Sunday, July 20, 2008

Lost ring? I pity the Foo

Though my father swam a dozen or so laps, scouring the bottom of the pool, our efforts to retrieve mother's wedding ring were unsuccessful. He found only a plastic ring, the rubber from the leg of a deck chair and two pieces of chewed gum (deposited in the pool in blatant violation of my fatwa at the 2003 Radical Clerics' Convention in Tehran). God willing, their marriage will survive the loss of this ring, with the help of counseling from the ministry.

After our unsuccessful retrieval mission, I went to Oklahoma City for a couple of days. My aunt had tickets to see the Foo Fighters, peace be upon them, and she invited me to go along. This was the third time I had seen the band, dating back to the mid-'90s. This may seem peculiar to you, given the fact that I am a 7-year-old pug. But Allah works in mysterious ways. My first Foo Fighters show was in the historic Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa, a small venue that lacked air conditioning and was stiflingly hot, inspiring an alternate version of the song "Big Me" that has become popular on the bootleg circuit. It was interesting to see how the band had changed from those early days as I watched them Thursday at the cavernous Ford Center, soon to be the home of Oklahoma City's new NBA team.

Singer Dave Grohl first hit it big as drummer for the legendary band Nirvana, whose Pixies-inspired punk sensibilities rejected the trappings of arena rock. Now, the Foo Fighters have embraced such bombast. Thursday's show, which was excellent albeit a bit loud for my aging ears, featured a large entourage of backing musicians and a much-touted triangle solo that was met with a thunderous standing ovation.

I will pass no judgments on the merits of such a style shift except to say that any drum solo exceeding five minutes is probably excessive.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ayatollah,
Glad OKC gave you a good concert and I was wondering if you were invited backstage. If they knew who they had in their audience, they should have. Perhaps you went sans turban so you could enjoy the show. Rabbi Jake

Ayatollah Mugsy said...

Yes, Jake. I try to be inconspicuous to avoid the inevitable crowds seeking autographs and faith-healing.

meemsnyc said...

Oh no, sorry to hear about the missing wedding ring. Hope it shows up somewhere. That is terrible.

Lucy said...

First Interpol and now the Foo Fighters, I am impressed by the music you howl to Mugsy - I attend many of the same shows.

Anonymous said...

I can send over your ARF navy recruits to help in the ring recovery effort, though I haven't quite gotten Ranger to master diving to the bottom of the pool to retrieve something .. yet. Young Flyer has great potential, though, he's quite adept at swimming and gathering errant leaves from the pool in his mouth and then depositing them poolside.

Anonymous said...

Didn't know pugs are into Foo Fighters! They're coming to my town tomorrow but I'm not going to watch them. Did you survive the heat wave? I visited a pug last weekend & she almost didn't make it through the hot weather .. poor girlie.

Nevis said...

I actually saw one of the Foo Fighters very first concerts in San Diego...back in like 1995...! Ahh...the memories...

Ayatollah Mugsy said...

No sign of it, Meemsnyc. But mother and father are still together, somehow.

Spiritual music is an important part of a vibrant ministry, Lucy.

Wendell is envious, Eagle, Ranger and Flyer's mom. I suspect that he yearns to live in the ocean.

We are holding up thanks to Allah's blessing and our constantly running air condition, Ippo.

Someday, Nevis, you will be reminiscing about the first time you attended a sermon at the glorious Dogloo mosque.