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First time I’ve ever used this, and it’s odd.

The show I went to last night was a primarily metal concert which is very much outside of my comfort zone (live music in general is outside my comfort zone – but I know nothing about heavy metal as well), but Kristina really wanted to get me out of the house and meeting people, and the metal communities in Saskatoon and Regina are both ones she’s heavily involved in. She knew a few of the people who played last night personally.

Normally, I wouldn’t be able to go to a show because they’re typically in bars and for thirteen more days I’m still underage – but this one was held in this really beautiful and lovely cafe called The Underground Cafe. It had tons of art and paintings on the wall from local artists and a giant fish tank with tons of really neat fish, and the barista who was hosting the event was really friendly and took time to talk to everyone who showed up and introduce himself and it was just a very cool atmosphere in general. It kind of reminded me of Roca House, in Regina.

Kristina and I have already decided we want to come back during the day sometime; I’m interested in trying the vegetarian sandwiches when they have the lunch bar open. The vegetarian menu was pretty extensive (always a plus) – and everything was named after The Beatles or their songs, which was a neat touch.

As far as food/drink goes, I ended up getting a cup of Chocolate Truffle black tea after talking with the Barista and confirming it was loose leaf and such (it was Chocolate Truffle or Blood Orange). Overall, it was pretty good; light black base and a fudgey chocolate taste. I think that they used leaf from Tea Desire because it tasted nearly identical to the identically named blend from Tea Desire – but I can’t be sure which is why I’m posting it here.

http://steepster.com/teas/tea-desire/39005-chocolate-truffle

It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch; they certainly have access to Tea Desire blends – and it’s not uncommon for people to label Pu’Erh as “Black” teas. But again, I’m not totally sure which is why I’m posting it here.

The concert itself was really interesting. I’ll admit, I wasn’t really into it until the second band did an amazing cover of The Cat Came Back, which is a really neat song. It was sort of “popularized” by Fred Penner as a folk/children song but it’s much older than that (it’s from 1893). I know this because I studied the origins of the song for an art piece in my advanced art course (I was doing children’s songs/poetry/story inspired Disasterware in the style of Shel Silverstein on plates). Originally it was titled The Cat Came Back: A Nigger Absurdity. It’s very much not a child’s song so it makes sense that metal bands are drawn to this as a cover piece (I know a few who cover it, thanks to Kristina).

After that, I think I enjoyed the concert a lot more, and got a lot more into it (thought not as into it as she got). The other interesting cover they did was a heavy metal cover of a Bob Dylan song…

Also, for those who are curious – here are some really neat pictures of Distasterware, which is the art style I mentioned/one of my favourite art styles. The man who pioneered the art style is ironically more famous for one of the teapots he made in the art style (the first link):

http://thewhitenetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/SA_hitler-teapot-with-eyes.jpg

http://www.highsnobiety.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/charles-krafft-mike-leavitt-pitchfork-pals-1.jpg

https://far4.net/images/products/charles_krafft_kim_jong_ill_teapot_far4.jpg

https://far4.net/images/products/charles_krafft_martha_skateboard_far4.jpg

https://far4.net/images/products/Charles_Krafft_smith_wesson_far4.jpg

http://www.antiquesatoz.com/artatoz/krafft/murder.gif

http://reubenmiller.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/07/05/krafft_disasterware.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e67/dezeedoesdance/ceramics/charliekrafft5.png

I find the art style just fascinating. Basically, it’s defined as: Ceramic art using traditional ceramic decorative styles to capture modern disasters or horrific images. Krafft also uses a technique called “Spone” where he turns human bone remains into ceramics.

Apologies for the art geek out.

EDIT: I forgot the best/worst part of the fishtank! There was a dead fish floating in the corner of the tank the whole time we were there (five fucking hours) – and the barista was freaking out because he had just bought it for the tank; he even crawled on to the table (in the weirdest position) to get a better look – like, while we were eating there. And then, halfway through the show all the snails from the bottom of the tank gathered near the dead fish and by the end of the show this dead fish was covered in about four or five snails.

I just couldn’t help but think how “metal” the whole thing was.