Okay, I know I'm a bad person for not posting this sooner, but the kids are out of school right now and my sanity is hanging on by a thread. In fact, going to The Roxy in Hollywood on Sunday, December 27th to see Jackson Rathbone's band, 100 Monkeys, is pretty much the only reason I have any sanity right now.
It was the first time I had ever been lucky enough to see the Monkeys and I had a great time, especially when I got approached by Marty, the Bananager (he's their manager and walks around in a banana suit). The concert opened with a band called The Absolute who was followed by the Lemon Sun Band before 100 Monkeys took the stage. Although I had seen Jackson in person once before at the New Moon Premiere, seeing him on stage was a completely different experience. We got to see a little bit more of his personality and he definitely used his sex appeal to get the girls in the crowd to squeal...and buy him Jameson (the other difference was that I didn't have 40 17-year-old girls behind me who were crushing me into a metal barricade and only barely saving my ribs from being broken). The famous "Monkey Switcheroo" was interesting. It really was the first time I had seen a band where every member played every instrument and they all took turns singing songs. Most of the songs that night were from their album, "Grape", but there were a few that are exclusive to their shows, like the uplifting little ditty that goes, "I'm gonna kill you in your sleep, so you'd better try, try to keep awake". We were treated to Jackson singing, among others, "Looker" and "Ugly Girl", while Ben G. sang "Wings on Fire" and "Clippity Clop", and Ben J. sang "Junkie" and my personal favorite, "The Monkey Song". Apparently, it is a crowd favorite for one of the band members to take a suggestion from the crowd for the subject of a made-up song. Jackson had the honor that night and the subject was Jerad, one of the members of the band. Jackson literally made up a four minute song about his band mate on the spot and it was hilarious.
100 Monkeys will be performing in Las Vegas tonight and tomorrow night before heading to Albuquerque on January 4th. They still haven't announced all the dates and venues for their 100 Cities Tour, but if the gods allow, I plan to see them in Fresno, Sacramento, and San Francisco. They also plan to go to my hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana as well as New Orleans. You never know, that may occur while I'm home visiting family...or it may not. Either way, I'll report on those shows that I'm lucky enough to attend. To see if they're coming to your city, you can see the list of confirmed dates and times here (you can also see videos of the Bananager).
