Bridge School
Wensday, November 13, 2002 - 15:52

At the Bridge School Benefit, which was like a million years ago now, we saw: Vanessa Carleton (who was okay and who was wearing tall green boots), the Foo Fighters (who were really good but who played too early so we couldn't really see them because it was too bright to see the screens and who then flew to L.A. to play a show with the Red Hot Chili Peppers that night), Ryan Adams (who was just okay but who later won me over by saying "This [the Bridge School Benefit] is the coolest thing I've ever done in my life" and doing a cover of Hank Williams's "Love Sick Blues"), Jack Johnson (who was fine), Tenacious D (who were funny) (this is not necessarily in order, since the show was a million years ago and I can hardly remember it), Thom Yorke (who was a surprise--to me at least), LeAnn Rimes (who was also a surprise and who was wearing a wide cleavage shirt [sans cleavage] and acting like she was hot stuff, like coming out yelling "Hello California!" and "You guys are doing such a great thing by supporting this cause" and acting like Britney Spears by sitting on a stool and saying "This is my favorite song from my new album...when I first heard it I knew it had to be on my record" and stopping all the time to say to people who were apparently yelling that they loved her "Ooh, I love you too" and she didn't even introduce the musicians...not that she was bad, she was fine, it was just weird to see behavior like that at such a low-key thing like the Bridge School), James Taylor (who was good and damn can he still sing, but I *know* he can get funky and the songs he sang, while nice, were pretty funkless), and Neil Young.

Lest I have given the wrong impression, all of the performers were really good. Some I liked more than others, but all were good.

And now I have to admit that I don't own any album by Radiohead. Everyone's supposed to like them and stuff, but I don't care about them at all. So I didn't care about Thom Yorke.

When they announced that he'd be coming up next, Mr. Pooh was all "Who's Thom Yorke?" and I was all "Shh, Mr. Pooh, don't let anyone hear you say that!" and he was all "Why not?" and I was all "Because everyone's supposed to love Radiohead and if they hear that you don't they'll kill you!"

After I finished chastizing Mr. Pooh about his embarassing lack of musical knowledge, our friend who came with us was all "Who the fuck is Thom Yorke?" and Mr. Pooh was all "See!" and I was all "Shut up!"

As for his performance, our friend thought he sucked, I thought he was good although I didn't necessarily care for it (I think in one song he was all "I keep getting lamer every day" or something like that) and I don't know what Mr. Pooh thought.

I thought there was a decided lack of funk or soul in most of the performances as a whole. The only acts that rocked were the Foo Fighters and The D (I can call them The D now since I saw them in concert). Billy Idol's presence was sorely missed this year.

However, it's such a nice show to go to. The atmosphere is really good, the set changes were superduper short (like 15 minutes at the most this year), it's all acoustic so you know that the musicians they have there are going to be good (since crappo musicians first of all wouldn't have been asked and second of all wouldn't have accepted because they'd know that everyone would find out that they're crappo), and it's for a good cause.

And I was reminded why I fucking hate cell phones. Half of the people there had cell phones that they were talking on during the show or holding up so the people they were talking to could hear the music like they were in a goddamn Nokia commercial or they were calling each other in the crowd.

However, it was really nice to see some fall colors, since here it's permagreenish.

Also, I'd rather live up there than down here. But I'd really rather live in a different state entirely.

Oh yes, and in Pearl Jam related news: 1. the new album came out yesterday and is hot stuff man! 2. the Onion interviewed Eddie Vedder and this guy posted the article in his diary. (He wanted me to tell you all about it.) 3. the band is going to be on Letterman this Thursday and Friday, November 14 and 15. Oh my! that's tomorrow! 4. the old Synergy Message Pit has died and been replaced by a new one and I don't know if I will ever get used to it.