Dave Chappelle was Right!
Friday, July 07, 2006
It really IS the guitar music that makes white people dance!
Susan and I validated Dave’s amazing discovery last night at The Shins/Belle and Sebastian concert last night at the Hollywood Bowl. People were dancing in the aisles and going nuts! That may seem perfectly normal for a big rock band, but maybe you’re not familiar with the group. Actually, before last night, i had never even heard of Belle and Sebastian. I thought it might be a Disney group with a guy in a crab suit and a woman in a gold dress dancing around. Let me just say their music is not that kind i thought anyone would ever dance to.
It’s sort of depressive mood music that you’d hear in the background of a swanky lounge or something. Not to say that it wasn’t fun. It was great music, but just not the “I’m going to get out of my chair because i can’t help but dance” kind of concert. But there they were, white people dancing like mad all around us. We kept testing the hypothesis throughout the night. The result: they wouldn’t dance when there was music but no guitar! The drums wouldn’t do it! Very strange indeed.
In particular, there was this one guy who was AWESOME! But strange. He had all the right moves. For a girl! He had some crazy hip action, diva arms and everything! As Susan remarked, “His hips have a mind of their own. They seek out other people!” He was so energetic and so *normal* looking. I think that’s what threw us off. I mean, if he had been dressed totally in drag, it would have been completely understandable, but no, he was just a normal dude. He made the whole night entertaining. We just watched in awe all night as this boy swivelled and twirled, pranced and wiggled. I tried to catch video but it was too dark. Booooo.
The other revelation for the night was that the lead singer of The Shins is very hard to take seriously because he looks like a combination of Kevin Spacey and Edward Norton.
Can’t you see it? It’s like he’s pulled together from the parts of other less-musical stars. And he looked so concerned the entire night. But most likely, it was just his eyebrows that made him look that way.
The other highlight of the night was the girl that Belle and Sebastian called up on stage to be the embodiment of the girl that they were singing about. When asked for her name, she blurted out, “Baby Beeatch!” That was very classy. And very funny. And the band ran with it!
I’m lined up for a bunch more concerts at Hollywood Bowl, so it looks like it’s going to be a great summer!
in case you haven’t seen the sketch…
“White People Dancing” by Dave Chappelle
Posted by on 07/07 at 08:11 PMI dunno...I mean I wish that were true. When Lee (my original emo friend) and I used to go to concerts, I would threaten him with dancing. At first he would laugh, then stare at me with alarm. “The Autumns” was a very self-serious BritPop band in L.A. in the late 90’s, and people at their concerts would just stand and kind of sway like trees, but back and forth. So I’m not convinced, although you guys have seen it with your own eyes. This doesn’t apply to real rock music, of course - I’ve danced to Placebo. But you know...I WAS dancing to the guitar! But can it really work with a soft guitar?
P.S. Kevin Spacey mixed with Ed Norton mixed with Kiefer Sutherland is my dream man. Except for Keanu in “The Lake House,” and occasionally “Jim” from “The Office.” But it’s still not a bad thing.
Posted by on 07/13 at 10:31 AMOh holy shiznit. I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to cry. I miss him - anyone know if the Block Party is going on DVD?
But yeah, I agree with the ELECTRIC guitar hypothesis, as I unwittingly noted with my Placebo example above. I was even nodding my head during the sketch.
John Mayer is way cooler than I thought he was.
Posted by on 07/13 at 10:43 AM