The Format.

I saw The Format last week at Downtown Disney's House of Blues. {yeah: poor image. I know. Snapped it rather naively right before the security guys said "you can't do that." Oh. Yeah. I'm at a concert. Sorry!} I thought I didn't know who they were when my RELEfriends first invited me. Then I took a look at my iTunes. Yep. Couple songs on there. One song was even on my "I hate my job Mix" from about a year ago. Am I just oblivious to what I listen to? Anyway: fun stuff. Good music. I especially love the loyalists at concerts who stake out the spots in front, and they all clap at just the right moments (even with the opening bands the rest of us haven't heard of), singing most of the lyrics in sync with the guys with the mircropones. I love watching people who are into what they do. It's like you can't deny that these people are passionate about what they love. And they're into something that they identify with, and take pride in the fact that not everybody is into what they are. Something the rest of the world hasn't caught on to, but enough have to where there is some sense of community there. Anyway: it's that whole BlueLikeJazz thing where Donald Miller says that sometimes you have to watch someone else love something before you can. And that's why he loves Jazz now. (If you haven't read the book, that's just the intro.) And that's why I actually enjoy listening to Mates of State. I remember when Andie first said "check this out" in the design lab at school. I returned her CD after a couple songs "Sorry. Not too into it." But after listening a little more and hearing how much she was into them, it's like it rubbed off. And now I really like their quirkiness. Seeing someone live makes a big difference, too. So my RELEfriends are sortof music snobs. Not necessarily in a bad way, but just enough to where I'm uncomfortable sharing my music on the shared iTunes when I'm on the network at work. One person has their music labeled "Don't make fun of my music." I think that's funny. Because that's probably what would happen. Ha. Anyway: all part of the getting-to-know-me that I'm doing here.