I asked you not to make me say it.  But alas:

I told you so.

Homo A Go Go was great.  For real.  A little under-attended, but whose fault is that, missy?

thanks to Jerry Lee for taking this amazing Polaroid. you can see me working the Mission gay hipster look.

I had a great time emceeing, but more importantly, I had a great time being there.  The performances were phenomenal, and between being a bit tired and not making it at all to any of the films, I didn’t even get to see the half of it!  But here are some of my highlights:

TENDER FOREVER.
Wow. Wow. Wow.  Girl played drums using a Wii, which I didn’t understand, but blew me away.  Seriously.  Sometimes shit like that feels gimmicky, but this felt purely beautiful.  (Here is a video of her doing it at another show.) Also, her voice is gorgeous, and she was so full of energy, and gracious as fuck.  When I walked into the dressing room she apologized and asked me if I needed her to clear out.  As if!  What an honor to be backstage with her.  I cannot wait for a new album to come out, because I’ve just been listening to her on repeat.

MIRAH.
Call her folk or whatever but she took me back to my roots and I loved every minute of it.  She played “Jerusalem,” which is one of my favorite songs of hers because it is about Jews and Zionism.  (Here’s a video of her playing it at Bottom of the Hill a few years ago.)  During her show, Jerry Lee let out these huge white balloons which were both beautiful and scary (constant fear that they’d pop on the lights).

DAVE END.
People have been telling me that we should be friends forever, but our paths had never crossed.  I literally cried during this song he played about the passing of his dog and Bea Arthur.  Literally.  (I’d also had coffee for the first time in forever and it made me feel crazy and emotional, but still.)  I told him about how we were supposed to be BFFs, but I think I scared him a little.  But bygones.

NOMY LAMM.
Nomy almost made me cry, and probably fed the fire that resulted in my later tears.  Her harmonies and layering were absolutely beautiful.  There was something that reminded me of Sweet Honey in the Rock, which was absolutely perfect.

FASHION SHOW.
Chelsea Starr knows how to do a lot of things, including make clothes.  Many of the other designers were ‘eh,’ but there were definitely some gems.  Dia and I critiqued, which makes me want to go to Fashion Week some day.

VICKI MARLANE.
I’m ashamed to say it, but I’d never seen her live before.  And holy shit.  Legends are not made of nothing.

SHEBEAST.
I knew Nadia was going to be amazing.  I’ve never been to Homo A Go Go or Olympia, but she is exactly what I fantasize it to be.

KIRK READ.
Always a gem.  I had the honor of being mistaken for him. We share the same birthday, you know.  I’m just saying.

No disrespect to other performers who I’m not mentioning.  There are just too many!  And I felt sort of blah about my own number, which went off with a few hitches that got me a little cranky.  I was excited by the background video I made, though, with thanks to Maura.  Sometimes you just have to scale back, AND THAT’S OKAY.

Anyway, re-live the fun you didn’t have by looking at LarryBob’s photos (many of which are linked to in this post).

And next time I tell you to be somewhere, I expect you to ask what time and for how long.