She's Done With Lullabies

A couple of weeks ago we took the girls to the much anticipated Ting Tings concert, the one we almost didn't make it to because Rigel and I didn't get off our fat asses to get tickets in a timely fashion. After that debacle Kira kept reminding us every day when the concert was - I think she didn't want to take any chances on us forgetting the date. Everytime she would bring it up I would say, "Well, I also have other things on my mind like work deadlines, and remembering to pay bills and cook dinner" and she would say, "Yes, but THIS IS THE TING TINGS MOM" and I guess she had a point. Even if the bills went unpaid, the phone got disconnected and there was no food on the table, at least we would be able to say we had taken our tween girls to a concert by a band that almost no one had heard of.

After racing across town to get there during weekday rush hour, we almost weren't allowed up to our balcony seats, since they told us it was considered the "bar area" and was strictly 21 and over. Rigel and I started to bid our girls farewell and head on in for a martini, but we're good parents and thought better of it, and after some haggling with the manager (thank goodness we had brought along our emails that had the woman's name that sold us the tickets) they allowed us all in. As you can imagine by then we had no problem fulfilling our two-drink minimum, and were relieved when the waitress informed us that there was no maximum.

Kira had spent hours on a sign to hold up during the concert, and there was no way she was going to settle for just flashing it from our balcony seats. So as soon as the lights dimmed she turned to me and said, "I'm going down to the stage!" It was kind of surprising - this was my normally reserved daughter, acting like she had just been called down on The Price Is Right to do her bidding for a washer/dryer combo sitting behind Door #3. After a few minutes Rigel and I suddenly remembered that she's only 12 and maybe standing alone in a crowd being pressed up against by a bunch of strangers wasn't the smartest thing in the world, so I followed her down to the front. Besides, I didn't want her to be disappointed when one of the surly guards turned her away and she had to slink back to our table to sit with us old fogies and our cocktails and her ten-year-old sister in the balcony.

Let's just say she certainly didn't need me down there, as by the time I got to where she was she had already talked a guard in to letting her walk up to an area that was close to the stage. I got a spot a few feet back where I could keep an eye on her, and watched as she then chatted up a photographer who let her get up even closer so she so could hold her sign aloft. It's probably a good thing I got there when I did - any longer and she probably would have talked her way onto the tour bus and gotten engaged to the drummer. But I was impressed by her skills, and I'm sure her talents will come in handy if I ever get my hands on those Prince tickets - I'm going to send her up to the front of the stage to see if she can score one of his tiny sequined platforms for me.

The Ting Tings played for what seemed like only twenty-five minutes, but I've never seen Kira happier or more excited, even though her dream of the lead singer pulling her up on stage and letting her play lead guitar didn't come true. To be perfectly honest, that was my dream too, since if they had let Kira up there for just five minutes I'm sure some record company executive would have seen her, offered her a contract worth millions, and I could finally afford that new patio furniture I've been eyeing. That's the kind of mom I am - always wanting my kids dreams to come true, especially if means some new stuff for myself.

She's already talking about wanting to see The White Stripes in concert. We're happy to indulge her love of music, but I'm thinking we're going to have to put a limit on the number of concerts per year we take her to. How many live shows does a 12-year old need to see? Isn't that what YouTube was invented for? I found myself fantasizing about the good old days, when my girls would have been happy with the free concert at the mall starring a giant plushie and some freakishly talented six-year olds.

For the next concert, we told her she might have to at least pay for half of her ticket, and we figured with the measly allowance we give her and the inflated price of seats these days she wouldn't be able to afford it until 2010. But she just informed me the other day that she thinks she may already have enough saved up, and a chill went up my spine when I saw her madly perusing the Ticketmaster site. Something tells me she wasn't looking for a Teletubbies show.

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tags: the ting tings | ipod commercial | el rey theater

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