David Byrne as Minor Deity and the Cat Came Back

I say upfront that my ability to form coherent, interesting sentences seems to have taken a holiday with the last round of viruses. I hope for the return of my full facilities soon, as this odd feeling of dullness is becoming an irritant in my life. I can not seem to create or comprehend the world around me.

J and I went to see David Byrne at the Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland on Friday night. We stopped to have a drink at the Panther Hollow Inn, half a sandwich at Camille's and a short stroll through the neighborhood before the show.

Stopping at PHI was a bad idea. As the majority of PHI's sales are in the form of stiff drinks and beer, smoking is not only permitted (due to an exception in the law), it is actively encouraged. Unfortunately this last round of virus', which started with a case of food poisoning and evolved into step throat + a massive sinus infection with a finish of bronchitis have lowered my tolerance for cigarette smoke to z.e.r.o. As I have spent the better part of the last four weeks at home, forgoing the gym, outings with friends and hockey games, I'm not very keen (what a quaint word, "keen") to be sick again anytime soon. My list of tolerable venues grows ever shorter as an increasing number of bars and restaurants in the Pittsburgh area apply for an exception to the smoking ban.

Bah.

We wandered briefly around Oakland. It was warm and the streets were crowded with students and fellow concert goers. The city is celebrating it's 250 Anniversary with a Festival of Lights and some prominent Oakland buildings were lit with abstract designs and film of wild animals in hotel rooms. On our way to the hall a couple asked us for directions and I resisted the impulse to send them to the Carnegie Music Hall in Homestead instead. Submitting to my better angel did little to aid the large number of attendees who confused the two venues and arrived after the show was well underway. Late enough for Byrne, to note their arrival in between songs.

David Byrne as minor deity, attired in white shirt, white pants and white shoes to match his toned down (but still slightly flamboyant) white pompadour hair. The band, backup singers and dancers were also dressed completely in white, which lent an on-vacation-resort-wear vibe to the evening.

Oakland's Carnegie Music Hall is a tiny, high, tight venue used mostly for lectures. The music reverberated through the hall, filling it with sound without feeling too loud. The temperature rose quickly, from the heat of so many bodies packed so close together and I could see how uncomfortable the band was by the end of the show.

My favorite part was the end, watching the expressions of pleasure and disbelief cross his face as he listened to the applause from the audience, completely in the moment.

As for poor kitty, she is back at home, perfectly healthy (in better health than myself actually) and pain-free after a through cleaning and extraction of her lower left canine tooth, which had a lesion large enough to expose the nerve.