acamus
11-01-2007, 10:31 AM
I feel like good-celebrity karma is on my side. Last night my teaching partner and I went to see M.I.A. Before the concert, I decided to go check my local record shop, Criminal Records, to see what was up. I arrived just in time to find out that M.I.A. was coming for a signing, got a ticket for the line and was told that her record label, XL, said everyone had to have a CD or LP to sign. I checked their bins and of course they were all sold out of both her LPs. I checked the other local record store, Ear Wax, and of course they were out too. I did buy Kala on vinyl, but gave it away to a friend as a gift. I bought a new Kala CD in order to get my place in line and ran home to get my "The Mix Up" LP. I didn't want her to sign the "Kala" CD because, for one, it was too small, and two, I figured if I had her sign "The Mix Up", which she's remixing, it would be like she'd already added to my copy of TMU.
Luckily, a guy who'd been waiting fourth in line, who seemed to have a lot of good karma built up himself (cool guy to talk to), decided he had a long bike ride to the concert and gave me his place in line. She was very late, but when we finally got in, we were told to write our names the way we wanted them to appear and anything we wanted customized, have our CDs opened to the page we wanted her to sign, no posed photos with her, etc., because she didn't have much time.
I got to the signing table with the record, the sleeve out of the jacket and a sticky that said, "Allan. Which tracks are you remixing?" I handed her the record and she said, "What would you like me to say." I pointed to the sticky and said, "Can you answer that question?" She took a double take, realized what album it was and asked me if she could have it. I said that she could have the jacket and the record, but I wanted the sleeve with her response. She started looking around and asking, "Do we have this here?", meaning TMU. "Do we have a copy of this on CD here?" The managers and owner were standing there, but no one really answered. I asked her why she wanted it and she said, "I have the tracks on my computer, but they're locked." (I have no idea what that could mean.) She drew an arrow next to "Freaky Hijiki" and said, "This is the one they want me to do." Then she flipped it over, drew and arrow next to "The Rat Cage" and said, "But I like this one." She flipped it back over and made the orange label on the record into a smiley face with it's tounge sticking out. She drew really quick peace symbols and her initials all over one side of the sleeve. She flipped it over and drew Xs all over the other and while she was doing this said facetiously, "This is so hard." She also reminded me that sleeves yellow over time and I said, "That's cool, it'll add to your art."
I asked her if she knew what she was doing with the songs, if she was remixing them or just laying down vocals. She said she didn't know yet. I asked her another question I can't remember right now and she said she could answer it because, I think she said, that an RIAA rep. was there. (I could have misheard her about the RIAA thing, but it was something about someone being there why she didn't answer.)
When she was done. I asked Criminal's owner if I could buy her a CD copy of TMU, skip the line and give it to her. I did, told her I couldn't wait to hear what she does with it and wished her good luck and fun. I think it's really cool and I feel really lucky that she may do her work from a CD I gave her as a gift. I probably should have bought her the LP (although I think they were sold out too) because it seemed like she really wanted the vinyl.
The concert itself was awesome. She invited people up on stage as she's been doing, crowd surfed over my section. (Yes, I got to pass my baby-mama over my head.) The opening video rant on voting and government is really funny. Has anyone seen this on YouTube? (I'll do a search later when I have more time.)
(BTW, Pooty, I'm sure it was M.I.A. (Just razin', brother.)) Hope ya'll enjoy. I did.
Luckily, a guy who'd been waiting fourth in line, who seemed to have a lot of good karma built up himself (cool guy to talk to), decided he had a long bike ride to the concert and gave me his place in line. She was very late, but when we finally got in, we were told to write our names the way we wanted them to appear and anything we wanted customized, have our CDs opened to the page we wanted her to sign, no posed photos with her, etc., because she didn't have much time.
I got to the signing table with the record, the sleeve out of the jacket and a sticky that said, "Allan. Which tracks are you remixing?" I handed her the record and she said, "What would you like me to say." I pointed to the sticky and said, "Can you answer that question?" She took a double take, realized what album it was and asked me if she could have it. I said that she could have the jacket and the record, but I wanted the sleeve with her response. She started looking around and asking, "Do we have this here?", meaning TMU. "Do we have a copy of this on CD here?" The managers and owner were standing there, but no one really answered. I asked her why she wanted it and she said, "I have the tracks on my computer, but they're locked." (I have no idea what that could mean.) She drew an arrow next to "Freaky Hijiki" and said, "This is the one they want me to do." Then she flipped it over, drew and arrow next to "The Rat Cage" and said, "But I like this one." She flipped it back over and made the orange label on the record into a smiley face with it's tounge sticking out. She drew really quick peace symbols and her initials all over one side of the sleeve. She flipped it over and drew Xs all over the other and while she was doing this said facetiously, "This is so hard." She also reminded me that sleeves yellow over time and I said, "That's cool, it'll add to your art."
I asked her if she knew what she was doing with the songs, if she was remixing them or just laying down vocals. She said she didn't know yet. I asked her another question I can't remember right now and she said she could answer it because, I think she said, that an RIAA rep. was there. (I could have misheard her about the RIAA thing, but it was something about someone being there why she didn't answer.)
When she was done. I asked Criminal's owner if I could buy her a CD copy of TMU, skip the line and give it to her. I did, told her I couldn't wait to hear what she does with it and wished her good luck and fun. I think it's really cool and I feel really lucky that she may do her work from a CD I gave her as a gift. I probably should have bought her the LP (although I think they were sold out too) because it seemed like she really wanted the vinyl.
The concert itself was awesome. She invited people up on stage as she's been doing, crowd surfed over my section. (Yes, I got to pass my baby-mama over my head.) The opening video rant on voting and government is really funny. Has anyone seen this on YouTube? (I'll do a search later when I have more time.)
(BTW, Pooty, I'm sure it was M.I.A. (Just razin', brother.)) Hope ya'll enjoy. I did.