my favorite band at my favorite venue

                                  
the stars must be shining brightly on me this week. not only did i get my responses back from the lovely kevin cyr, so i get to post his interview tonight when i get home, but i made a shocking realization about my most anticipated concert of the summer. sharon jones and the dap kings are just about the hottest, funkiest band in the world.  i loooooooooove old soul and funk. the first time that i heard them, i thought there was no way the record was made in the last twenty years. i had some cynical MTV generation belief that real funk was a lost breed, but praise the lord I was wrong!!! the brooklyn, ny based band is not only alive and well, but getting people to shake their asses with glee all over the world. my love for them grew quickly, but sorrow soon followed when closer examination of their tour schedule revealed that they weren't going to be in my neck of the woods any time soon. luckily, my mom, who loves sharon as much as i do, found a show in portland, oregon, just about two hours away. 

                                            

when mama-san told me about the show she said that it was at the zoo, which i falsely assumed to be an indoor venue i'd been to before. today i finally made the connection: she meant the freakin' oregon zoo, as in elephants dancing live to some of the most soulful sounds around. i've been to a show at the zoo before. a couple years ago i saw allison krauss and union station at the zoo and it still ranks in my top three concerts of all time, not only because i saw them hot off the heels of making the sound track for "oh, brother where art thou", and the acoustics at the venue are killer, but because the elephants really do come to the front of their enclosure, right by the stage and sway from side to side. is there anything elephants can't do? 

the show's not till the end of july but look out for a glowing review after i come back down to earth sometime the following week. i've got plenty more good news for the day, but i've got work to get to.