27 February 2007

I need a hit of K.

So one of my, probably top five, favorite bands is Something Corporate. Something Corporate has been off the radar for about three years now. They had a semi-hit around 2001 (If You C Jordan), but it wasn’t until I saw them open for Good Charlotte that I became hooked. It was a 10-minute piano epic that hooked me: Konstantine. (Also, I am a little embarrassed to say I went to a Good Charlotte headlined tour, but whatevs. It was still when they were smallish and pre-Joel-Madden-dating-Hillary-Duff).

My friend Shamra went to that concert with me and was equally as transfixed by this song. And I am warning you, if you haven’t heard it and you go and download it at my advice, don’t say I didn’t warn you that anytime you have a 10-minute window of free time you’ll be like “SWEET! I can listen to Konstantine.” And I’ll even admit that during 30-minute windows between classes, sometimes Sham and I would sit in silence together and listen to it three times through.

I’ve only seen them play once as a true fan—I basically chaperoned my then-high-school-aged brother and his high school friends to a show at Nation in ’03. I’m pretty sure Andrew (McMahon, frontman/piano player/emo icon) knows that there’d be a major coup d’etat if he didn’t play Konstantine. It’s the number one shout out request at the concert by far. I think its people get scared he WON’T play it because it’s not on any of their full-length albums.

In 2004ish, Something Corporate went on a club tour- little did we know that this would be their last tour (at least to the present time). I got shut out of buying tickets before it sold out. But my good friends, Robbie and Jessica, were fortunate enough to have a pair. WHICH ROBBIE DECIDED TO SELL ON CRAIGSLIST INSTEAD OF TO ME because they were going for about five times face value on Craigslist. First of all, if you are a super fan, you don’t give up tickets. It wasn’t a matter of not being able to go. It was a matter of capitalism. I bet Andrew McMahon hates you and your scalping ways, Robbie. Robbie will never live this down until Something Corporate goes on tour again (which will probably be like 2009) and redeems himself in the form of buying me a ticket (don’t worry, I will buy myself one as a backup plan and then sell that one for five times face value once I’ve secured the Robbie ticket).

Anyway, he kind of avoided a lot of my fury because Andrew formed a side project, Jack’s Mannequin, which is basically Something Corporate but a little happier/less emo. I will never forget the first time I heard them. Rachel and I had just become friends and I was in her car listening to a CD that she thought I’d like. And I had a mini freak out when I heard the first song: DOES SOMETHING CORPRATE HAVE NEW SHIT OUT?! Then I got the Jack’s CD and put that on loop for like a year straight. They’ve come around this area three times in the past year (opened for O.A.R., headlining show in Baltimore, headlining show in DC last night). I still hold that Something Corporate is the tightest, but I love Jack’s Mannequin too. So if they’re playing in the area, I’m not going to say “no.”

Another thing about both bands is that their fans are, um, “devoted.” One of the fun games Jessica, Robbie and I like to play is “Spot the Superfan.” It’s always entertaining.

Last night, Jess, Rob, Rachel, Joe and I saw them play 9:30 club. I thought I spotted the superfan. Man was I wrong. Jess and Rob definitely won that round. My guy was in the second row and liked to interpretive dance the lyrics (for example, from Dark Blue “We were boxing/We were boxing the stars.” This guy was like throwing punches in slow motion and grinding on his girlfriend at the same time). But their chick was about 35, on the balcony and pretty much lost all bodily control during the songs. I mean. IT. WAS. A SHOWTIME.

Finally, the reason for my blog—At every Jack’s show we go to, they always play a Something Corporate song. And I get cised everytime that they might play one of my faves. Konstantine, obviously would be the #1 choice, but I’d totally settle for Straw Dog, Hurricane, Fall or Cavanaugh Park. Basically, Robbie, Jessica and I have a conference before every show to calculate the odds that he will play one of these songs. Last night gave me the greatest hope yet. Andrew went on this whole long schpiel about how he is so appreciative of SoCo fans coming out and shouting out SoCo requests and that he was going to play us “a few.” (By the way, they sold out two nights in a row at 9:30 and apparently he played different SoCo songs last night. I’m trying to find a playlist so I can make sure I don’t have to build a time machine to go back and exchange my tickets for Sunday night). So I guess that time machine talk kind of gives up the fact that none of my top songs were played. “She Paints me Blue” and “21 and Invincible” (a much less punky version) were the last night’s SoCo selections. I mean, I’ll never complain about them playing any SoCo songs, but I KNOW THAT HE KNOWS that everyone wants to hear Konstantine. Hook it, man. Just a little hit?

Anyway, this post, I guess, was more of an explanation of my connection to Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin. As usual, Rachel does her concert reviews on her MySpace blog. But as a little preview of what the evening actually encompassed, and her review, I will leave with my following summation of last nights show: “Taking Back Sunday, the Jr. High Years” (the Auditions) and “Franz Ferdinand Goes Heavy Metal” (Head Automatica) opened for “Jack’s Mannequin the Jam Band.” It was a pretty eclectic mix. And a far cry from the emo band, Copeland, that opened for them last time. They were so sad. I thought they were going to hang themselves onstage. That last part of my summation goes with the quote of the night (Robbie’s first reaction after the show):

“Wow. Who knew Jack’s Mannequin was a jam band?”

15 comments:

Rachel said...

1. I HEART if you c jordan. when it first came out julie and i listened/screamed along with that basically non stop for a year...still do it sometimes too. thats prob my fave of thiers just b/c it has such a great spot in my heart.

2. I remember that car ride when i got to watch you listen to Jack's Mannequin for the first time.

3. Last night's show was by far the best time we've ever seen them. minus all the drunk little underage kids that i wanted to go away.

LG said...

Car ride was after happy hour at Logan Tavern. You gave me a ride like 5 blocks.

I was like- OMG Something Corporate. And you were like "No, it's Jack's Mannequin." And then I said "Oh yeah, I guess SoCo won't be doing much for a while cause Andrew has cancer." And you said "This guy has cancer too!!"

And thus, we made the connection.

You know I have a very spotty/selective memory, but moments like those I do not forget.

Rachel said...

dont worry i remember that ride crystal clear, was it even 5 blocks? i think it was just barely long enough for you to hear that song

also i'm adding
4. NEVER be ashamed to see Good Charlotte...they rock...always have and always will

LG said...

In addition to selective memory loss, I also apparently can't read. I thought you said you DIDN'T remember th ride.

Of course you did. I ALWAYS LOSE THIS GAME!

Anonymous said...

"This guy has cancer too!" That sounds like something Rachel would say.

Anonymous said...

those SoCo songs are pretty dissapointing. However..it was Jack's Mannequin, and it was 930 club whihch beats the hell out of Sonar anyday.

Rachel said...

who anonymously made fun of me?

LG said...

Dear Mr. "anonymous" (who we have a pretty good idea who it is):

Exclamation points can denote an extreme of any emotion, not just happiness or excitement! (see that exclamation point denoted me yelling at you).

I think in the context of "this guy had cancer too!" the exclamation point denotes both sadness and "Eureka!". I guess I could have thrown in a frowny face :( but I don't think I can emoticon a lightbulb.

Anonymous said...

andrew never ever plays konstantine at jacks mannequin shows..he only has once and that was at bamboozle left 2005 or 2006, im not sure which. he played the first half of it and then said "ladies and gentlemen, something corporate" and all the members of something corporate came out on stage and they finished the song and then played hurricane and punk rock princess...but yeah he never plays it at jacks mannequin shows, i think its more than just that its a soco song, i think theres an emotional reason he doesnt play it because he plays other soco songs at jacks mannequin concerts, but never konstantine
there a bunch of videos on youtube of people cheering for him to play konstantine and she always like "you can cheer but i still wont play it"...so yeah
but i agree that it is completely AMAZING and your sooo lucky you got to see it live, the best i can do is watch it on youtube...im listening to it now haha :]

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