I think her name is Deborah...

I just realized that I have a thing for titles of blogs with elipsis (elipsi?) on the end.

...

Whatever.

Look, I know you guys may not care, but I just have to say something. Beck Hanson is a mother effing GOD. He was not born, not hatched, he simply appeared.

My friend, David Rios (aka "the wrestling mask guy" on my friend's list) bought me a ticket to see Beck at the Backyard for my birthday (last Monday was it... it's all down hill from here), and I didn't realize (cause I hadn't seen this show before) that it would put me in debt to him for life. It has. It was worth it.

Beck's stage setup was normal enough, drums on a riser stage-right near the bass amps, percussion / keys / guitars stage left, and a miniature replica of the entire stage center-back(!!!).

"WhaH?!?!?!" you say...

"Zackly" I say. This tour features a travelling group of Marionette Masters who dance and sing 5 puppets (all dressed and combed to look like their fleshy counterparts) while ALL of the cameras, lights, and special effects were focused on the aforementioned mini stage. "Puppetron" was then projected onto the screen overhead, so that if you had a seat far enough back and were forced to depend on the screen for your show, you would never actually see Beck, but rather, an authentic, old-Mexico style Marionette with his very own boom stand and fender strat ... jamming to Guerro, Deborah, Where It's At, and more.

Beck is also in the process of bringing back "the hype man". He travels with at least one person who doesn't actually "DO" anything, but who is very much a part of the show. The guy is by no-means a great dancer, but he dances. He also bangs on cups and plates (during the dinner table portion of the show(?)), and apparently plays a mean-ass banjo.

Beck also gave a pretty significant shout-out to D'Angelo, which was nice to hear, while he sarcastically slammed R. Kelly, and explained the lyrics to "Deborah".

All in all, it was a great birthday