We went to the Peabody Opera House to see Barenaked Ladies, but while we were there we had other musical experiences. The first of those involves Pixies.
We were waiting by the Peabody box office because Gary now likes to arrive at movies and concerts hours early, as if he's going to have to go through a TSA interrogation. He noticed that Pixies tickets are on sale.
"Oh, I love the Pixies," Gary said, "Let's buy tickets."
"Name a Pixies song," I challenged.
"Everyone knows the Pixies," he answered, and pulled out his credit card and bought tickets. I was fine with that, because while I couldn't name a Pixies song, I had heard their name before. This puts them in a league with The Black Crows and Goo Goo Dolls and MegaDeath: they are Bands That I Know Exist but that's all I know.
The first hint I had that they were a good band was that the best seats we could get were past the orchestra. The concert isn't till October.
I had to go to the bathroom next, and of course I pulled up Pixies on Wikipedia. I scrolled through the photos till I saw the red-headed female bass player, that's all that Gary has to know. That's why he likes them. Then I read on and saw that "their jarring pop sound influenced bands such as Nirvana, Radiohead, the Strokes, Bush, Blur and Weezer." Cool, I thought, sounds like we'll enjoy them, because three of those are Bands That I Know Exist. (And I can even name a Nirvana song.)
I found Gary standing outside the men's room on the other side of the lobby.
He said, "I think you'll like the Pixies. They influenced lots of bands, like Nirvana and Radiohead." (See above. SEE ABOVE.)
"You bastard! just read the same Wikipedia page I did! Well. Did you see they have a red-headed bass player?"
He confessed, and we committed to the joke of being Pixies experts for the rest of the night. For example, after BNL particularly killed a song, I leaned over and said, "Still, they're no Pixies."
Of course, he has a lot of free time and there's probably a Pixies documentary. By October he really will be a Pixies expert.
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