1. Pre-show: QJ, Shal and I went to Forbidden Fruit on Sixth Street and got henna tattoos. QJ and Shal got the "three dustmites" (the three Graces? the Dustmite Trinity?) on their ankles and I got the growling dustmite on my chest.

2. Pre-show: We were pretty much the only ones on the sidewalk waiting early for the doors to open when Steve walked by, carrying some boxes. He recognized Pleyton from the signing at the previous day, said hi again to me, saw MissFish's dustmite t-shirt that said "FISH" on it and said, "Are YOU Fish????" Introduced QJ and Shalovee too and he was really awed to hear that Shal flew in from Oregon for the show. He made us write down our names and got us comp dustmite t-shirts (THANK YOU, STEVE). He also said that the video was not going to be where he wanted because the guy who was editing it quit and they were still working on putting it together.
Parting comment to me: "Oh, Paul says hi." 

3. Pre-show: All standing around in the club as crowd slowly grows. Steve wandering in and out, stopped again to say hi and took some pictures. I talked some more with Jason, the drummer, who was funny and very nice.

4. Opening band was The Onlys. Nice band, I'm sure, but we were all waiting for Steve.

5. Playlist was only eight songs. We were right up against the stage (about four feet from where Steve was standing), so between set-up and the start of the show Shal swiped the playlist and added "9. Maintain" on the bottom. Steve saw it mid-show and grinned. But didn't play it, dammit.

6. Opened with an intro by Paul "Wilford Brimley" Ford, just like the voice and animation on the interactive media slide show on Steve's site. Talked about "what IS rock and roll? Rock and roll is YOU." Hilarious. Finished with "Get ... ready ... to ..." and a deep "RRROOOOOCCCCKKK" that shook the hall. Band (including Jason and the Mints) all in white dustmite moon suits a la Devo. Cellist (sandy-haired guy) wearing a styrofoam bowl upside down on top of his head, fastened under the chin with a rubber band. (He points out between songs "I am not Jewish." Crowd cracks up.)

7. Lots of video, including re-edited version of the WIDOS video with lots of surprises in it. Saw Wayne Coyne (of Flaming Lips) in one shot at least. Here's what I remember:

- flying dokomun with wings in a lot of the songs, especially MLM and HKL. Hilarious. Steve said something like, "I just love him. Whenever I see him, he goes ARRRRRGGGHHHH!!!" and did the doko-teeth-snarl-face. Shots alternating between dokomun and dokomun's perspective, the ground swirling and floating below, with someone I couldn't recognize looking up at him.

- Gabe Soria (angel in WIDOS video) as the scientist, smoking and rocking out in a spastic way during MLM.

- radar weather screen shots during Troposphere. 

- sporadic appearances by someone in a really weird, really hideous face mask, moving with body cramped in bizarre positions. Two of them coming slowly together as if they were about to kiss at the end of "Stick Around" (Steve's comment to the screen: "They like each other.").

- video footage of Steve balancing the guitar on his chin!

- video footage of Steve juggling fire -- wearing an Afro wig!

- video footage of someone (Steve?) wearing X-Ray Vision Glasses.

- video footage of Steve playing the Thinking Chair!

- very strange but beautiful wandering, floating shots inside some kind of industrial plant (inside a nuclear power plant or lab? no idea) during "Dustmites").

He thanked everyone for the support, thanked Austin, said a couple of times, "Wow. My first rock show." Saw lots of converts afterwards, buying CDs at the merchandise table. Dustmite buttons sold out, I think.


But more important than the video or the fan interaction is still Steve's music.  There are different ways songs can be great. There can be catchy melodies or rhythms that wind into your brain and make themselves at home, and his songs do have that.  There are songs that take a well known idea or feeling and express it better than most others have, and he's good at that too.  But best, and rarest of all, is a song that expresses something important, something vital, that you never even knew needed expressing.  And that's what so much of his music does. That's the real treasure, and the real gift, both for him and for us.

 

Geek(hey, kids, wock 'n' woll, wock on)Mom

 

P.S.  OH! VERY IMPORTANT! Steve said he'd heard Superdave's review on The Steve Scene because his mom read it to him! So let's say an extra-special HELLO to STEVE'S MOM and tell her that her son is faboo ...