Mama's Birthday Present

So, I started this post a week ago and I'm only just coming back to it, which will probably make things a little long.  

This particular entry is going to cross over into the more "diary" type of posts, rather than just recording about Phoebe's condition, so feel free to skip.

My favorite band is the the 90s/2000s britpop/alternative band from Scotland: The Trashcan Sintatras.  Great name, right? The band was formed in 1986, which is also the year I was born, and their first album Cake was released in 1990.  I didn't get into them until high school, which is when my super cool aunt introduced us to their music, and we all just fell in love with it.  I still remember sitting on Alison's bed and listening to the first track, "Obscurity Knocks", with headphone on and being utterly in awe.  So that's how they got to be my favorite band, even though most people my age have definitely never heard of them.  I guess they're comparatively obscure, but at one point they were (apparently!) well enough known to be referenced on Bevis and Butthead, so take that as you will.

There have been long gaps in them touring in America, but I saw them in concert at the Wiltern in LA in 2004, around the time their album Weightlifting came out, and about a month before Jason and I started dating.  This blog has already acknowledged its title track "Weightlifting" as it's what got me through driving to Phoebe's infusion alone the first time, last month.

The Trashcan Sintaras have actually been in the Bay Areas two other times in the last few years, when I was pregnant and when Phoebe was a newer baby, but I wasn't really up for concert-going at that stage.  But when I saw they were back again, I really didn't want to miss seeing them.  They are doing a "One Night, Two Albums" tour where they play, among other things, Cake and I've Seen Everything in their entirety.  Maybe I can keep my fingers crossed and they will come back and do a Happy Pocket and Weightlifting tour, because I love all those songs too! ....Though I did also get their newest album Wild Pendulum, which has also been out a couple years now, so I'm sure they'd like to play newer songs too.   I'm just behind on any "new" music.

Jason's parents very kindly took the girls overnight so we could have a lovely date.  (Thank you, Meme and Papa).  I think this is actually only my second time being away from Phoebe overnight, apart from our January trip to Seattle.  And definitely my first time away from her since diagnosis.  I mean, obviously she's completely fine and in good hands, just something I make note of... feels a little weird.  lol.  But definitely deserve a night off, right? :)

We went to Harlow's in Sacramento, where we'd never been before but it was lovely and a very intimate show.  There were tables around the stage and we shared one with another couple who were really nice.  The guy was into some boardgames and even took a picture of Jason's tattoo to send his nephew who has a DnD campaign. We got to order food and drink and the concert was fairly early in the evening, starting at 6:30!  

Anyway, it was such a nice, intimate concert...mostly acoustic guitars, not even a drummer with them.  I cried like 4 times just because they were playing songs I love so much.  None of them are even particularly sad song-- actually many TCS songs feel very uplifting or thoughtful--- but they just brought out such an emotional response in me!  

Look, I'm by no means their biggest fan, and I even had to google some stuff while writing this post, but there's that line in Almost Famous where Saphire complains about the new groupies who don't know what it really means to be a fan... "You know, to truly love some silly piece of music, or some band, so much that it hurts."  This is music I love so much it hurts!  

Or like in the Smiths' song "Rubber Ring" it says, "Don't forget the songs that made you smile/or the songs that saved your life/ when you lay in awe on the bedroom floor..." 

Basically, TCS hit me right in those impressionable teen years and I love so many of their songs, it's like they're ingrained on my soul... I'd be hard pressed to even pick a favorite.  Their songs are so whimsical, with lyrics full of wonderful word plays, and beautiful melodies.  And don't forget the Scottish accents!  As their albums go on, their accents have actually gotten increasingly more understandable... in the lyrics that came with the old cd of Cake there were so many mistakes where someone was clearly just trying to guess what they were saying!

I did take a couple videos from the concert.  I'll put them here to commemorate the night, along with some of my favorite verses from each song.  You should really look for some better versions to get to know the way the full band sounds.  

Obscurity Knocks... My Fav Lyrics 

Always at the foot of the photograph, that's me there
Snug as a thug in a mugshot pose, a foul-mouthed rogue
Owner of this corner and not much more

Rubbing shoulders with the sheets till two  

Looking at my watch and I'm half-past caring  (I love this imagery!)

In the lap of luxury it comes to mind

Is this headboard hard? Am I a lap behind?

But to face doom in a sock-stenched room all by myself

Is the kind of fate I never contemplate

Lots of people would cry though none spring to mind

Though I ought to be learning I feel like a veteran

Of "oh I like your poetry but I hate your poems"

Calendars crumble I'm knee deep in numbers

I've turned 21, I've twist, I'm bust and wrong again

January's Little Joke fav lyrics

As now turns into then
Dream turns into dreamt
Spend turns into spent
One turns into one too many
(say when)

Orange Fell fav lyrics:  

All our love was made on sheets we'd left unmade

As street lamp-post light haze orange fell

When moments just take you

An instinct betrays you

I think I fell in love

Kindle, Kindle, Beach combers found no kindle

My other fav part is when kindle turns to Rekindle at the end.... makes you feel like you are falling in love all over again.

Earlies

It was really cool getting to hear the story that went along with this song and the friendship between John and his roommate from Iran, working the early shift together.

I'd be hard pressed not to just quote the whole song, so I'll just say how I love how he describes things.  "t-shirt breezes" to describe the summer weather.  "Guiness elbows rest upon a table top" to convey they are in a pub.  "On the corner boys, best of friends, the two of us on earlies."  You just see it, don't you?

I listened to this song over and over again on my cd player when I was 18 and flying from CA to Boston.  I still am unsure who the "Welshman in his 40s" is a reference to?  That's the one mystery of the song for me!

So, those are the 4 videos I took, not sure how they'd hold up as an introduction to the band, but there ya go.  

They did play "Weightlifting" at the very end, as their "encore".  They joked that this was when younger bands would leave and make you clap until they came out again, but they were old now and didn't want to get up and down.  LOL!  Anyway, I didn't film it because I broke down and cried a lot, just thinking about Phoebe and the year we've had and how far we've come.  

We had to hang around at our table to get the check, and were one of the last people there as the band packed up so I did go up to Frank (the main singer) right before he left the stage.  I told him that I'd love their music since high school, but that Weightlifting had just recently gotten me through a hard time as my 1 year old had just gone through a diagnosis and been making a lot of trips to the hospital getting that all figured out.... he asked me how she was doing... so thankful I can be able to answer "better" these days.  I don't know, maybe it's silly to want to share with them, but I just couldn't leave without saying something to him.  I think they know it's a powerful song, that's why they saved it for last.  

The only disappointment from the concert was that they didn't play any of the "B-side" songs.  I was hoping to hear "Drunken Chorus"!  

And it's hard to get out of the gutter

When it's raining feet

And every helping hand's a fist

I'm drinking the wishing well dry

And collecting the coins

And my cup's brimming over with bliss

Seems that when my throat gets dry

My words get wry

And I raise my glass like a fist

Every sip's a kiss

Over the last week, I've been listening to a bunch of their new songs!  Their music videos are all kind of rubbish, but here's what's been playing around the house and in the car until my kids are sick of it and asking me to play other songs ha ha!  

Phoebe did love dancing with me to this song.  And I heard Cordelia singing the chorus tonight in the bathtub. Yesssss, I shall corrupt them.

We'll grow if you let us
Thrive if you protect us
Shower us with love and perfect us
Up from the darkest earth
Comes the whitest rose

All because all of us are people
And people can fall in love
With other people
People who fall in love

Didn't the sun shine on our friends?

Didn't it rain colored confetti?

Oh the heart is designed

To run out of time

There's no pause or rewind

The transmission's live

One of my best days on earth....

I sat alight of you

....This song is soooo gorgeous and happy it just makes me want to marry Jason again every time I hear it!  :)

I've been listening to a lot of their music just off youtube, for convenience, and it keeps making this song come up.  I love the lyrics!!

The Safecracker

As fly to tarantula, as jugular to dracula
To me in my ford spectacular, you'll be drawn
I'll slash your masterpiece, the bits and pieces on your mantelpiece
I'm in and out in no time.....the safecracker

Got impaled, on a nail, once I left a trail behind me
A bloody tale, to no avail, better get cracking, it's not safe

The moon is a blabbermouth
Who'll shop you in and catch you out
But me and my thoughts spectacular won't be caught
They call me thrifty, thrifty, I count out 2.50
A gallon'll get me to paisley, I'm a safecracker
I'll use your tradesman's entrance, there's no danger there
I'll wipe all trace away, I'll get clean away, the safecracker

Got impaled on a nail, once I left a trail behind me
I'll end in jail if I fail, but i'll have all the time
Gloves and rope, stethoscope, at tip-toe time I'll be at large
It takes a crook to know where to look
Better get cracking

OK, random post over!  Thanks for letting me share my obsession!