2004-07-04 - 6:42 p.m.

the family that rocks together... can't even think of a word that rhymes

Let's see, what have we missed... well, remember the guy at work I mentioned who might be on his way out? Gone as of Wednesday. Everyone claimed to be very surprised and everyone tried not to be unprofessionally gleeful. He sent me an email Tuesday asking when we could meet regarding his endless, hopeless, pointless project. Guess we won't be meeting.

Okay, on to more fun events... last weekend I went to visit my family and quite shockingly combined the visit with a couple of rock shows. However, and this is the absolute truth - I wouldn't have gone to these two shows except for my family wanting to go along! As you may remember I had already made plans to see quite a few shows in the week or so immediately preceding this weekend. But when my band's tour schedule started being announced back in February, my dad asked, "Are they coming near here?"

Two years ago they did play near my parents, two shows in fact, and my parents planned to go to one of them. The show was in September, and in May, before the tickets were about to go on sale, my mom decided she wasn't going to feel like going. Yep, in May, she decided that in September she wouldn't feel well. My mom has had several strokes and there is just no arguing with her on things like this. My dad was disappointed but he'd never go without her. So my sister and I and her husband went to the two shows.

So this time, again, there were two shows back to back. Tickets went on sale back in March, and I've been crossing my fingers ever since that my parents wouldn't have health problems and that my mom wouldn't decide not to go for some reason. My sister and I went to the first show, then our parents and her husband joined us for the second one.

This was so exciting for me. I've wanted to "introduce" my parents to this band for so long! They've watched concert videos with me before, so they sort of knew what to expect, but you really have to experience the music and the performance live. My mom has to use a wheelchair to go more than a few steps, so it was a bit of a production. That's not a complaint - just a fact. I was planning on getting a ticket for myself back with my parents in the accessible seating, but my dad told me he wanted me to be up front as usual if I could be, so he could watch me do what I do. Luckily what I do is not anything I had to change in any way because my parents were watching! My dad also told me if I got up on stage, to say hi. I told him not to count on THAT, but if it somehow happened, I surely would.

It didn't happen of course - just so you can't accuse me of trying to keep you in suspense here.

My dad had already had me buy him a t-shirt with the band's logo on it, and he was wearing that. When we got to the merchandise stand, my mom had me buy her a pin, and my dad wanted a baseball cap. They both put them on right then and there and wore them through the show.

Security was nice and let me into the accessible seating area with my parents, even though I didn't have a ticket for that area, to help them get set up. This was a pretty good spot. When I called to buy tickets, they actually offered me seats in the orchestra section on the right, which would have been about third row from the stage. Better tickets than I could have gotten for myself if it hadn't been for the fan club! But I was kind of afraid that would have been too close, and it would have been too much for them to last there through the whole show. Also, if people stood up in the front rows, as people tend to do, they wouldn't have been able to see. The next accessible section back seemed perfect - front row of the first section behind the orchestra, elevated above the floor, and right behind an aisle and a ramp where people aren't allowed to stand, so it looked like they'd have a perfect view.

Before the show, I bought them both the professional ear protection that I use. Have I ever mentioned them before? Well if I have, it's worth mentioning them again. They're called Hearos and they're fabulous. I detest the foam ones. They're uncomfortable and all the sound is muffled and muddy, which you might expect if you're trying to listen to something with a hunk of foam stuffed into your ears. These are great though. You can still hear everything - when I first got mine, I tested them by turning the TV on, a bit louder than usual, and trying to listen. I could understand what people were saying perfectly. At a concert, if you want to talk to someone, they still have to yell a bit into your ear, but no more than they would if you weren't wearing these. The first time I wore them to a show, when the music started, I thought, these things aren't working at all. Then I took one out, and suddenly WHOA - I could tell exactly what they were doing. The sound is all still there, but the volume is reduced a little and more importantly, it stops the sound waves from literally pounding your eardrum.

Anyway, I got them both set up with their own ear protection, and with that and their fancy shirts and hats and jewelry, they felt very rock and roll. Turns out that their seats were behind the orchestra section containing the other accessible section where they could have had seats, and to my surprise, that section on the floor only had six rows. My dad was so impressed. I think he'll be telling people for years that he went to a rock concert and was only six rows away from the stage! They brought binoculars and never used them. So I got them all settled in their section and their ears all plugged, and went up to my seat. Had to explain to the person next to me that I wasn't turning around to stare at her periodically - I was checking on my parents!

Every time I did turn around and look, they were perfectly visible in the light from the stage, and looked like they were enjoying themselves. Between the first band and the second, I ran back and talked to them. When I got back to them, my dad was sitting there holding one of his earplugs, so my first words to him were, "Why do you have your earplug out?" He immediately pointed at the woman sitting next to him, who pointed back at him, and they both said, "We were talking." My dad, striking up a conversation with whoever is sitting next to him in a crowd? How shocking! Not that that's where I get it from or anything. She told me how cool she thought it was that I went all over the place following the band. Apparently my dad had been telling my life story. Which again - how shocking, since he's the only person I know who can stand at the front door and chat with Jehovah's Witnesses until THEY say, well, okay, gotta be going now, bye! No really, gotta go!

So I talked to my folks and the woman next to them while the stage was being re-set. They said they were really enjoying themselves so far. Then when I heard the song that plays before the second band comes out, I said okay, gotta run, and I split! People didn't stand much during the first band, but they did sometimes during the second band. Still, every time I looked around, I could see my parents, sitting back there smiling.

Between the second band and my band, I just ran back quickly to check in and give them my bottle of water. Long story. Anyway, I ran back, handed off the water bottle, asked if they were all set, then ran back to the front to protect my place. I had a front row ticket, and sure enough, here came some of my friends to try and see if they could stand next to me. A lot of times no one cares if a few people do that, because the people sitting in the front row usually move up to the stage anyway, and there's room for a few extra without blocking anyone. So if security wasn't going to make them move, I didn't care.

However.

You don't come up and start schmoozing me and maneuver yourself around BETWEEN me and the stage. The only reason I wasn't standing right up AT the stage was that they told us to leave room for the video guys, and besides, the stage was sort of tall. But come on. Just because I left a little room between me and the stage, do NOT come up from your second row seat and try to get in FRONT of me. What am I, new at this? I'm sorry, your Jedi mind tricks aren't going to work on me. Three people came up to talk to me (one I already didn't completely care for and another I didn't know that well who has now joined the "I wouldn't cross the street to spit on them but they're not my favorite people" club) and two of them began almost immediately trying to jockey to get in between me and stage. One of them said, "I hope security lets us stay here," and I actually did say, "Well, not RIGHT there, because that's in front of ME."

Long established that I'm a bitch. But I'm not enough of a bitch that they walked away and went back to their seats. They stayed with me... not in front of me though. One of them actually tried it a second time, but when she took her pretend-casual step between me and the stage, I very deliberately walked around her and put things right again.

Like I said - fan politics are mind boggling. All I can say is, I've never had anyone do me a favor if it came at any cost to them. I'm glad to help people out when I can, and I have gotten lots of payback for that in a good way... but there's a difference between me doing you a favor and you using me.

Forget all that though. Happy ending for sure - they got to be at the stage NEXT to me and I got to be at the stage right where I wanted to be (which I just have to point out because I'm a bitch - was directly in front of my actual assigned seat, which is why I was SO adamant about not being displaced). Absolutely incredible wonderful show. And yes, every now and then I'd turn to check on my parents. Until everyone in the front was standing, which took a little while, I could still see them - sitting there grinning, bopping along to the music! My band uses the whole entire stage, so several times they would walk out onto the edge of the stage, past the speakers, out to where they were right in front of my parents. My dad said one of the guys seemed to look at the two of them and smile when he came out there. I know how sometimes you think someone in a band is looking at you and they're really just looking in your direction, but sometimes they are in fact looking, and when I asked my dad which one it was, he pointed out my RSP. Not that my dad knows that nickname - but you know. And from what I know about how RSP interacts with the crowd, he may very well have found it cool that there were a couple of folks in their seventies, sitting there in the front row of the second section, rocking out. I wish he could have known who they were.

I asked my parents afterward how they liked the show, and they both just loved it. My mom finally admitted that she had backed out of the one two years ago because she just decided she didn't want to go. And she said that even this time, she really thought it was ridiculous for her to go, but my dad and I wanted her to, so she agreed. Now she says she knows why I go around and see them so much, and she wishes she had gone two years ago! So who knows - maybe they'll go again! I'm just so glad nothing bad happened!

Well - not until the next day. I swear, the alpha male contests that go on between my dad and my sister's husband... I don't know how they all live with that amount of stress. Just the illogic alone would kill me.

Okay, off to get ready to watch fireworks!! Happy 4th everyone - stay safe!

my mood -

the mood of the whole world wide bleepin' web -