2008-04-10 - 3:49 p.m.

Saw Superdrag last night: one of my all-time favorite bands that I thought was gone forever. But, no. They are back, "reunited indefinitely," their web site says. They were great: loud and I was able to get close to the stage at the 8x10. The audience floor/dance floor there is on springs, I was told last night. So, like, Superdrag was rocking, and when everyone would jump with hands in the air, if you didn't jump, you could feel that, yes, the floor was resting on springs. I stayed after and went upstairs, where the band guys were running their own merchandise table. I bought a great poster someone had made for this show last night. I got to shake the main guy's hand and then he conducted the poster transaction himself. He gave me change for my twenty. And he didn't do any kind of Christian stuff, which I was wondering about. Sometimes you walk away from a show, and this happens especially for bands you really like, and you wonder if your town or that particular club or whatever really made the band feel welcome or loved or generally made them feel like good musicians and, by extension, worthwhile human beings. And I get that feeling probably more than I should. But not last night. The club's small but not tiny, and it was filled, and the encore-clapping seemed genuine. It helped that they played a fair number of their older and loved rockers, but I think the band was having fun and that made it all the better. They smiled and joked and our guy John Davis did his neck-straining, head-tilting yelling. And then we went to a strip bar called Chubbies and the black dancer girls there wanted to kick us out because we were done drinking.

The Office is back on tonight.

I had a revelation last night about my book/memoir/project. And that's one of the reason I like going to shows so much, because after two beers take the logic out of my head and leaves only feeling and watching and musing, I'm able to listen and watch the guitar players move around in the purple lights and all of it lets me sort of swim. I had the notion that I need to just get to it and finish this thing and make it my job. And it's the next day and so I realize it's not just that easy but I've still got enough of it left in me to make a difference. I'm just going to tell the most interesting parts about my growing up with the best structure and the best words I've got.

Also: it's 70 degrees out and everything's a flower. And, I have a new niece. Her name is Chelsea.

previous - next