On Wednesday night, Anne and I went to a concert. There I felt like our musical tastes were getting old. Here were the signs:

– It wasn’t at a club downtown, but an estate in the hills.
– They only served wine, not beer.
– The event was sponsored by Lexus, not Red Bull.
– The only people younger than us were a few ushers.
– I heard a conversation that went like this:

Middle-aged woman 1: What song does Suzanne Vega sing?
Middle-aged woman 2: I think it’s that “What I Am is What I Am” song.
[‘What I Am’ was by Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians]
Middle-aged woman 1: No, I don’t think that’s it. That’s by Boy Meets Girl
[Uhh, wrong. Boy Meets Girl’s only hit was the the colossally cheesy “Waiting for a Star to Fall” ]
Middle-aged woman 2: I’m 98% sure, she had a #1 hit with it. It’s “What I Am is What I Am is What You Are”
[Still wrong. “Luka” is Suzanne Vega’s most recognizable song and it only ever reached #3]
(Middle-aged women go back to talking about their kids)

– And another like this:

Middle-aged guy 1: I recently rediscovered Aimee Mann.
Middle-aged guy 2: Oh yeah?
Middle-aged guy 1: Yeah, I liked her new album. I can’t remember what it’s called…. “Astronaut Something”…
[It’s called “Lost in Space” and was released 3 years ago]

Anyway, we went to see Suzanne Vega and Marc Cohn at Villa Montalvo or rather I want to see Suzanne Vega and Anne went to see Marc Cohn. Suzanne Vega was cool. Most of her songs were palatable the audience except for “Blood Makes Noise” which she apologized for after she sang it. Marc Cohn really only played stuff that was 10 years old, but it wasn’t bad.

Montalvo is a cool venue – very small. They actually had the power go out at 4 pm for a 7:30 pm concert and had to scramble to get some generators in to power everything. I’m amazed they didn’t have to cancel.

One thing I noticed was that for some reason anything a performer says on stage is deemed hilarous. Both of them said some normal-sounding stuff and people just bursted out laughing. Perhaps I missed the jokes.

It was a good excuse to get out of the house for a night though and socialize with the old folks. 🙂