Do You Realize?

After ten eventful days on the road with Balthrop, Alabama, you'd think the first thing I'd want to do after getting home from tour would be to climb in bed for a week or so. Instead, I showered, shaved, threw my things in the closet and headed over to The Flaming Lips show at Summerstage. Titus and Douglas Sneade joined me, so I'm not the only lunatic in the group.

Soon after arriving, I was hustled in to Wayne Coyne's dressing room while the artist formerly known as Tofuhut conducted a ten minute interview with the head Lip while I drew. When asked what city parks meant to him, Mr. Coyne scrambled to answer, observing that Oklahoma was pretty much one big park. That said, he added, his specific memories of parks mostly involved tripping, smoking weed and a profound youthful encounter with a badly injured man at the site of a car wreck. How this information will be turned in to a promo for Central Park remains to be seen, but it was deeply honest and offered graciously.

About the show, there is not much I can say. I had the extreme privilege of sitting in the pit between the crowd and the band, so I was fairly close to a great deal of unadulterated joy on every side. If you've heard simply that a Flaming Lips show is a good time, you might well be taken aback by the explosion of weird beauty the band delivers.

As for me, last night was hands down the best way to spend the final night of the best tour I've ever been on and I only wish the rest of the town had gotten to come along.