Lady Gaga and Four Oaks


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September 24th 2010
Published: November 30th -0001
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 Video Playlist:

1: Telephone 42 secs
2: Little Monsters 47 secs
3: The Good Witch 46 secs
4: Poker Face 21 secs
5: Sparkler Tits 19 secs

Gaga for Gaga



When I told Grace that I'd buy her two performing arts tickets for her birthday, I thought I'd end up at an opera, play or dance. What I ended up getting was the concert of my life.

It's hard to call Lady Gaga's performance a concert though, because it was so much more. It was a fashion show, a play, a dance, a revival and a freak show.

The fashion side of it was interesting because she wore so many different, over-the-top costumes. She makes many of the costumes herself and they are about as weird as they get. She made one costume out of meat and said it was to show that she's not a piece of meat. She wore probably 8 outfits for the concert and the first one had exaggerated shoulder pads like some demented Corey - my nephew who is the starting QB at Olathe Northwest now. She opened the concert by standing perfectly still for the first several minutes of the concert with her shadow silhouette cast across the stage. I didn't think it was her as she stood still while singing with with these odd shoulder pads and super high heels. She always wears high heels - she's only 5'1" tall.

The concert consisted of several scenes in a play and she changed costumes for each scene. The play consisted of several scenes about trying to go to the monster ball which was the name of the tour. First she was in a Rolls Royce and the car broke down and steam came out from under the hood. She opened the hood and began playing a piano that was placed where the radiator should have been. She's a classical pianist and played Brown Eyes on the piano while singing. Other scenes involved a subway car, a dark forest and a huge monster.

She had over 20 dancers with lots of black leather and make-up on. They danced around stage like Michael Jackson's dancers. They were like her entourage and would follow her up and down the catwalk. We were at the right side of the end of the catwalk. When she came to the end, we were only 10' from her. They were GA seats and we pushed our way to the front to the frustration of the shorter people behind me.

At one point, a large, hollow LED cylinder screens came down over her while she was on the catwalk (see the picture). She was in there for several minutes while she changed into her bizarrest costume of the night. When the LED cylinders lifted, she was in a white angelic costume that made her look like the Good Witch of the North from the Wizard of Oz. I have video of how the fans slowly moved in and out around her head and the rest of her body. She said she grants wishes to all of her little monsters (her fans).

She walked back up the catwalk and part of the stage scissored up about 30' in the air. She continued to stand rather still while the costume slowly fanned in and out. She cussed like a plumber throughout the concert and you can hear her revivalist speeches in the videos as well. She wants her concert to be a life changing event for her fans. She wants to free them from their chains so they can be the freaks that they were meant to be. I'll have to say that it did get me in the mood for radical self expression at Burning Man. I perfected my costumes at the show and my new wig made me feel like a new man. Don't tell me a head of hair doesn't make me look younger. I think I'm going to wear it into Brocade next week.

I had read a review before the show and they didn't mention that she would be playing my favorite song - "Poker Face". When she finally sang it, the crowd went wild and so did I. I don't know if you know the song, but it has a rocking beat and the song actually has some meaning. The song is comparing dating to playing poker and how she's bluffin with her muffin and doesn't show her cards (emotions or feelings).

Here's some of the lyrics:

Just like a chick in the casino
Take your bank before I pay you out
I promise this, I promise this
Check this hand cause I’m marvelous

I won’t tell you that I love you
Kiss or hug you
Cause I’m bluffin’ with my muffin
I’m not lying I’m just stunning with my love-glue-gunning

I wanna roll with him, a hard pair we will be
A little gambling is fun when you’re with me, I love it
Russian Roulette is not the same without a gun
And baby when it’s love if it’s not rough it isn’t fun, fun

Oh, oooohh, ooooohhhhh
I’ll get him hot, show him what I got

Can’t read my, can’t read my
No he can’t read my poker face

She threw out a few more songs and continued to fight for one of her main causes which is gay rights. She got a sponsor to give away $20,000 to a GLBT homeless shelter and said that she does that every show. She has one song about a boy who "Ate my heart, he ate my brain". She got something bloody all over her arms and smeared it on her chest. She layed down on the catwalk in blood and asked "Jesus, why do people say we should hate others? Shouldn't we love everybody?"

Her grand finale was one of the best things. She lit her tits on fire. Or at least she had sparks flying out of them. She managed to combine two of my great loves - breasts and fireworks. See the video.

I was already a fan when I went to the concert and I'm a bigger fan after seeing her in concert. Grace has gone gaga over the Lady though. We have both of her albums and I have a feeling that she's going to be around for a long time. She's got musical legs and is going to go a long way. Mark my word.

Four Oaks



We ended up staying in the same hotel as Lady Gaga, but we didn't see her at the Fairmont. We returned back to Four Oaks, Dave and Janet's place that has 4 huge oak trees in their back yard. The trees are probably 250 to 350 years old and predate the gold rush. It's one of the few properties around that still has such ancient oaks. I took a few pictures of the oaks and how the RV was parked under another tree on their property. We really enjoyed our stay with them on the back part of their 5 acres.

I included one picture of our dinner with our Portuguese friends. They cooked us a great meal and gave me my priest's collar that completed one of my costumes for Burning Man. On Sunday, we went to Livermore, CA where we had a reunion of the student interns that did their Master's Thesis at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. My friend Kent hosted the party and he was the second intern and I was the third. It was great seeing the retired recruiter, Jim McQuaid, who had hired me back in 1992. From there, we went to Eric's apartment in the city so we could drop Grace off easily at the airport. She flew back to Taiwan and I returned to Eric's.

That Monday was a big day for Eric because he was sending out a groupon (Group Coupon) to 400,000+ people. He did very well and this was expanding his business in the East Bay (Berkeley and Oakland) and the South Bay (Palo Alto and San Jose). Since then, he's started two new sites in Los Angeles (Santa Monica and Hollywood) and is going to start hikes in San Diego this month. He's on a roll and hiring teachers right and left to staff the hikes. I went on two hikes while I stayed with him. Great workouts.

I went back to Four Oaks before I went to Burning Man and had another great meal with Janet and Dave. We went over to Oscar and Vivian's house to feed Dave's parents. One of their neighbors stopped by and tried on my new wig too. He's an 80 year old walnut farmer and has a great attitude. He encouraged Dave's parents to get out and exercise to stay fit. Dave's dad does walk down the street to Dave's, but he wasn't doing very well and went into the hospital while we were staying there. He's recovered now and I can't wait to see them in a couple weeks.

That's all for now,
Scott








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