Sit Down, Standing Man

Remember my recent post in which I commented that I don't like crowds and noise? Well, scratch that. Because I love rock concerts. I have fond memories of the many concerts I attended at Red Rocks with my friends in high school, and I've enjoyed many a good outdoor concert as well as big stadium shows.

And my secret is out. I admit it. I love American Idol. For the past few years, Tess and I have been attending the American Idol tour together. Friday night, we went to the concert in Portland, and this year we brought Grayson and Emilie with us. Here we are getting ready to head out for the big event.


The concert was an absolute blast - the best of the concerts we've been to so far. All the contestants sounded fantastic, especially the sets by the two Davids, who were our favorites during the season. It was especially fun to take Emilie to her first concert ever, and Grayson also had a great time (he's no newcomer to concerts, having seen Cake in Victoria recently, including a trip backstage, since they are old friends of Greg's).

But the most memorable part of the concert was a fellow two rows in front of us who we referred to as "Standing Man". He did not sit down for the entire show, even when everyone else around him (including his boyfriend) - and everyone else in the stadium, for that matter - was sitting during the slow numbers. In the second half of the show, during Sayesha's set, two people behind us finally hollered some "down in front" comments at him, and he just sassed back and remained standing. It was almost comical, as he proceeded to rock out to a very slow number, hands in a rocker gesture and all, while everyone else sat quietly. It says something about Portlanders that they just gave up and let him be, deciding he just wasn't worth it and they'd just lean around him to see. Thomas commented that had the concert been in Detroit, he would have been tackled. But we're a friendly city. Maybe Standing Man was visiting from out of town.

Unfortunately, Standing Man was directly in front of me two rows up, and directly in back of him was Tall Girl. But I forgive Tall Girl. She can't help being tall, and at least she sat down when everyone else did. Even with my unfortunate section mates, I had a great time at the show. You can't beat being in the floor section about 10 rows from the stage and dancing without children attached to you. Imogen survived her longest time away from me so far, so I guess I'll have to start going out on the town more often.

Thomas has me beat, though. On Thursday afternoon, he was walking to his office downtown when he saw three of the contestants - Brooke, Ramiele, and Sayesha - having coffee. He went into the coffee shop, and they were nice enough to let him take their picture on his phone. What a good husband. I'd show you the picture, but we haven't figured out how to get it off of his phone yet. So you'll just have to take my word for it.

Now we're off for more weekend adventuring with the Whites. Woo hoo!

Oh, and I'm not letting all of you off the hook that easily. Only one of you out there told me how you would spend 30 days. Let me hear from the rest of you!