Aphrodisiac

Just call me Penny Lane. As in the groupie from Almost Famous who hunted rock stars like wild game. Ok, so maybe it’s not quite that bad. But last night at the Gavin DeGraw and Howie Day concert, I once again saw the appeal of the rock star. Neither Gavin or Howie are really my type but I found myself mesmerized. When I say “my type”, I’m referring to aesthetics. I like tall men. I like men with strong hands, dark, thick hair, good teeth and not skinny. I know it sounds somewhat shallow but when it comes to physical attributes, we’re all shallow.

For me, the rock star appeal isn’t about the fact that they’re rich. I could care less about money as I’ve seen that the man or the money can run out at any time. It’s also not about the fame because that really holds no appeal for me either. For me, it’s about the fact that this person, standing on the stage in front of me, has real talent. I’m sorry, but any man who can sing, play piano and guitar and is funny is just hot. Enough on my groupie aspirations, on to the show….

The opening act was some girl whose name I can’t remember. She played a lot of sad music and by the third song I was ready to cry. Her songs had titles like “Scar” and every song was melancholy. Boo-frickin-hoo! Where’s Howie? Thankfully, we got there near the end of her suicidal set so the agony didn’t go on too long.

Next up, Howie Day. I’m pretty sure he smoked a bowl before heading to the stage but I don’t care because he was fantastic. His commentary between songs was hilarious and his Neil Dimond impression was priceless. He sounded as good, if not better live than recorded. “Collide” was his big finale and frankly, worth the price of admission.

And then there was Gavin. *sigh* If you’re not a Gavin fan, you should be. He is so talented. Sure, it looked like he hadn’t showered in a week and I really wanted to give him a deep conditioning treatment. But then he started playing the piano. His set was amazing and he somehow managed to work in a little Guns N Roses “Paradise City”, Don McClean’s “American Pie”, Led Zeppelin’s “Your Time is Gonna Come” and finally Allman Brothers “Midnight Rider”. He came out into the crowd several times and since we were in the fifth row (Thanks, Dave!) he was roughly four feet from us. I waited patiently to hear “Overrated” and it was the last song in his set. Well worth the wait.

I’m exhausted today but so happy we went. I’ll take a talented man over sleep any day of the week.

Below are the pics. Camera phones are not the best for nighttime photos but I did the best I could…