The Who Who?

I went with SDK to see Petra Hayden and the Sell Outs, (her all girl choir). I didn't know that much about them except that a friend told about a previous performance:

"They were positively angelic. I want them to sing at
my wedding.
And for my birthday. And your birthday...
that whole birthday season I want a 9 girl singing
sleepover."

With a review like that I was positively happy to be seeing them at all, let alone entertain the thought of my birthday and slumber parties. The review goes on to talk about sleep over activities... but that doesn't have that much to with the show that I saw.

For starters, the concert space was friggin cool!! It had a recessed seating area that was carpeted and had an open fireplace with couches all around. Then, off to the side there as a larger room (although the whole thing is open, so it is really a larger "section") where the stage was set up. The opening act, THE OCTOPUS PROJECT, was actually really good. They are sort of experimental and interesting. There is one chick in the band, (she has cool hair), and she played a Theramin on one song... I'm throwing that word around like I know what it is, which I do now, but when i saw her playing it, it totally blew my mind. In fact, I had to have it explained to me at the show. Now I want one. put it on my tab!!!

So, then Mike Watt (cause he is a petra hayden mentor) played with his exwife from black flag. This sounds cool, but does not sound cool. They both play bass and frankly it gets old after two songs, let along 25 minutes. I'm glad to say that I saw it though... just to brag.

After "Dios" , Mike Watt played some songs with Petra, which were AWESOME, really amazing... but I am having trouble even focusing on this portion of the show, because the next part was so good that my fingers are getting all giddy at the thought of describing it, no matter how frantically or how briefly. Maybe someone who was at the show can comment on my blog and fill in the blanks about the Petra/Mike Duet.

FINALLY Petra Hayden and the Sell Outs arrive. They take the stage. They are cute and giggly. They clearly know each-other well. Petra has the cutest dimples you could ever hope to see. (By this point in the show I have a pretty powerful non-sexual crush in the works). They sing. and sing. and sing. They voices become instruments in the most guttural ways. Whispers and squeals echo melodies that we all know so well. Grunts pound out rhythms that we feel in our chests. Most of all, the sound is so joyful. My cheeks hurt because my smile was so wide. I felt like I was bobbing up and down for the whole show...

They kicked off the show with a small set of from THE WHO SELLS OUT, the highlight of which was Odorono. The set started strong with Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand. However, Our Love Was was my big discovery of the evening. Beautiful lyrics. Jenn, I bought the cd. You will hear it. I will bring it in when I get home and after you read this (I'll probably be sitting next to you on the couch) you can ask me to put it on, because I will have forgotten.

Then the choir sang some songs from Petra's first album, and finished with her latest song God Only Knows, by Brian Wilson. It was beautiful. I thought I was going to cry. You can download it at http://petrahadenmusic.com/God_Only_Knows.mp3

After the show I shared a hot fudge brownie sunday and learned how to parallel park. There's nothing else to say.

http://petrahadenmusic.com/