What I love about this “record a day” photo project on Instagram is that it really allows me to become reacquainted with my collection and to really explore my husband’s collection. Here is a recap of days 13 through 21, enjoy!
(Top photo) Day 13: Splattered – “Stripped” by Depeche Mode. My first colored vinyl (when I was just 16)!
Day 14: Record from the used bin – “Live and Let Dance” by The Untouchables. Got it for a dollar!
Day 15: An album from high school – “The Circus” by Erasure (1987, I was 17). Also saw them in concert in high school, too!
Day 16: Live album – Depeche Mode, Live at Crocs Night Club, recorded 1981.
Day 17: Most recent purchase – Sub Pop 1000. Isn’t it cool?!
Day 18: Record that was a gift – The Police 4 track 12 inch single for “Wrapped Around Your Finger”. It was a Christmas present from my friend back in the 80s.
Day 19: Album from the 90s – “Family Values Fall Tour ’98”. From my husband’s record collection. He’s a deejay, so you can imagine our combined vinyl collection is quite large!
Day 20: Any black artist. Another from my husband’s collection. “1999” by Prince.
Day 21: Artist’s debut album – “Speak & Spell” by Depeche Mode. This is the UK version. I have the US one as well, without “I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead”. Any Second Now trivia: This is the album with the song that became the title of my blog.
Here is my first outfit of my feature “Rock T-Shirt of the Week”, which my husband snapped of me while we were on our mini-vacation in last week. Our hotel was situated in Old Town Irvine, and it was nice to do an outfit post in a different location. Originally, I had thought about bringing more than one outfit just to shoot around town, but that was not the point of the vacation (our son definitely did not want to wait around while mommy posed in random stairwells). This just made me all the more excited to take pictures in new places during my London and Paris trip next month with Janice!
Speaking of Janice, this is the t-shirt I bought at the Erasure show she took me to as a surprise Christmas present last year (post here). This was the third time I had seen Erasure in concert: the first was when they opened up for Duran Duran and the second was during their tour supporting The Innocents album (both shows were in the 80’s). I’m usually one to stick to black t-shirts, so this one was a nice departure as it’s grey with bright colors. I dressed it up a bit with a long stretchy skirt, girly heels and a bright little purse.
Outfit – Erasure t-shirt; H&M skirt; Cotton On sweater; Poetic License shoes; Mini MAC c/o Rebecca Minkoff; Coach sunnies; Wendy Brandes rings
Last Sunday, Janice took me out for what I thought was going to be a simple night out on the town with my best friend, which actually ended at the sold out Erasure concert at The House of Blues! She first took me out to dinner at Pink Noodle and dessert at The Melting Pot (pictures & reviews on those places later). Then we took a mini detour by heading to Horton Plaza (a mall in Downtown San Diego), which threw me off. I now realize that she was stalling a bit because the concert wasn’t to start until 7pm, and we finished dinner and dessert earlier than planned.
Finally, we headed to House of Blues because Janice mentioned that she wanted to buy tickets to the upcoming Bangles concert she was planning on attending in November before we headed home for the night. We saw a very long line and asked the couple at the end of the queue what it was for. She said it was for the Erasure concert, which I had forgotten was happening that same night. Since we missed Duran Duran the night before, I was about to tell Janice that we should just stay in line to buy tickets, but felt slightly deflated when we were told it was sold out. Then, as if planned, Janice said, “Well it’s a good thing I already bought tickets!” SURPRISE! I squealed with delight and people in line looked over as I hugged Janice, still trying to figure out if this was really happening. I felt like I was on a television reality show and won a contest!
Frankmusik getting funky!
The concert started off with Frankmusik, an English electropop musician who produced Erasure’s most recent album, Tomorrow’s World. I was not familiar at all with his music, but was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. It was an upbeat and very danceable set, which was the perfect segue into Erasure’s set.
I loved the gargoyles and circular theme throughout Erasure’s stage set. Andy Bell was just as energetic as ever, his voice as beautiful now as it was back in the 80’s. They rounded out their vocal sound with incredibly impressive back up vocalists, Emma Whittle and Valerie Chalmers. Vince Clarke stayed behind one of the gargoyles for much of the show, but came out to play guitar.
Erasure at the start of the concert
The last few times I saw Erasure was back in 1987 when they supported Duran Duran, and then in 1988 for The Innocents tour. I must admit when I saw them last week that I wasn’t as familiar with some of their later music and music from their latest album. But of course they played quite a few hits from Wonderland, Circus and The Innocents like “Sometimes”, “Chains of Love”, and my all time favorite “Oh L’Amour”. Although they closed with “Stop!”, I felt like “A Little Respect”, “Victim of Love” and “Love to Hate You” (a cover of the ABBA classic) received the most audience reaction.
During the song “A Little Respect”
The pictures in this post were from my iPhone, which was the best I could do from where we were standing. But since I didn’t have my edited “concert” purse (usually a cross-body purse with just my essentials), I thankfully had my Flip camera with me. I was able to capture “Oh L’Amour” relatively properly and have included it below. Thank you Janice for a wonderful evening! You really surprised me, and I will definitely return the favor.
