Brendan and I left work early yesterday to see his favorite band, the Polyphonic Spree, at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee. I agreed to go mostly because I had never been to Wisconsin and because I really like leaving work early. What I already knew about the band is that there are two dozen members and they all wear uniforms/robes and sing about happiness and love. So I was certain that by the end of the night I was going to belong to a hippie cult and be singing about sitting at the welcome table. But, then again, they were also on an episode of Scrubs, and I do trust that show with my life.
We first had dinner in Milwaukee at an Irish bar called Packy's (aka, Where Every White Man In a Hat Goes to Smoke After Work) because Brendan's dad, who is also Irish, is the sausage supplier. I had the sausage basket and played some Eagles in the jukebox. That in itself would've been a full night for me.
I didn't get to see much of downtown Milwaukee, but it seemed nice in the dark. The theater was nice. We stood right up against the stage the whole time, through all THREE bands. While we were waiting, I overheard two girls behind me have a five-minute conversation about cottage cheese, and then one said she couldn't believe they didn't have Dean's milk at the store the other day. I was like, "Wow, this really is what people in Wisconsin talk about."
A local band called the Red Walls opened the show, and I couldn't get over how skinny they were, so I didn't really pay attention. The second band was Rooney, and of course I'd never heard of them either, but I was close enough to the guitar player to see the holes in the crotch of his jeans. Jealous? The Polyphonic Spree didn't come on until after ten, and by that time I was ready for bed. It was a very entertaining show, though, and I know that because there was a lot of confetti. They wore black army uniforms, then changed into white robes for the encore. You don't have to tell me that's weird. But the music was pretty good and surging, and the lead singer was very charismatic.
I didn't home until 1:30 last night so now I'm tired, and you want to know what I've done today? You're reading it. It's great to have things like this to break up the week, but from now on I need those things to end at a decent hour so I can go to bed by 9:30. Because I don't know what happened to being twenty-three, but I'm seconds away from spending my nights nodding off on the couch during Everybody Loves Raymond reruns.
