I’m so not shitting you.

Today I met with Florian, who has agreed to help me learn French. He has no idea what he’s in for. He’s quite nice and a teacher in Paris. So my bargaining chip is my grammatically correct English. Thanks Mom!

Anyhow I went to meet him in the Marais, one of my favorite neighborhoods. This neighborhood is a good 20 minute metro ride from my shitty neighborhood, but soooo worth it. I generally look outside the window so I don’t accidentally make eye contact with anyone. So I was looking outside the window as a man came into view. He was squatting. It took me a while to process this, really. Then it became apparent the man was taking a shit in the full light of the metro station. There was a collective gasp in the car and a sudden burst of conversation. Apparently no one else could believe it either. Thank God to know it wasn’t a common occurrence. Beware of metro station Poissoniere.

Sparklehorse and Willy Mason at the Elysee Montmartre

I went to my first Paris show. Although obviously both bands are American and even the intermission dj’d music was as well.

I wasn’t sure how Sparklehorse would pull of it’s sound live. But it actually was fantastic. I had heard that you really shouldn’t go to see the band live. That it just seemed like a sad drunk guy on stage. Ok yes it’s not particularly upbeat and anyone who would expect it to be hasn’t listened to the albums apparently. But I thought it was a great thing to watch. Mark sang quite well and the two other “members” of the band played a variety of instruments and both used macbooks for something of which was not apparent to me. Plus there was a great show of animation on a white screen in the back that illustrated each song. Overall a great experience.

The opening act was a guy named Willy Mason. When he first came on stage I was afraid it would be one of the sappy hipsters with a weak voice and too much acerbic wit. I was happily surprised when he hit his very first note. His voice was strong and steady and completely blew me away. His lyrics were powerful in their simplicity and the music was a perfect match. Definitely someone I want to catch again back in the states.

I must admit I was a little wary of going to this show. Going to new venues alone always freaks me out a bit. Sometimes it feels like walking into the cafeteria in junior high, with lots of cliques and territory. But all in all it was ok and pretty much like every other venue I’ve been to in the states. There were the hipsters there to see and be seen. Traditional music geeks that look exactly like Dick from High Fidelity. A few yuppies that make sure they are in the front and then proceed to talk through the entire show. Plenty of drunks and even the obligatory ’90s guy who never really let go of grunge and wags his intentionally unruly locks to every beat.

All in all a success although I never came out of my shell long enough to actually attempt in my lame French to speak to anyone. But I did tell the Willy Mason guy that I thought he was great and that his voice surprised me. Which I think he might have taken as an insult.

On the way home I passed by some guy who proceeded to turn around and follow me into the metro car. Because I am nice and a fool I allowed him to strike up a conversation. It was mostly amusing because of my bad French. I agreed to go have drinks with him and when he said something about me spending the night at his house and that I had big boobs I excused myself to the restroom and proceeded to sneak out the door. Nothing like walking home in an unfamiliar neighborhood in the middle of the night sure that there is a man following you and about to grab you for walking out on a coke.