you, however, are not invited. not now, not ever, not by anyone.

i go to a lot of shows. and, like people who tend to regularly do things, i have a list of pet peeves, mostly about newbies who are oblivious to the existence of show etiquette, or, y'know, common courtesy.

two stand out in my mind. the first is people who get to a sold out, packed house show after the headliner is already on stage and insist on pushing their way up to the front. we are already wound up tighter than a virgin at the prison rodeo; there is no room for you and your gaggle of drunken friends. if it was that important to you that you get a good spot, you should have gotten to the show earlier. i appreciate that standing in the audience at a show isnt the same as standing in line, but, well, it actually sort of is; if you plan to stand directly in front of someone who has been standing in that spot for 2 hours already and block their view, then expect to find some gum matted in your hair or my beer all over your pants.

the second is people who spend the entire show with their camera over their head video taping the stage. i dont really understand this concept myself; i dont know who goes back and watches this footage or who looks at their 50 pictures of tiny people on stage thiry feet away and obscured by a million blurry heads, but, whoever they are, there are a lot of them, and they are ruining it for the rest of the audience behind them. when i saw death cab a year or so ago the audience was a sea of cameras; so much so that it obscured my view completely and i had to watch the entire show on lcd.

it remind me of this weeks new yorker:



the couple, standing inches away from a stunning piece of art opt to look at it through the 2.5 inch screen of their camera instead of living in the moment and seeing what is directly in front of them in wide screen. this phenomenon is fascinating. its like people who go out to dinner and ignore their company in favor of talking on the phone or text messaging all night. i guess eventually none of us will leave the house at all; we'll just spend all night hanging with our friends from myspace watching youtube videos and playing internet poker.