2004-02-09 - 10:33 p.m.

Still young enough to rock out

On the subject of my aforementioned recent brushes with fame of various degrees...

...and just so you don't feel like you're getting a bait and switch routine, this is really more about the performances than the brief time spent with the performers. But that's as it should be, I think. On we go, part one...

Want to feel like a dinosaur? Here's how: take your close-to-40-year-old self to a college town, to a college club, to watch your second favorite band, because that's the closest they're coming to where you live. Then stand around listening to the conversations going on around you, and remember back 20 years ago to when you thought conversations like that were deep, too. Sex, religion and politics, broken up from time to time with snarky comments about someone else in the crowd. Those are fun at any age.

But I went, because like I said, this is my second favorite band, and even though the club was an hour away and in a neighboring state, it was the closest they'd be coming to me any time soon. I promised the guitarist if they got that close, I'd be there. An hour away I can do, and still get home in time to go to work the next morning. They're a local band, just not local to me, so I don't get to see them very often unless I can drive all the way to New Jersey, and that's not a round trip I can make in one evening, when I'm sane.

This show was part of a short semi-national tour, opening for another band which quite honestly, I couldn't tell you how big they are. I'd never heard of them, but my exposure to new music pretty much consists of hard rock radio and VH-1's morning show, so if they aren't there, they'd be new to me. My other way of discovering new music, of course, is going to see the bands I already like, and finding someone really cool playing on the same bill. That's how I found my second favorite band in the first place. But however popular they are or aren�t nationally, this band definitely had a following at this particular club.

My band, on the other hand - well, they got a very warm and enthusiastic response, I'm glad to say. I heard a lot of people saying they didn't suck - the ultimate compliment, doncha know. A lot of their music is not easy, which is one thing I like about it. I like a catchy tune as well as the next rock chick, but I also love the music that doesn't go where you expect it to go next. A lot of their songs also have the sort of musical structure that leads people to think the song is over and start clapping, when the song isn't quite done yet. Masters of the caesura, these guys. After a few songs, the people around me noticed that I was singing along and knew the music, and I swear they would actually wait for me to start applauding at the end before they would start. Hey, I'm good with that.

The band also noticed that I was out there singing along, and I got some smiles from them when they saw a fan. As cool as it is to win over new converts, and they were doing that, it's also nice to know there's someone out there who was on your side from the beginning; someone who came to see you. I've never met the drummer, and he seemed a bit surprised to look across the front row and see someone who knew the music. At least I hope that's what that smile meant, and not just that he thought it was sweet that someone brought their granny with them to the show. The bass player even saw me and smiled a few times, which I'm hoping means he's either forgotten or forgiven my idiotic comments the last time I spoke to him. What is it about bass players that brings out my inner moron? But they were great, and I did get to talk to the guitarist a bit before and after the show. He's a cool guy, and has always been nice to me. The last time I talked to him in December, he recounted for their bass player the whole story of how and when he and I first met that past January, which was after the first show of theirs I ever saw. He got it mostly all right, too. Pretty amazing! He thanked me for coming out, and told me they're recording again. And about time, too!

The middle band - well, my two main comments are: A - I now feel like I've seen Spinal Tap in person; and B - if that band is still together today, I'm shocked. The lead singer tripped over everything including his feet, broke his foot pedal, fell down and played half a song from the floor (the bemused, world-weary look on the sound tech's face during that episode was priceless), got the amp cord almost irretrievably tangled in his guitar strap (his despair at being unable to extricate it had people laughing and almost made me hold out my hands from the front row and say, "here, let me fix that for you already"), and got so pissed off at the guitarist/keyboard player that he shoved him offstage at one point. The bass player I have to give an A for effort - he was pulling off some good rock star poses while nervously trying to appear oblivious to the disintegration of his singer. The drummer was really good. He broke his bass drum pedal right before the last song, and was going to try his best to go on without it. Bravo to the daring soul who found or loaned him another one for that last song. They were a band experiencing meltdown, and it was interesting to watch. As for their music - well, let's just say I did not hear anyone saying they didn't suck.

Since I started on the theme of brushes with fame, I have to say that I didn't meet any of the members of this band. However, I did kind of have dinner with them. Well, next to them. I was sitting at the bar before the show, and they came and sat down in the seats next to me. I know they were in the band, because they told the bartender/server that they were, since being in the band got them a discount on food. Stardom has its benefits, you know. But I didn't say anything to them, because I didn't know them. What was I going to say? "Oh, hi, so you're in a band I've never ever heard of. I'm here to see one of the other bands. Are you gonna suck, or what?"

The third band was really good. As I said, most of the kids were there to see them. I must say, if this is the new generation of concertgoers, I'm encouraged. There was a good bunch that were there to see the third band, had never heard of either of the first two, but got there early, went right up to the stage to stake their spot (as opposed to trying to push their way up when their band came on), and were very open to giving the other bands a chance to win them over. The girl next to me stood for much of the time with her eyes closed, bobbing her head up and down rapidly in time with something other than the music currently being played - but she seemed to be enjoying herself, so God bless her. There was also a lot less pushing and shoving and general rudeness than I often have to put up with in a crowd of so-called adults (a.k.a. my fellow dinosaurs). Of course, a majority of the audience members were too young to be allowed to drink. Hmmmmm... coincidence?

The weather was bad, of course. It was starting to sleet when the doors opened at 8. My band left the stage around 10, and I had been wondering beforehand if maybe I should leave after that and get back on the road, or wait and give the highway department a chance to get things cleared. But at 10, there was no indecision. I was staying. I had gone to the closing band's website earlier and listened to a couple of songs and liked them, and I wanted to see them. Besides, I was right up at the stage with my hands on the monitors, and when I'm there, it's really hard to drag me away. So despite the fact that the middle band didn't not suck, I stayed.

Oh - sidebar moment here from the ancient one. Between sets, as I eavesdrop-hopped from conversation to conversation around me, I happened upon one between the young man behind me and his young lady friend. The main theme of his conversation all night was trying to impress her, and why not, after all. One snippet I found amusing, if wrinkle-inducing, was when he was explaining to her some of the sound equipment on stage. He told her that the black things I had my hands on (although he didn't mention me in his definition) were called monitors. He maintained that this was in fact their name, although he admitted it was confusing that something should be called a monitor when there was nothing on it that you could see.

Well of course, that makes sense. The original meaning of the word monitor of course, being derived from the Latin monitus, meaning "computer video display."

I'm not really making fun. It was cute. It was just kind of an aging experience to realize that so many of the others there had earliest memories that didn't stretch as far back into the past as my college days.

In my defense though, I was glad I stayed, past midnight, mind you, and I didn't turn into a pumpkin. The last band had an encore that was fantastic. Returning to the stage after a nice lengthy onslaught of applause and screaming, the singer announced that the band felt that a normal encore, consisting of another song or two, felt sort of fake to them. Therefore, they had decided that their encore would consist of interpretive dance. It was fantastic. Part line dancing, part break dancing, part gymnastic floor routine, part competitive cheerleading, is the best description I can give, and it's sorely lacking.

And their music? It didn't suck.

Long Live the Live Band.

my mood -

the mood of the whole world wide bleepin' web -