After an insanely busy week of running around to visit family and friends, Mols decided at the last minute (right before we went out for our last dinner Wednesday night) to extend her and Trav's stay until today. Even though we had a lot of fun seeing everyone, we also really wanted a few more days to just relax and hang out with no real plans. This was great for so many reasons, one being that I could take Mols with me to the Long Winters CD release party last night. Opportunities to hear live music on Maui are pretty limited, so she's eager to catch a concert or two when she's in town. I thought she’d really like them and was excited for her to go.

The Long Winters are always entertaining. This often has as much to do with the audience as the band itself. John Roderick is good at interacting with the crowd and seems to attract the "characters" of Seattle, who are uninhibited about yelling out whatever they feel like during the performance or just acting bizarre in general. Usually this is funny. Sometimes it makes me want to cover my face with my hands and shake my head. I don’t know if it was the heat or what, but yesterday we were really grooving in Crazytown.

It would take way too much time and space on the old blog to describe all of the hilariously strange encounters Mols and I had with people last night, but the oddest had to be with a man I couldn't help but think of as that Annoying Guy. We met him when the band transitioned into a quieter sound for a few songs. AG didn’t like it and turned to us to complain.

AG: Oh man. Isn't this slow stuff putting you to sleep?

Me: Actually, I really like this song. It’s one of my favorites.

AG: Yeah, it's boring me too. (pantomimes yawn) Can't they see they're losing people here?

Looks around as though to emphasize point. I take a quick look and see a packed room of people listening. No one is leaving. I shrug.

Me: No.

AG (turns to holler at stage): Play some rock 'n roll!

Sigh. AG was very distracting during this period. He alternated from leaning over to repeat the putting you to sleep question, to unabashedly staring at my chest when Molly wasn't around (she needed to go outside to cool off) to block his view, to trying to catch my eye to make a yawning motion. I concentrated really hard on ignoring him, which of course meant my energy was focused on not being annoyed rather than enjoying the music. This realization irritated me further, but I was reluctant to scufufle with AG. I started to give him passive aggressive sidelong glances of annoyance instead.

Later....

AG turns to me and Mols: Hey, see my really tall friend here. Do you mind if he moves up by us and stands in front of you?

Mols: Uh, actually we do mind. We won't be able to see.

Me: Yeah. No way, dude.

AG looks perplexed, like he just doesn't get it.

Mols: How about you have your tall friend move right in front of YOU?

Brief pause while AG processes.

AG: I see what you mean. I really do. (turns back toward the stage and shouts) Play some rock 'n roll!

A few minutes later...around 1am.

AG turns to Molly: Have the opening bands played yet?

Molly: Yes! Obviously.

AG faces forward (wait for it...): Play some rock 'n roll already!

Gawd. I don't know if he was on drugs or what.

Oh well. The show was fun, and we returned home in time to get about three hours of sleep before heading off to the airport. Mols and Trav are on their way back home right now. We were punchy in the car and giggled incessantly as we sang along with a Long Winters song as monotone and off-key as we could. I love that my sister finds the same dopey things as funny as I do. I miss her already!