, which often contain harsh chemicals and come in wasteful plastic bottles).

Afterward, we walked to Leo’s. The very first thing I noticed when we got in there was how awfully quiet it was in there. Every time I’ve walked in there before, there would be a line at the register and nearly every table taken. Then I realized it was 2 pm; we’d come post-lunch hour in Honolulu’s financial district.

Yvonne ordered the spanakopita and vegetarian combos. The vegetarian combo comes with hummus, baba ghannouj, and grape leaves. The menu said it also came with tabouleh, but it looked like Yvonne got three-bean salad instead, which was no problem.

I ordered my beloved gyros plate, which comes with hummus, salad, tzatziki sauce, and pita bread. I couldn’t resist ordering a side of garlic fries as well. (I know, it’s very Greek.)

As we waited for our order, I noticed a couple seated against the room’s southern wall, waiting on their order. They looked a little disheveled and a bit annoyed. The male customer quietly inquired about the status of their order, to which the large Greek man I’ve always presumed to be Leo responded in his typically not-so-quiet manner, then the customer sat back down. When the couple’s order was called up, the man pointed at his table, gesturing that he wanted it delivered to their table. He was most likely a n00b who didn’t know that at Leo’s, you pick up your order at the counter. Leo or someone must have waved for him to do so, so the man came to get his food.

When our food arrived and we started eating, someone realized that something was missing in the eatery’s ambiance and started playing some Greek music. It’s funny how much music can add to the atmosphere and the whole experience. It solidifies the restaurant’s identity with a culture. Tune into a generic radio station and the eatery becomes just another place to have food.

Back to the food: it was phenomenal as I expected. I welcomed the tastes of tender lamb meat, light and refreshing tzatziki sauce, and creamy hummus back into my life once more! (Sorry if that was cheesy.) And the garlic fries, though not as great as I remember them being, were still mighty crunchy and tasty. I sampled Yvonne’s spanakopita, which was flaky on the outside with a soft spinach filling, and I think I’ll get that combo the next time I find myself in that part of town.

I really wish the Greek offerings on this island weren’t so concentrated in Honolulu. At least one in Kapolei, please!

And big ups to Alex Kapranos for the inspiration! Opa!