Magical Mystery Tour of Eastern Utah

Holy shit I am so exhausted. Not as exhausted as Haley though, since she did all the driving. The drive home from Grand Junction was supposed to be 4-6 hours. It was 8 for me, 9 for Haley and Jaime because they have an hour drive home after they drop me off. Why the additional 4 hours? Well, we missed a turn off on I-70, so then we went north and decided to get to Kamas through Duchesne, when we got to Duchesne the road we needed to go on was closed. So we turned around. That means, we made an unnecessary 140 mile detour. There are some positives, I saw a lot of Utah that I've never seen before. I have provided a helpful map:

( The map of our Magical Mystery Tour of Eastern Utah )

I wanted to make a post about the incredibly amazing concert, but I'm really tired. So I'm going to make that post in a little while. But, I have one thing to say: I MET THREE MEMBERS OF THE BAND, INCLUDING JEFF FUCKING TWEEDY!

Thank you sweet baby jesus

I got a B+ in American Institutions, and I am pleased with this grade. So far this term I have a 3.58 GPA, and I just have to wait for my Gender and Social Change grade to be posted, and unless I totally bombed my final, I am going to get an A in that class, which means I'll maintain a GPA above 3.5 and I'll get to stay in the Honors College. I am very pleased. :D

So, the concert. The concert was in a movie theater, a large movie theater, but it was a movie theater so as concert venues go it was pretty small. We were in the balcony and we were in seats with absolutely no leg room, it sucked. But the view of the stage was fantastic and the acoustics in the venue were astounding. Retribution Gospel Choir opened, and I had never listened to them before, they were pretty good.

Wilco was incredible. They sounded so beautiful and it was just astounding. Nothing will beat the Arcade Fire concert I went to in amazingness, but this was a very close second. It was weird sitting down the whole time, I don't remember the last concert I went to where I wasn't standing the whole time and wasn't pretty close to the stage. They played all of my favorite songs in a row (Shot In The Arm, Via Chicago, California Stars), and the only songs that they didn't play that I wanted to hear were Radio Cure, Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (Again), and Muzzle of Bees. But I wasn't disappointed because the concert was soooo fucking good. Also, they are going to be in Salt Lake on August 18th, so hopefully they'll play those songs then. :D

We parked behind the theater and we noticed the tour bus, so we decided that we'd wait and see if we could meet the band after the show. We decided to get out there before the encores so we wouldn't get caught in the crowd and we waited in the rain for 30 minutes. Then when the show was over the security guys said that the band wouldn't be signing stuff outside of the bus, but they would go to the after party across the street. So we went across the street and discovered that the after party was 21+, so I couldn't go in. We sat outside and talked for awhile and Jaime went back to the venue to see if they came out, and then ran back to us to tell us they were out of the tour bus talking to fans and signing stuff.

I literally ran back to the theater. When we got over there we met Glenn (the drummer) Mike (the piano player) and Jeff Tweedy (the awesome). We talked to Glenn for awhile and he is just so incredibly adorable, awesome and approachable. Haley and Jaime talked to him more than I did, but eventually he noticed me standing there smiling like a fool and he shook my hand. I mentioned that they played my favorite songs in a row and he was pleasantly surprised and said, "And then it all went down hill from there huh?" "OH no no no!" XD He's so cute and awesome.

I didn't really talk to Mike, I kind of just pushed my way towards him and asked if he would sign my ticket. It was kind of rude of me because he was talking to someone at the time, but I tend to be rude if I'm not thinking clearly, and I really wasn't at the time, so woops!

We got Jeff to sign our tickets and then we backed away so other people could get their stuff signed. Haley decided to go back up to him and she asked if she could shake his hand and he said sure. Then she told him how much the band means to her, and he said that was sweet of her, and she mentioned her WILCO license plate. Then he went into the photo pose with his arm around her shoulder and she said that we didn't have a camera, and then a guy said he'd take the picture and email it to her. So I got in the picture and the guy couldn't take the photo because flash on the camera wasn't working. So Haley and I had our arms around Jeff Tweedy for several seconds while the guy was getting the flash to work. :D Eventually he got the camera to work properly and hopefully he'll email the picture to Haley.

After that Haley and I thanked him and calmly walked a few feet away, and proceeded to squee like a couple of crazy fangirls. XD

Man, last night was just so kick ass. :D (I really need a Wilco icon)

Oh, I'm watching TCR right now and it reminded me of something, Tweedy wasn't wearing his wrist strong bracelet!

A quote from The Greatest Show in the Galaxy: The Discerning Fan's Guide to Doctor Who

"When the Doctor's former companion [Sarah Jane] re-enters the redesigned TARDIS for the first time, she notes that the Doctor has redecorated since her days of traveling in time and space, and that while she prefers the old TARDIS interior, she's also happy with the new. But what else can she say? The Doctor's beloved Sarah Jane has already argued that change and loss are essential to life, so in order to embrace life, she must also embrace the new version of the TARDIS as well as the sense of change and consequent loss it implies. Along similar lines, longtime fans are also free to prefer the camp of the original series to the slick production values of the new, but we must also accept that the new series is a product of its time and that a reiteration of the old would seem entirely out of place on the present-day airwaves. Thus, when Rose asks Sarah Jane if she should continue on with the Doctor, we get the sense that the new generation of fandom may well be asking the old if the show is worth following - and if Sarah Jane's response is any indication, then the answer is a resounding yes. Even if Doctor Who disappoints us from time to time, even if some of the scripts or special effects leave something to be desired, and even if the show is canceled once again and leaves us alone in the universe without so much as a long scarf and a floppy hat to keep us warm, some things are, indeed, worth a broken heart." (bold emphasis mine)

I have finally gotten around to finishing that book, I was busy with school so I didn't have time, and I love that paragraph in a crazy big way. I think the bolded part is the perfect way to approach the show (and most shows really), and I'm going to try to remember it while I watch the rest of series 4. It won't always be great, but overall it's pretty awesome and is probably worth it. I just love how positive and intellectual that book is, you can really tell the guys who wrote it really love the show, warts and all. And after reading stuff over at who_anon, that is really refreshing. I love the guys who wrote the book, and if I ever see one of them again (which may be possible if I go to another PCA/ACA conference), I will have no choice but to hug them. :P