Sunday Was A Bright Day The Day Before Yesterday

I saw my friend Paul on Sunday. He drove to Chicago from St. Louis to check out U of C’s Grad School and potentially major there in Computer Science (since he’s doing Computer Tech work at this moment). Basically, I went to his hotel in downtown Chicago and we left and hung out for a few hours. It was a nice day and we mainly walked around downtown visiting various stores and catching up. We had lunch at T.G.I.Friday’s, my first time at one. I had the Jack Daniels shrimp. The shrimp was good but the Jack Daniels sauce was okay. I don’t think that flavor works very well with shrimp.

During this time, I finally got to visit a Virgin Megastore. It’s a music lover’s dream, with 2 floors of music, DVDs, and even some books. They had imports, vinyl, and a good amount of stuff from indie labels. I even picked up the new album from N.E.R.D. (more on that later). We also visited Borders, the Apple Computer Store, the Sony Gallery (on the last day before it closed for good, no less), Water Tower Place, and Chicago Place. I hadn’t been to either Water Tower or Chicago Place for a number of years. Chicago Place has gotten a lot bigger since I visited it (it’s 8 floors, same as Water Tower). The whole area down Michigan Avenue has tons of upscale stores (from Burberry to Coach and Tiffany). I kept up my streak of never entering an Abercrombie and Fitch store by avoiding the one at Water Tower. A&F is probably the one brand that I would be surprised to see a self-respecting black person in (now a black person that doesn’t respect his/herself...that’s the uniform).

After spending time with Paul, I left for home. I watched some of the usual Sunday stuff I watch (like a new and funny episode of The Simpsons). However, my mom, my sister and I decided to watch Britney Spears live concert in Miami. Now, we all know that Britney lip synchs every single fast song and that most of her songs suck, but her first live concert wasn’t that bad despite the shortcomings. It was energetic and entertaining. But this...The Onyx Hotel...I almost can’t describe the horror of this concert. It was boring. First, the audio throughout the entire special was screwed up. It became extremely obvious that Britney was lip synching because the recorded vocals had extreme clarity. The rest of the audio was horrible though, as background singing couldn’t be heard at times. The video presentation was lacking as well, with occasional added digital effects that made things worse (like one that made part of the screen look similar to the big dot matrix screens at her concert). The dancing throughout the show was pathetic. The “master of ceremonies” looked like Rosie O’Donnell in drag and doing her best Boy George impression (the MC was a man, by the way). The filler was awful, and featured an unusual appearance by Jada Pinkett Smith (Smith will actually be opening for Britney in Europe with her band...but her appearance in the filler still felt strange). The themes for various songs were lame. The cabaret version of Baby One More Time made the song much worse than it already was. Even Britney’s attempts at more “adult” entertainment were lacking. She also copied so much from Janet Jackson, it’s ridiculous. Then there was her actual singing on the slower songs. As my mom said “Bring back the canned music!” The only things that were good about the show were the musicians and background singers (who outsang her every chance they could get). I don’t know which is sadder: the fact that people paid money to see this, the fact that they can’t get their money back, or the fact that somebody somewhere actually enjoyed that slop.

But fortunately, Sunday didn’t end on a bad note as I listened to the new album from N.E.R.D. called Fly or Die. Just like the last album, this one is a hard-to-pin-down combination of hip-hop, rock, and funk with Pharrell’s endearingly bad singing and dark-toned lyrics (check out the sad second half of “Wonderful Place”). The mentality of this album is best summed up by who guest stars on it. The lone guest appearances are of Benji and Joel of Good Charlotte (who appear on “Jump”) and ?uestlove of The Roots (who plays drums on “Maybe”). Compared to the last album, this one is more rock-oriented (and more eclectic). Guitars feature a lot more prominently. It’s not quite as memorable as their last album, but it’s loose and fun to listen to. So, if you liked In Search Of..., you’ll probably like this one. One more thing...this CD is enhanced and you’re supposed to be able to see slideshows that go with each of the songs. However, my computer couldn’t read the disc at all. Not even to play/burn it. Just a fair bit of warning.

Today, March 30th, is my Grandmother Ella’s birthday. She’s been there for me since I was young, when she would bring me and Samone home from church because my dad always had to work on Sundays. We’d stop by McDonald’s or some other fast food place after church and get some food before she took us back home. Also, she’s helped me out on some of the more expensive things I’ve had to deal with, most notably my computer and tuition for NU. So, even though she won’t see this...Happy Birthday!

Don’t forget to check out this blog on April Fools’ Day. Since I’m announcing this, I won’t try and pull some lame prank. Instead, it will be a showcase for my bizarre sense of humor. I have a bunch of ideas in my head for it, so check out the lunacy on Thursday.