external monologue

telling stories

so, i have this new idea for the blog. i'm realizing that i take quite a few more photos than ever get posted on here, and seeing as i don't really do that much with the leftover photos i started thinking that maybe i could try to get more on the site. especially after posting two photos yesterday and thinking about some of the shots ive taken lately i've got this idea about telling stories with the photos. that is, perhaps 3, 4, 6, 8 photos that tell a story of an entire event or day, instead of just one. i don't suppose its really that different from what i've been doing, just more photos. so... here's the first story.

...

the evening started with a beer, a hoegaarden on tap, one of my favorite summer brews, and pizza at a place in east atlanta called grant central pizza. the salads were so-so (it's no lupi's) but they make dang fine pizza pie, which we munched on before heading around the corner to...

the echo lounge. which, by the way, gets some really fine acts. check out their upcoming shows section on the website. makes me wish they didn't get started so late (more about that later). i've been to the echo once before, i think. it was to see the promise ring, back in the heydey of emo. back before they disbanded. back before indie was the new mainstream. anyhow, as i've mentioned before, tonight we had come to see...

sufjan stevens. and hanging in the front window, was this really freakin' cool poster, personally signed by the man himself. this one was for sale, for more than i wanted to pay, but thankfully there were some smaller ones stuck to the walls. kiko snagged one and i was able to get him to sign it when we were talking after the show. i can't remember who made these posters though... some cool little company there in atlanta. i'll have to check and get back to you about that one. anyhow, there were a couple of so-so opening acts, and then...

sufjan finally appeared on stage, with a special guest, the state of michigan. which you can just barely make out behind some guys head, on the right in this photo. he spent most of the show telling the stories behind the songs, the events of which primarly took place in the state of michigan. growing up he travelled a great deal in the state and moved from one city to another as his parents found different jobs, changed their views, and finally were divorced.

i found his show to be absolutely captivating. now and then people in the back of the room would start talking too loudly and i wanted to go over and shake them and tell them that they were missing the most incredible show. he poured his heart out for this crowd. so many of his songs are sad and when he closed his set with "romulus", one his more tearjerking songs, i was afraid he might run from the stage weeping. but, he pulled himself together, said goodnight, and proceeded to spend the next hour chatting with fans in front of the stage. apparently he's not on tour right now, and this was just a special show that he came down to atlanta for, which i think probably explains the more heartfelt performance. or, maybe he's always that way...

...

so that's the first story. i can't promise that i'll have time to do this very often, but i think i'll enjoy it more. it's nice at least to be able to do something more constructive with these photos than let them sit on my hard-drive.

i'm leaving in the morning for memphis for ryan's wedding, so perhaps there's another story there. and dinner with brady on monday night had a couple of good moments. i don't know that i'll have time to post tomorrow, so until monday...

Posted by andy at July 15, 2004 05:48 PM