Friday, January 20, 2012

Jesus Shaved

I went to an event at the Loft in Minneapolis tonight after work. There was a happy hour of sorts for members, and I am one. I decided to get a cup of pinot noir wine, by Bluefin. Even though there was Grainbelt beer available, I don't need it all the time, and I have it at the comedy club anyway. Liked all of the cheese there, I had plenty. Some was cheddar, others was smoked gouda. After the happy hour, there was a reading from a performer, who had a book signing after Q and A. She read from 2 chapters, also performed 5 songs. One was about the book '7 Habits of Highly Effective People', the last was called 'Jesus Shaved' about Jesus getting a job in corporate America. The book was about a rock star named Mary in Glasgow. Other songs were about the 'unsung' heroes, and about a fallen angel. Someone kept fidgeting near me during the reading, but I wanted to be polite and said nothing. It was an older man, he may have had something like Parkinson's disease. Somebody came to me and asked if their coat was on the chair, it wasn't. I was near the back of the auditorium, only seat in the row. Since it was nearly full when I arrived, I decided to claim the seat right away before someone else did. I like seeing people good at their craft, and I like when I get to events like these as much as possible. The performer spoke of somehow being related to Rufus Wainwright, a Canadian musician I've heard of as he did a version of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' for the first 'Shrek' movie.
  Another notable event was an appointment around midday, and it was slow going due to the snow. In the physician's office I was told was a picture of the church in St. Petersburg, Russia. Looked a lot like Red Square in Moscow. Since I was in my car for a while to and from it there was plenty of music I heard, like 'The Concept' by Teenage Fanclub. It is likely getting more airplay than typical for a 20-year-old song due to being in the movie 'Young Adult', which I saw last month. I missed it when it was on the charts if it was back in October 1991, I recalled Nirvana's 'Teen Spirit' way better from that year. I stayed at the office for more than 30 minutes past my normal leave time as I didn't get back as quickly as expected, so there still was some time to make up.
   Before the appointment I picked up a St. Paul Winter Carnival button from 1973, I wanted it since there was a covered wagon on it, a reminder of Emerson Hough, who else? The woman selling this year's buttons said there was one available. I didn't act quick enough when I saw one on E-bay. It was why I acted quick after seeing a listing for one from 1990, which has the 'big red one' on it, referring to the landmark sign from the First National Bank building downtown. Already had another one from 1990, with Snoopy on it, going down a hill with a snowman on the back of the sled. I may want to get a few more from previous years, E-bay has over 100 items when entering 'Saint Paul Winter Carnival' in the search engine. I did get this year's button registered as this was the final day to do so. It was registered online after getting back from the Loft. Unsure if I had done that before, but there must be some good prizes from the sponsors.
   I try to take notes where and when I can, and I had some notes from the Loft event written on a bank receipt from January 5. It was right before I went to Chicago for the weekend for a historian convention evidenced by me writing down directions for the trains there. It said take the Blue line from O'Hare Airport to the Red line in the Loop, then about an 8-minute walk to my hotel.
   The notes from a comedy show I attended, probably from Tuesday January 3 are there. I seemed to remember the jokes I didn't like more than the ones I did. Didn't like the one about 'Marco Polio', especially when the Jonas Salk vaccine was decades ago. But it was insensitive anyway. Another got the name wrong on the football coach accused in the Penn State scandal, it was Jerry Sandusky not Larry. A comedian friend nearby echoed it. The next one was about things they dreaded, saying they would rather masturbate with a cheese grater. It was a stolen joke, as Andrew Clay used it in the movie 'Ford Fairlane'. The last one I really liked, it was about a comedian who brings his dad to shows. The comic onstage said if his dad was a part of his comedy career on the same level, he wouldn't need to be a comedian. I concur, as many of us are broken and we turn to comedy as therapy. Sometimes I go a few weeks before cleaning out my wallet, but eventually it is necessary when there can be too many receipts. And I like stapling the ones from Superamerica separately when they are gleaned out so I can keep track of how many points I have in their loyalty program.

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