Backstage is the new awesome

My friend john (as formerly seen on thenewawesome) happens to be an extremely talented musician, and was one of Sufjan Stevens' Illinoisemakers on tour last time that he was making the rounds.


Which means when Sufjan came to town again this week and needed 200 blow-up Santa and Superman dolls to throw from the balconies onto unsuspecting concert goers below, John got to be the man for the job. And since Casey, Amanda and I are best friends with John, that means we got to be the people for the job as well. Which means we actually got to be backstage for a show that is totally worth being backstage for.


We got right to work inflating those dolls, but broke the automated pump three supermen (supermans?) into the pile. Which meant the other 197 had to be blown up 100% by lung power.


Once we had an impressive pile, we started climbing around in the dolls, taking photos in them. The very first time Sufjan walked into the room, Casey was in the midst of doing this:


That was maybe a little embarassing, so we got out of the dolls and got back to work. But not before taking a photo with Sufjan first.


Then as soon as Sufjan left, we all hopped right back in again.


The best part was getting to actually toss the dolls during specific songs during the performance. We hauled these garbage bags full of the dolls up to the balcony and then let them rain down on the audience during a few of the songs. I just like thinking of all the people fighting over a doll that i spit in.


The show was so super fantastic, too. Everyone on stage wore these wings, and the projected behind them were these ethereal images of clouds and kites and such.


It was a beautiful show, and i took a blowup Superman home with me to remember it always.