Hope you’re having a peaceful and relaxing Memorial Day.
Spectators co-creator Niko Henrichon, letter Fonografiks and I were also thinking about taking the day off, but this week’s installment is particularly Not Safe For Work, so we figured why not release it on a day when most of you aren’t at work?
Our voyeuristic ghost Val has been following couples around New York City’s distant future, hoping (and so far failing) to find some moment of genuine human connection…
Where the hell does our story go from here?
Find out next Monday, but in the meantime, if you know someone who might enjoy our increasingly bizarre tale, we’d greatly appreciate it if you could let them know that there are now over FIFTY pages of our serialized graphic novel available for their holiday entertainment, 100% free to read!
Thanks to all of you generous Tower members who joined me for the latest installment of our podcast-thing Mature Readers with hilarious and insightful guest Becky Cloonan. Paid subscribers can listen to past episodes in our archives anytime.
And we’ve got a couple more signed copies of Saga to give out to last week’s commenters, these ones going to new members Andrew Moses and greenmeeple! Congrats, and our intern Genesis will be in touch with you for mailing addresses as soon as they’re back from their holiday travels.
If you haven’t won anything from us yet, you can always skip our weekly contests and join at the Founder level to receive your own Exploding Giraffe Prize Package, which includes an original full-color sketch from Niko, a rare comic from my personal collection, and a very limited edition signed script to Saga #1.
Niko is hard at work drawing the next batch of his obscenely detailed sketches, so thanks to you loyal Founders for your patience!
I’m fully prepared for the harsh judgment of you cool youngsters and aging hipsters, but the first real concert I ever attended as a kid was Billy Joel for his Storm Front Tour.
I dragged along my childhood best friend/future comedic superstar Wyatt Cenac, who didn’t enjoy Mr. Joel’s extraordinary performance nearly as much as I did, announcing a few songs in that he was bored and would “meet me outside after the show.” This was at Cleveland’s old Richfield Coliseum, which held 20,000+ people! I think it took us several hours to finally find each other after Billy’s second encore. Bit of a nightmare, but still, look at that setlist!
Anyway, last week, I was lucky enough to join Daughter K. Vaughan for her first concert, Olivia Rodrigo at the Greek. And perhaps I’m biased because I’m a father who got to sit next to his kid while she watched her all-time favorite musician, but I don’t think I’m being hyperbolic when I say that it was the single greatest performance in the history of live entertainment.
This young woman just turned 19 years old a few weeks ago, but she (and her awesome all-female band) blew the goddamn roof off of our admittedly roofless theater. Literally every human in the audience sang along with every word of every song, and I’m sure that sounds unbearable to some of you, but that’s only because you’re awful and dead inside.
Plus, we got to sit a few rows ahead of Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul! Sorry your seats weren’t as good as ours, Pinkman. Maybe try writing a few creator-owned comic books next time.
Olivia ended the show with her smash hit “deja vu,” which happens to feature these lyrics:
I'll bet that she knows Billy Joel
'Cause you played her “Uptown Girl”
You're singing it together
Now I bet you even tell her
How you love her
In between the chorus and the verse
So on the long drive home, I played Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” for my daughter for the first time, and finally told her the epic tale of my own first concert… only to look over and find her fast asleep.
A good night.
How about you? What was YOUR first live show?
If you get a spare moment between grilling burgers (or whatever you folks outside the States are up to this random Monday), let us know all the thrilling details in the comments.
Herking and jerking,
Brian
My first concert was weezer performing at the hard rock hotel and casino in 2006. I was 17 and so excited, I remember my brother called for my attention and when I turned around a drum stick hit me, I would have caught it, darn it!!
Maroon 5. Boo. My next live show is Queen. Yaaaaaay. AND THE ONE AFTER THAT IS RAMMSTEIN. FUCK YEAAAAAUUURRRGGGHHHH