…i smell the roses
(or: july 28’s honey from the hive)
posted at 4:44 am by brandon in sweet you rock and sweet you roll
Tori Amos — “Past the Mission” (from Under the Pink
Another dispatch from Seattle, dateline Wednesday: A and I headed downtown to check out the famed Pike Place Market, which contains a lovely farmers’ market, a multiplicity of bakeries with pastries from urry nationality under the moon, and, by the by, the original Starbucks store (founded in 1971, and still a mortifying madhouse some forty years hence — literally, it was so busy, there was a poor woman in the middle of the shop directing traffic!). After braving the crowds for an hour or so, we made our way up to the Hard Rock Cafe to grab lunch, which proved to be quite a marvelous marriage of amazing food and aural frolic: we split a chicken sandwich, which was heavenly, and a side of funked-up mac and cheese (paradise on a plate, believe it). But the highlight of the meal was, without question, its soundtrack: the walls of the Cafe were liberally dotted with flat-screen televisions playing music videos, and each table had a touch-screen device on which you could vote, from a series of six choices, for the next song to be played throughout the restaurant. As huge a fan of the democratic process as I am, I got so excited when I saw the goddess’ name popping forth from the first series of names that I nearly leapt plumb out of the booth, and I was even more thrilled when my vote won and the “Mission” videoclip suddenly appeared on every television in the place. (Picking my absolute favorite Tori Amos song would, I suspect, be roughly as difficult as picking my favorite nostril or kidney — like, I wouldn’t even know where to begin; I love so many of them, and for so many different reasons! But let it suffice to say that the magnificent “Mission” — a hauntingly gorgeous shuffle about sex, sin, and the secrets that pass between two girls, which features a bone-chilling harmony vocal from the frightening Trent Reznor — ranks at or near the very, very top of the list.) A and I quickly traded seats so that he could snap some pictures of me and the dazzling duchess of devil-red hair; as you’ll see from the pic below, the camera clearly knew which of the two of us on which to focus its full attention. And we all lived — and jammed — hap’ly ever after. (In case you’re curious, the other songs I voted for successfully during the course of our meal: George Michael’s “Faith” (which video really holds up, and not just because it heavily features King George’s denim-swaddled backside), Florence + the Machine’s “Dog Days Are Over” and The Cranberries’ “Zombie” (both of which were least-of-all-evils elections; better them than that heartwrenchingly wretched trollop Ke$ha, if you axe me.).)
