**Before I tell you about the concert we saw last night, I just want to let you know that Cabanasis had a healthy baby girl on Saturday and all is well with everyone. If you want to know more about it you can go here, but you may need to use Babelfish if you want to do more than just see pictures.**

CB and I had tickets to see Alanis Morisette (SQUEEEEE, jump up and down and do the happy dance) in concert at Lokeren this Sunday during the Lokerse Feesten*. Cabanasis lives in Lokeren,coincidentally, so the plan was originally to use a car from Cambio(the local car sharing company that CB is a member of), drive to Lokeren early, visit Cabanasis and the new baby, rock out to Alanis and then head home so I could get some sleep before my test today.

Of course that’s not exactly what happened.

Right as we were heading out the door CB went to get his Cambio card from his wallet and discovered that he had lost it at some point after the last time we used it, which was our trip to Zulte around 3 weeks ago. We hunted for it but to no avail so we cancelled the reservation and decided to take the train instead. CB called his sister and asked if we could visit later in the week on our way back from Antwerp (I might have a job for September…I’ll let you know after the recruitment session) and she said that was fine. We caught the train from Gent to Lokeren and made our way to the venue. The bummer about taking the train was that the last one to Gent left at 11:36, which meant we’d see the opening act in full but we’d be cutting the Alanis part short. I won’t say I wasn’t dissapointed about that, especially when the train ran late and we ended up sitting on the platform till the concert was over anyway, but some things can’t be helped and I did get to see one of my all time favorite singers live, so it’s all good.

What wasn’t good was that we didn’t get into Gent until 1 in the morning and after waiting on the bus, we didn’t get to sleep until around 2. I can’t say that that didn’t effect my performance on my exam (which was not so good, but not as bad as I thoguht either) where I kept confusing new vocabulary words for old ones from past levels. For instance, one word I had to define was overtuigen, which means “to convince” and I confused it with getuigen, which means “witnesses”. Once I get one definiton in my head, even if I know it’s wrong,I can’t think around it to find another definition.

But this is not about my floundering through the twisted world of the Dutch language. This is about the concert last night. I mentioned the opening act, and that was Buffalo Tom. Do any of you remember Buffalo Tom? The only thing their name does for me is bring back fond memories of My So Called Life. I really didn’t, nor did I ever, like Buffalo Tom. The lead singer doesn’t have a very good voice and he screams too much. The bassist actually has a much nicer sound, in my opinion. And, as it turns out, I only know two of their songs and one of those was only from watching reruns of My So Called Life. Does anyone remember that show?

It was so good and got no credit.

Anyway, Buffalo Tom made a few faux pas in speaking to the crowd. You know, jokes about bad weather, calling Canada the 51st state (the bassist must’ve realized that Europe would not find that attitude funny cause he apologized right after the song that followed that comment), but the worst one of all was at the very end when the lead singer shouted, “I heard Antwerp can sing louder than all of Holland combined!”
And everyone just sort of looked blank cause we weren’t in Antwerp…we were in Lokeren. So then he starts blundering about being close to Antwerp and the announcer says “Lokeren…we’re in Lokeren” over the loudspeaker. And the lead singer says,”Well, that guy is saying something in Flemish that I don’t understand, but anyway…yeah!” And he starts the last song. So here’s to you Buffalo Tom, here’s one of the two songs you have that I like:

Late At Night
I close my door at night
But they get in all right
And she turns on the light
I held her hands so tight
‘Cause words don’t come out right
And she sees things at night
Me, I’m closer to the door
I don’t get scared no more
But I don’t know the score
If I could hold them in my hand
I’d make them understand
I’m not a haunted mind
I’m not a thoughtless kind
If I could put them in a jar
I know they wouldn’t scar
I’d do it if I could
I hope you know I would
I close my door at night
But she gets in all right
So I turn on the light
I held her hand too tight
Too hard to make it right
So I could sleep at night
If I could hold them in my hand
I’d make them understand
I’m not a haunted mind
I’m not a thoughtless kind
If I could put them in a jar
I know they wouldn’t scar
I’d do it if I could
I hope you know I would
I’d do it if I could
I hope you know I would
I’d do it if I could
I hope you know I would
I’d do it if I could
I hope you know I would
I’d do it if I could
I hope you know I would

Obviously I liked Alanis much better than the other guys. Not only did she open with one of my favorite songs, Uninvited, but she still sounds fantastic. She mixed a few of her new songs with the glut of amazing older ones from her prior albums and she obviously still loves her music, just from the look on her face while she was singing.

I friggin love Alanis Morisette. I’ve been listening to her since I was 12 or 13 and I’ve owned every one of her albums at some point in time. I love her lyrics and her original sound. I love that she has never sold out or changed her image like some of the other singers I used to like (damn you Sheryl Crow, Liz Phair and Jewel…especially Jewel…what she did is so much more than selling out…it was selling out on a Stepford Wives magnitude). I love that she doesn’t fake tan, dye her hair, dress skimpily or act like a total slut. Everything she has is because of her talent and she is brimming with that.

So even though we didn’t get to stay for the whole thing, I was so so excited and happy that we got to see her live, in the flesh for even 45 minutes.

Uninvited

Like anyone would be
I am flattered by your fascination with me
Like any hot blooded woman
I have simply wanted an object to crave
But you’re not allowed
You’re uninvited
An unfortunate slight

Must be strangely exciting
To watch the stoic squirm
Must be somewhat heartening
To watch shepard meet shepard
But you’re not allowed
You’re uninvited
An unfortunate slight

Like any uncharted territory
I must seem greatly intriguing
You speak of my love like
You have experienced like mine before
But this is not allowed
You’re uninvited
An unfortunate slight

I don’t think you unworthy
I need a moment to deliberate