Last night I went to the Fiona Apple concert at Wolf Trap. Needless to say, I had a wonderful time. (Though, if anyone else went to the show, I would like to discuss Fiona's stage antics. Was it histrionic or genuine? Please discuss in comments. I lean towards histrionic.) I love Wolf Trap. It's got to be the best venue in the area. It's close by, it's beautiful, and the acoustics, in the two shows I've seen there, have been excellent. It's a shame they don't get more contemporary acts to make the trip to Vienna.
One thing I noticed during the concert was the use of signers. Off to the side of the stage, two women wearing all black were signing Fiona Apple's lyrics for the benefit of the hearing impaired. The Wolf Trap website has this little blurb:
SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETATION
Sign language interpretation can be arranged by calling (703) 255-1849 (TDD accessible). A minimum of three weeks advance notice is required.
Which of course raises the following question: Why would a deaf person go to a concert?
8.01.2006
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For the parking lot scene. They were probably doing nitrus afterward and just blazing like crazy.
ReplyDelete--Douche
I heard that if you walk through the dorms at Galladet University in D.C. (the deaf university), you will hear a lot of loud sex (complete with moaning) and, naturally, the flatulance is loud and out of control.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5563282
ReplyDeleteBoth of those comments are very funny and made me laugh, but I don't want to rip on deaf people. Just wondering why a deaf person would go to a concert.
ReplyDeleteThanks, J.J.
ReplyDeleteFor the atmosphere?
ReplyDeleteThey live in hope of another classic Fiona meltdown, like the one she had in New York some years ago. She started ranting about how she couldn't hear herself, though the sound was fine, and then told the reporters in the audience, "Don't you fucking fuck me" before running off stage. Bless her heart.
ReplyDeleteIt's like the deaf people are all "You think YOU can't hear yourself, bitch," and they follow her around pestering her.
ReplyDeleteOh, I could be a signer at a Fionna Aplle concernt! I love to flip the bird.
ReplyDeleteAHAHAHA too true. Though on Fiona's behalf, I must add that after her nervous breakdown she gave free tickets to all the audience members for her subsequent NYC show. What histrionics were on display at Wolf Trap?
ReplyDeleteArythymic dancing and crazy banshee screaming off mic.
ReplyDeletei remember reading a few years back that fiona was molested as a child. is that true? if so thats really hot.
ReplyDeletebeing hearing impaired I should try to explain. But seeing most readers are of the Diploma Mill, college puke types why waste my time?
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, dude. I made both of those comments at the top.
ReplyDeleteI found it hypocritical, however, that Galladet Univ. students would oppose a president who wasn't born deaf. It reminded me of Steve Martin in "The Jerk."
"You mean I'm not black?!"
Fiona Apple was raped at the age of 12. She played the song about it, "Sullen Girl," during her encore. That song is just brutal.
ReplyDeleteTo the Hearing Impaired Anonymous, I didn't understand it last night, but the NPR hyperlink helped me out. Please don't take offense.
I used to date a deaf girl (in fact, she is pretty famous in the deaf community and recieved a lot of grief when we were dating from some of the nazis at Galladet) and she would go to clubs and concerts with me.
ReplyDeleteGenerally, she couldn't hear the words or music but at a loud concert she said she could "feel" the rythym from the drums and bass in the air.
I saw Fiona in Boston on July 21st, and she was definitely acting weird:
ReplyDelete1. She was talking to herself A LOT
2. She hit herself in the head repeatedly
3. She gave a speech about relationships being like wells (??)
4. She crouched in the corner of the stage and muttered in between songs
I think most of that was just a show... but she definitely does weird arm movements genuinely. I've seen her on some live TV shows when she was trying to just stand and be normal, and she couldn't do it.
If I wanted to be with a deaf girl, ain't no deaf people'd keep me away! It all sounds so... sinister.
ReplyDeleteI remember a few years ago there was a movement in the "deaf community" against devices that would help hearing-disabled people from gaining partial hearing, and some deaf parents conceived a deaf child purposely with the idea that they weren't disabled but were different.
I guess there's no way for them to actually recruit new members.They just have to wait for me and my iPod.
In two years, I fully expect to see Fiona hanging out by the friendship heights metro stop and yeling vulgar things at people... and sitting next to her will be Nickel Back.
ReplyDeleteFiona Apple at Frienship Heights Metro Stop:
ReplyDelete"You got a cigarette?"
Me at Frienship Heights metro stop:
"Ahhh, sorry dude."
Soooooooo what, dude. It's not all about the snarkiness. But it actually does relate, i think...
ReplyDeletebtw, it's nice when no one feels the need to call you a shitmouse.
A musician who had hearing loss after an accident told me that people who aren't totally deaf but hearing-impared can partially hear and enjoy some/much of the music but have trouble making out the lyrics, so the sign language interpreting is a benefit.
ReplyDeleteYou don't stay ON topic enough to warrant veering off topic like this. Keep your personal life out of it until you have proven that you can write something other than a personal blog. You know, like a real writer?
ReplyDelete1. I don't know where the idea that I never write about DC comes from. In the past month I've written about the heat wave, the "crime emergency," the closing of a shitty DC dive bar, and, naturally, public transportation issues. And I cover The Washington Post way too much. I wrote two posts about MA while on vacation. My mistake.
ReplyDelete2. "Like a real writer"? Please. I have a Blogspot account for Christ's sake. Real writers need not apply...WHICH IS THE WHOLE POINT OF BLOGGING IN THE FIRST PLACE. People not employed as writers getting to write their thoughts, desires, fears, and jokes to a public audience.
3. I have failed once again at my own suggestion that I ignore negative criticism.
Oh, please write only about DC-esque-ly topics like Eleanor Norton Holmes and the Metro system and black people and white people.
ReplyDeleteYours Truly,
Nerdy Nerd Nerdmore
I went to a concert with a deaf girl once. But it was the Beastie Boys, so it seemed more that she got the music through the heavy beats and bass.
ReplyDeleteDid Vanilla Ice, in his rap-metal incarnation, play at Gallaudet a few years ago?
As for Fiona. I didn't see the show but saw her open for Coldplay. She has said in the past that she's a bit insecure on stage. So I think her mannerisms are an attempt to compensate.
I forgot, who is fiona married to?
ReplyDeleteI've always liked her music but i was kind of put off by that speech she gave at an award show a few years back. Her message was good but it was very poorly deliverd.
ReplyDeletezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
ReplyDeleterusty, surprised you haven't written about the 101 degree heat or the 10 pm curfew for the little tikes, or even the kids facing 25 years for pointing a fake gun at a woman?
yours truly,
Nickelback
Saw Guster the other night at Wolf Trap. The lead singer did the Revenge of the Nerds rap to see if the signer could follow. It was pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteHulkin is right. This has nothing to do with DC. But it does prove that you're like all the other dicks in this city, using words like "histrionic" and making fun of deaf people. Way to go, asshole. Where is James? Where is Schuyler?
ReplyDelete