Concert Journal – The first six

Okay, I am still doing this for a few more days—through Friday, I guess, and then I will see.

Breaking up my concert experiences, there are six that I consider to be part of my youth. After that, it is all adulthood, and I couldn’t tell you what year it was—it probably happened sometime between graduating from college and now. These six are actually two trios.

The first set occurred when I was in junior high. Somehow I had reached that point where going to concerts is possible. I know tweens have parents who take them to concerts, but my parents never did it that way. So, at thirteen I was old enough to go to a concert, and it was okay.

They all happened within the span of a summer. Charlie Sexton came to town first, in July, I think, and then A-ha came in August. Those were my two favorites at the time, and that they were both coming was amazing.

For Charlie I went with Marisa and Misty. He played at the Civic Auditorium (now Keller), and we wandered around the venue before and after, talking to a roadie, and a bus driver, and a limo driver. The most exciting part was seeing Charlie, pre-show, leave through a side door and enter a limo. If I had any presence of mind, I would have taken the camera I had out of my pocket, and snapped a shot, but I didn’t. The opening band was Badly Bradley (a guy from Quarterflash was in it), and they were not good.

Although this first concert was exciting, A-ha gave a much better show. I think Charlie was still a little shy—Morten was not. He flirted and joked and was amazing. I went with Gina Caldwell, who was only two years older than me (Misty is five years older, and Marisa was older still), but my brother Lance was working security at the concert, and he drove us, so there kind of was some adult supervision. I did nearly get in trouble, because exploring had been so much fun the first time, I wanted to try it again, and I did meet their bus driver, which was fine, but I sort of wandered into an area where I wasn’t supposed to be (between the Schnitz where they played and the Heathman where they were staying), and had to bluff my way out of it. I guess it was good practice for later.

It does seem weird to me that even though I know that Bourgeois Tagg was their opener—I remember their name on the ad and the ticket and everything—I have no memory of them performing. Even seeing that “I don’t mind at all” is theirs, it’s like, Really? Hmm. I guess the main event completely overshadowed them.

I bought a t-shirt there, and a dog tag at the Charlie Sexton concert, and I wore both of them for my next school picture. My souvenir at the Monkees was a program, but even if it was something wearable I might not have, because they were kind of disappointing.

The thing is, I did like their music okay, but I had really been a fan of the show, and suddenly these young guys are old, and the shtick is a little thin. Maybe I should have stuck with my memories. I think Nikki may have been a bit disappointed with it too, and she was a way bigger fan than I was. Of course, I could have been part of the disappointment. We had a slumber party the night before, and the night before that I had to be up early for a trip to Seattle, and I just could not sleep, so I didn’t. I can be great for 24 hours without sleep—a little hyper, but fine, but then I crashed. I was a very boring guest that night. Nikki’s mom took her, Nancy, and I, and even if the Monkees were a bit disappointing, I guess we still got our money’s worth, because the ticket included Herman’s Hermits, the Grass Roots, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, and a Beavers baseball game. (That was at the old Civic Stadium, before it became PGE Park.)

I don’t know why, but I didn’t go to any other concerts until just after high school. I know the first one was Billy Idol and Faith No More, because I remember Faith No More making fun of Nelson, and Billy Idol making fun of MC Hammer, and those were the next two. I went with Ericka, Bill, and Scott. Honestly, it was weird that the four of us went to a concert together, but I guess it worked out. Bill never paid for his ticket. I guess it was okay, but those are the memories that stick out, not the music. Well, and I remember Faith No More singing the Nestle Sweet Dreams jingle. It was kind of weird but it worked. Oh, and I remember us speculating on the fate of the fish in their video.

Nelson was the last in that group, because I was already away at college. I hitched a ride back up with Bob Fife’s girlfriend. I can’t remember her name and it is bugging me. I can totally picture her. Greg was supposed to meet me outside, but he never showed, so I was actually at the concert alone, though there were people all around. It was fine. It saddens me that as much as I loved that album, that then they went country and Gunnar became a tool on Celebrity Fit Club, but these things happen.

With the MC Hammer concert, there were so many problems that I don’t even know where to start, including that I never saw the show.

First off, he was supposed to tour with Vanilla Ice, and that was part of my motivation, but I think I was already starting to be embarrassed. I bought his tape on the strength of Ice Ice Baby, and the rest of the tracks were pretty stupid, and even for his good song, you know, sampling is pretty common in rap, just own up to it. I had found him cute, but then he kept doing stupid things to his hair and sticking his tongue out, and it was turning out that everything he said about himself was a lie, so yeah, speaking of tools. Anyway, then he was off the tour, and I don’t remember who replaced him, which I would have if I had seen the show.

I was supposed to go with Matt Davis. I was getting ready, and found that the tickets had disappeared. I tore my room apart trying to find them, but they never turned up. I have no idea what happened. We had some people working on the furnace, and my roommate at the time was not above stealing, but it was so frustrating, and I had to disappoint Matt, and then afterwards I always wondered if we would have become closer, and maybe I could have made a difference later when he needed it. Stupid, but it stung.

Anyway, they were playing for two nights, and my tickets were for the first night, so the second night was the one where I snuck in. Well, I planned to sneak in, anyway, but then when I got to there, Trail Blazer at the time Alaa Abdelnaby was there with his date, and he was allowed, but he was not sure how to get in, so I showed him the doorbell and then tailgated. And yes, that was kind of cool, but you can’t really hear anything backstage, and all I saw was a few dancers, and I knew it would be pushing my luck to stay very long, so yeah, that whole thing was kind of a waste, though whether I should have been bolder or not bothered at all is a reasonable question.


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