On The Precipice Of An Uneventful Weekend

      This past weekend was pretty epic. It seemed like a fitting end to the shit-show of a week last week was. We sure finished it off in style. My punk rock band opened the show last Saturday with a ferocious bang. It seemed like there were a lot of people there. People seemed to appreciate it, even though it was pretty loud, and not really the preferred music for a lot of the guests. There are a lot of Dead Heads there. Plus, as soon as we walked in, I was like: “Whoa, there’s a lot of old people here.” But the place eventually filled up, and we had a good turnout. We played well. Then my prog band played. It seemed like the crowd had doubled. I couldn’t believe all the people I saw walking in. I guess I have to give props to my wife for getting the word out, because it definitely seemed like there were a lot of people there to see us. The amount of cheering for my punk rock band seemed pale in comparison to the reaction my prog band got. The whole place was electric. We played well. Very well. And apparently people noticed. The crowd noise was invigorating. About the 4th song, the first song our guitar player sings, his mic went out. We stopped. It took a few minutes to get the sound guy’s attention. It was a little awkward. We had all this momentum, then blah. It felt like the energy got sucked out of the building. However, we got the problem fixed, we got the energy back, and by the end it was like no one had noticed. People seemed to really like it. I had people who’d seen us before come up and say that was the best they ever heard. Some people saying: “That was next level.” Some people were just speechless, standing there saying: “Awesome!” over and over. I even had some people I didn’t know, who didn’t even see the show, coming up to me, telling me their friends said we were the best band of the night.

     It felt good. Even the singer in my punk rock band said that my prog band stole the show. It felt good. We don’t play out that often, but we do put a lot of effort in, and it’s good to be able to show people what we’ve been up to. The next band was more of a folksy acoustic type of act. They’re good. They’re friends of ours. But it was a pretty drastic change. It really felt like the energy left the room. About half the crowd left. It felt kind of weird. We stayed, and in a way it was good because they don’t play out that much either, and with all the other people out of the way, their friends and family were able to see/hear them play. I thought it was good that we published the line-up online. That way people could show up to see the band they wanted to see. As I mentioned before, it didn’t seem likely that everyone would stay there for 8 hours. A day or two before the show, people started wanting to try to rearrange the line-up. I thought it was a bad idea, and I’m glad it didn’t happen. Because it worked out great! And it could be a coincidence that the 3:30 spot would have been the best slot, but I doubt it. People thought we should have played at 5, and wanted to change it the day before the show! We had a lot of people there to see us. On time! We would have played to no one at 5. Anyway, everything went fantastic. I don’t think anyone really cared who had the biggest crowd, because everyone was surrounded by their friends, and people who wanted to see/hear them. It did seem appreciated that my wife and I stayed to support all the acts. We were there from 1 to 10! A lot of people were talking about the idea of my prog band and the last 2 bands playing together again. I’ve been suggesting we do that for a long time.

     The next day was Super Bowl. I did have a little while to sober up before starting again. These days I’m not really into the idea of being a drunk in public. Back in the day I didn’t really care, it’s not like I liked it, I just didn’t care if I was. Now I do. I want to be in control of myself. I want to exude that I am. I may not be as funny and interactive as I used to be, but it’s better for me. We watched the Super Bowl at the bar we used to hang out at. They are the people we play Fantasy Football with, so it’s fun to see them once in a while. We used to go to that bar several times a week, now we go there a couple of times a year. It’s not really the same. I want to make sure we get home safe. That used to mean walking across the street, now it’s a 20 minute drive, so things are different. I wish we had better seats, I wish we could hear the commentators better, but overall it was fun. The food was good. The company was good. And we won 2 separate Square Pools, so we got our money back plus some! Our daughter hung out with us, which was cool, she even picked up our tab! Very cool. I don’t even feel bad, she’s not paying rent, so she has some extra money. I’m pretty sure that was her first Super Bowl party. She seemed to have fun. It’s just still weird for me to see her drunk. She’s coming up on 24, so it’s perfectly fine, I’m just not that into her drunk persona. Although she did have some interesting things to say to me. It was all positive, and probably good that she got it out. I love her. Her mom and I had a wonderful dinner for Valentine’s Day, and now we sit on the precipice of an uneventful weekend. Yay!