Clap your hands because it’s officially Sia Alton Brown Paul Dano day!!
Jessfest reunion for Sia’s Nostalgic For The Present Tour!! Surprise appearances by Alton Brown and Paul Dano made it an extra special night!
I was already at a 10 on the excitement scale before we ever left for the concert. I’m so used to the normal run of things, it never crossed my mind the night could possibly exceed my expectations.
Anyone who has spent any time with me (or reading this blog) will understand how epic, in the world of Jessica, the bonus events were…
Event #1:
Every fall for the past 8 or 9 years I have made Alton Brown’s box fan beef jerky. It’s the best jerky on earth. If you’re a close friend of mine, you’ve probably received a few sticks of it at some point just to turn around and get mad at me, understandably, because I didn’t have an endless supply of it.
Jessica and I couldn’t take anymore of the opening act so we left our seats and headed to the bathroom. I haven’t been sleeping well this past week and a stadium full of people is my worst nightmare so my tired brain was already being pulled in 5 different directions when I realized I was shouting about the glory of the beef jerky to Alton Brown, who was surprisingly very handsome in real life, and also in the middle of a conversation with his daughter. It wasn’t like I saw him from a distance and had time to reel myself in while thinking of something a sane person might say – or consider that maybe he didn’t want to be bothered. Nope. One second I’m navigating the swiftest path through the horde and the next I’m screaming “THE BEEF JERKY! IT’S SO GOOD!”
Event #2:
There Will Be Blood is my favorite movie. I drink my tea from my Jeffrey Plainview mug every day and shamelessly shout out quotes from the movie like anyone knows what I’m talking about. On one of the last Jessfest outings we made friends with a nice couple and hung out for a bit in east Atlanta. The night ended with a 4 am quote-off on a street corner between the guy and me. It was the highlight of the night.
I love the movie for the same dark reasons I love Sia’s music. We had just heard Sia perform
the song I’ve been wearing out for months now, Alive. My exhausted beef jerky ranting brain, thought it was about to get a brief rest in between songs when these two big screens light up with this guy on them… My brain could easily connect the Alton Brown dots because I knew he lived in the Atlanta area, but when Eli (Paul Dano) appeared on the same stage as Sia I couldn’t even process it. I found more logic in the ideas that I had finally gone insane or maybe I had watched elastic heart and screamed out that I was the third revelation one too many times. Once Jess confirmed it in fact Paul Dano, we promptly went back to drinking up each other’s milkshakes and abandoning our boys. 🙂
It was one goddamn hell of a show to say the least.
(Sorry, Mom… I know how much you love it when I say that.)