Hello there everyone! It's good to be back from my journey up north. The lesson I take away from this trip is that my cousins and I can clear out the stock of an entire liquor store in just three days.
Sadly, I did not get to hang out with @ameline and @rocket like we had planned, but I can't say no to my brother when he asks huge favors of me. He's put up with way too much of my shit for me to say no.
Anyway, onto this weeks blog topic: My first concert.
I went to my first concert when I was 17. I know that's a bit old to be going to your first rock concert, but I grew up in an area that is very far away from everything. My home town is situated in a valley with only a few roads to get out, and they're all riddled with sharp turns and traffic lights. There's a joke in New Jersey that goes, "What exit?" as in, "what exit of the turnpike or parkway do you live off of?" Well, where I grew up was an hour an change away from both those roads. People would ask me what exit and I wouldn't have an answer for them. I grew up in a place where there were cows, hiking trails, ticks, ski slopes, and the country's most dangerous water park.
Anyway, some friends and I caught wind of a show going down in a town not too far from mine where there were fields with stages set up. Blink 182 and Bad Religion were playing. Of course we had to go. Not for Blink 182, but for Bad Religion. I met a wonderful and cute girl there named Chelsea. She was petite and thin but could hold her own. Her short hair occasionally fell in front of her eyes. We got into the mosh pit together. I have to say that it was amazing and from that point on I got into every mosh pit I could until I got older and way too aware of myself and the fact that I could lose my teeth in them.
After the show, we met one of the members of Bad Religion. He explained how several years before Blink 182 had asked to tour with them, that they were huge fans. Bad Religion listened to the tape they gave them and passed them up. He said, "Look where we are now!" with a sense of almost bitterness.
He signed my ticket. It doesn't even say Bad Religion on the ticket stub. What an insult that must have been.
I've seen Bad Religion several times since then, though I have to say it's been many years now.
God, I look at the date on that ticket and think back to the year 2000. I was a junior in high school, dating a hot 21 year old musician who vaguely resembled Kurt Cobain, and had a rather quirky group of friends that I got into some fun trouble with. Pictures from that era exist but I am not sure I want to post them. I just look so damn awkward, you know?
Not that the awkwardness has changed or anything...
