Just a Gwai Lo fun within prescribed limits [?]

Back from the M.I.A. concert in Vancouver—and by back, I mean back at the office—where she put on a good show. My expectations were fairly high, my clearly being obsessed with her, and unfortunately they weren't met. Let me at least, however, go into some detail about my concert-related expenses:

• Two tickets: $60. My friend couldn't make it—I'm not upset: I expected to go alone anyway—so I gave the ticket away to some random hot girl in the "buying tickets" line at the club. Their male companion asked how much I was giving it to them for, so it must have come to a surprise to them that I just gave it away. I didn't stick around long enough for them to thank me.
• T-shirt with faux-military insignia: $20. There's no indication that it's a t-shirt for M.I.A., so I have no proof that I was, like, there man.
• Ridiculous ATM charge: $2.50. To buy the aforementioned t-shirt.
• Ridiculous coat check fee: $3.00. Definitely leaving my jacket at the office next time if possible.

I didn't bother staying for LCD Soundsystem, whom I'm not enthusiastic about despite buying their CD. That said, M.I.A. looked hot—both heat-wise, as she remarked at least once how hot it was up there (did nobody yell out "then take off all your clothes" because I certainly thought it) and looks-wise—and she and her hype-girl (!) looked like they were having fun. The hype-girl confined her singing and rapping to the chorus, which is a refreshing change from, say, Dizzee Rascal's hype-man. Highlights for me were "Pop" (the 'hidden' track on Arular) done à la the Piracy Funds Terrorism mix tape; "ya ya heyyy" at the end of "Galang" (I was definitely not alone in thinking that); M.I.A.'s dancing in between tracks; and finally, you haven't lived until you've heard a song like "Bucky Gun Done" on twenty-foot speakers. She could use some polish in her performance, but she clearly has a lot of fun doing it. Lowlights were Diplo in general. Dude's girlfriend is hot, but his mixing is shit.

The show, in short, is not worth paying some 80 dollars to attend, but it was definitely worth the price of the individual ticket.

It's not even clear to me where I first heard about her, but after watching the video for M.I.A.'s "Galang", I wanted to know more about her, which is to say have sex with her. After linking to several articles about her (28 and counting), acquiring her album through legitimate means, acquiring a mixtape featuring her through illegitimate means, I found out she was touring North America. She plays with LCD Soundsystem this upcoming Tuesday, and I've bought tickets. The concert, which I see I am not the only person who has publicly declared their attendance, will be what a friend calls Vancouver's first All Hype All Hipster Convention of the Summer.

So note the plural: I have tickets. I buy two tickets to concerts nowadays, in the hopes that in between purchase and attendance I can convince someone to move a little outside of their music comfort zone—I could use a little shakeup, myself, actually—to come with me and make fun of the hipsters and indie kids. (Actually, I like the indie kids. I'm just not one of 'em.) In the spirit of "my weblog is my social networking software", I'd like to invite someone to come with me, though they would need to know that I usually hang out at the back, my being 6'3", in order avoid people coming up to me and saying "excuse me, do you mind moving over a bit?". Drop me a line if you're interested: the ticket's on me. If you want to leave a comment and want people to know publicly that I picked someone else, then by all means, but that sounds like something better communicated privately.