The Crappiest, Weirdest, And Coolest Show Ever.
KungFuSquirrel
Basher of Muttons Join Date: 2002-01-26 Member: 103Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
Basher of Muttons Join Date: 2002-01-26 Member: 103Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
<div class="IPBDescription">Bars, Traffic, Trains, and "Wolves."</div> Well, my band played a show last night in good ol' Lincoln Nebraska. This in itself is not a noteworthy event, but the progression of events that followed made for one of the weirdest and most fun nights I've had in a while. In a weird twisted way.
We were to play Bob's Tavern at 9:00pm. I'd invited a lot of my friends, and rumor had it there was going to be a decent crowd thanks to local (and regional) favorites Straight Outta Junior High following us up at 10:00. We'd been assured over and over again that it was an all ages show by the guy who booked it, and so we (and SOJH) publicized it as such.
It was 21+.
Not only were a number of people turned away at the door, two people in my band were not old enough to be in the bar, though because we were playing they never asked for our IDs anyway. A number of my friends were turned away and a group of about 5-6 kids I see at almost every local show were left waiting outside. Needless to say, we were ****. We went right up to our instruments and started playing, cutting a song and the ending from another and nixing almost all in between talking to get the hell out of there ASAP.
This is where it gets cool.
There was a side door just a couple feet behind me and about 8 feet to my left. The group of kids left outside came around to the side as we started playing and crowded the doorway to listen to us while our 21 or older friends watched from inside. They made their own mini circle pit, they pumped their fist at the faster parts, and they became about the damn coolest part of any show I've ever played with this band to date. Greg, our guitar player, would run over to the door during his solos and in my embarrassing moment of the night I tossed a broken drumstick over there... only for it to hit the doorframe and come to rest just inside the door. Doh. (I used to be a pitcher in my old baseball days, for crying out loud, and now I can't toss a drumstick through a fully open door 8 feet away?!?)
We quickly finished playing and packed up quick in the alley, where we talked to those kids some more and learned that they had confirmed there was a basement we could play in that night. Since quite a few people had been unable to get into the show, we quickly agreed to it and started figuring out how we'd get there. I mean, it was the least we could do for these kids who had nothing else to do, right? And after they stuck around to watch us through a doorway, how could we refuse? <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
We all re-grouped at Phil's house (home to our bass player and all practices) to grab the rest of our equipment and "wagon train" out to this house. (Insert REALLY crazy story from below in at this point). We got heading out on O street in downtown Lincoln, and this is where things got really interesting. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> I was the 5th of 5 cars in our little train. Traffic was horrible and both Greg and I got caught in the middle of intersections during red lights a couple times. The second time this happened with Greg, they veered off another way since he kinda had directions on where to go. I was now fourth of four cars. The car ahead of me then was trying to merge into the at-a-standstill traffic in the right lane. As the cars cleared out ahead of me, I also realized I had to move over. There had been an accident in the left lane and traffic was closed down to just the right lane. In the process of merging, I could no longer see the car ahead of me and came to an intersection where I couldn't see if they had gone straight or turned. I took a chance and turned... and nothing. So the convoy was down to 3. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> I called Phil's house from a nearby parking garage and got his cell phone number and called him just as the convoy dropped to two cars - the car behind him that I had been following got stopped at a train crossing. We decided the night was just not working in our favor, and so he and Greg headed back to his place to unload and call it a night while I was close enough to the road leading to highway 77 (to take me back home to Beatrice) that I just went straight home from there.
The really crazy part, though, as I mentioned earlier, occured when we were just getting to Phil's house. I got there first, and right as I turned onto the street this woman walking down the middle of the street waves me down... I stop and she starts talking about how a "wolf" is following her just down the block and she needs a ride to her house just a couple blocks away.
I say to myself, "Hrmm." There are no wolves in Nebraska, and even if there were, there certainly wouldn't be one with miles of city in all directions. I come to the most logical conclusion I can, which is that the lady is drunk and/or insane and I need to get out of there ASAP. So she keeps going on about how I need to help her and how she'll even drop everything she's carrying right there if I just give her a ride to her nearby home. She starts going off about how horrible a person I am and how she's a nurse with this trilingual kid that travels the world, and finally just starts yelling and swearing at me and storms off down the street... by this point Greg and his girlfriend have arrived, so I go pull up next to them and we get out and start walking towards the gate in front of Phil's house... I start to tell them, "Man, there was this crazy lady..." when we all just kinda notice movement at the same place at the same time. And, of all things, what looks at first glance strikingly like a wolf is trotting towards us. Greg's like "whoa. dog." and we just quickly get behind the fence and latch it, Greg using his leg to push the dog back and latch the gate. Then we got a good look at it - it was someone's Husky that had gotten out. It was in no way threatening or acting like it was going to do anything to us, and as close as it had gotten, if it had wanted to, it would have. It just kinda sniffed at us like any well-trained pet dog would, and then when it realized we weren't going to give it a treat or pet it or anything, just trotted off on its way. By the time Phil and the other kids who were going to guide us to the basement show arrived, there was no sign of it.
I'm just like "Oh, no..." The woman was genuinely terrified for her life because of this (seemingly quite friendly) dog and then there I am thinking she's drunk and/or clinically insane. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> Anyway, it makes for an amusing story. I do at least hope she'll realize that she blamed a 19 year old with a car full of drum set equipment for all of society's problems based solely on the fact that some dog was probably going to sniff her leg and wander off somewhere else.
We were to play Bob's Tavern at 9:00pm. I'd invited a lot of my friends, and rumor had it there was going to be a decent crowd thanks to local (and regional) favorites Straight Outta Junior High following us up at 10:00. We'd been assured over and over again that it was an all ages show by the guy who booked it, and so we (and SOJH) publicized it as such.
It was 21+.
Not only were a number of people turned away at the door, two people in my band were not old enough to be in the bar, though because we were playing they never asked for our IDs anyway. A number of my friends were turned away and a group of about 5-6 kids I see at almost every local show were left waiting outside. Needless to say, we were ****. We went right up to our instruments and started playing, cutting a song and the ending from another and nixing almost all in between talking to get the hell out of there ASAP.
This is where it gets cool.
There was a side door just a couple feet behind me and about 8 feet to my left. The group of kids left outside came around to the side as we started playing and crowded the doorway to listen to us while our 21 or older friends watched from inside. They made their own mini circle pit, they pumped their fist at the faster parts, and they became about the damn coolest part of any show I've ever played with this band to date. Greg, our guitar player, would run over to the door during his solos and in my embarrassing moment of the night I tossed a broken drumstick over there... only for it to hit the doorframe and come to rest just inside the door. Doh. (I used to be a pitcher in my old baseball days, for crying out loud, and now I can't toss a drumstick through a fully open door 8 feet away?!?)
We quickly finished playing and packed up quick in the alley, where we talked to those kids some more and learned that they had confirmed there was a basement we could play in that night. Since quite a few people had been unable to get into the show, we quickly agreed to it and started figuring out how we'd get there. I mean, it was the least we could do for these kids who had nothing else to do, right? And after they stuck around to watch us through a doorway, how could we refuse? <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
We all re-grouped at Phil's house (home to our bass player and all practices) to grab the rest of our equipment and "wagon train" out to this house. (Insert REALLY crazy story from below in at this point). We got heading out on O street in downtown Lincoln, and this is where things got really interesting. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> I was the 5th of 5 cars in our little train. Traffic was horrible and both Greg and I got caught in the middle of intersections during red lights a couple times. The second time this happened with Greg, they veered off another way since he kinda had directions on where to go. I was now fourth of four cars. The car ahead of me then was trying to merge into the at-a-standstill traffic in the right lane. As the cars cleared out ahead of me, I also realized I had to move over. There had been an accident in the left lane and traffic was closed down to just the right lane. In the process of merging, I could no longer see the car ahead of me and came to an intersection where I couldn't see if they had gone straight or turned. I took a chance and turned... and nothing. So the convoy was down to 3. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> I called Phil's house from a nearby parking garage and got his cell phone number and called him just as the convoy dropped to two cars - the car behind him that I had been following got stopped at a train crossing. We decided the night was just not working in our favor, and so he and Greg headed back to his place to unload and call it a night while I was close enough to the road leading to highway 77 (to take me back home to Beatrice) that I just went straight home from there.
The really crazy part, though, as I mentioned earlier, occured when we were just getting to Phil's house. I got there first, and right as I turned onto the street this woman walking down the middle of the street waves me down... I stop and she starts talking about how a "wolf" is following her just down the block and she needs a ride to her house just a couple blocks away.
I say to myself, "Hrmm." There are no wolves in Nebraska, and even if there were, there certainly wouldn't be one with miles of city in all directions. I come to the most logical conclusion I can, which is that the lady is drunk and/or insane and I need to get out of there ASAP. So she keeps going on about how I need to help her and how she'll even drop everything she's carrying right there if I just give her a ride to her nearby home. She starts going off about how horrible a person I am and how she's a nurse with this trilingual kid that travels the world, and finally just starts yelling and swearing at me and storms off down the street... by this point Greg and his girlfriend have arrived, so I go pull up next to them and we get out and start walking towards the gate in front of Phil's house... I start to tell them, "Man, there was this crazy lady..." when we all just kinda notice movement at the same place at the same time. And, of all things, what looks at first glance strikingly like a wolf is trotting towards us. Greg's like "whoa. dog." and we just quickly get behind the fence and latch it, Greg using his leg to push the dog back and latch the gate. Then we got a good look at it - it was someone's Husky that had gotten out. It was in no way threatening or acting like it was going to do anything to us, and as close as it had gotten, if it had wanted to, it would have. It just kinda sniffed at us like any well-trained pet dog would, and then when it realized we weren't going to give it a treat or pet it or anything, just trotted off on its way. By the time Phil and the other kids who were going to guide us to the basement show arrived, there was no sign of it.
I'm just like "Oh, no..." The woman was genuinely terrified for her life because of this (seemingly quite friendly) dog and then there I am thinking she's drunk and/or clinically insane. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> Anyway, it makes for an amusing story. I do at least hope she'll realize that she blamed a 19 year old with a car full of drum set equipment for all of society's problems based solely on the fact that some dog was probably going to sniff her leg and wander off somewhere else.
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