I must have been lost in a time warp -- or just talk to myself a lot. It's been forever since I posted but it feels like I post every day. I must be blogging in my head -- back to the need for the virtual "take your thoughts and have them go to the computer" machine of an earlier post A Wish for a Device.
I've been listening to music a lot recently. Music seems to be my older son's lifeblood and, thankfully, he likes a wide range of music. I took him to a Misfits concert recently and felt so old for a lot of reasons. For one, the Misfits age back to when I was in college, for two my brother who is eight years my junior was a fan in his "youth," for three I stood in the back bar area with a lot of gray haired people who weren't sure what they were supposed to be doing ... that's probably enough although I think that not being able to hear clearly for about three days may trump.
Taking a 14-year old to a rock concert is interesting. As soon as we walked in -- having been carded and searched (I remembe being carded but searched?) I was immediately sucked into a crowd of black-clad kids and within 30 seconds my son was out of sight. So, I settled in and bought a beer (Thomas had said I could buy a beer if I wanted which I thought was mighty solicitous of him) and watched. And being a grown-up in a crowd of kids all dressed in black ready to rock is pretty good watching.
There were 17 bands playing. The concert had started at 7. Thankfully we didn't get there until 9 so we only got to hear the last 7 bands ... although by the time the Misfits went on I couldn't hear. Many of the bands got on stage and screamed so loud that it hurt my throat but for the most part it was good fun. I think my favorite was the Japanese punk band that sang in Japanese but who would ever know?
The best part of the whole night, other than getting to finally go home, was interacting with the kids and watching the bouncers. The bouncers have this amazing hand signal/flashlight system that seemed to take care of just about any dicey situation immediately. They were impressive beyond their 250-lb. bald-headed stature in their rapport with the kids, the clear trust the kids had in them and the speed in which they dealt with "issues." The kids were also impressive -- I was jostled into obliviion and have never heard so many "excuse mes" and "sorry" and "thank yous" in a crowd situation in my life! The black-shirted group of wild-haired and crazy looking kids seemed to be less deviant and more normal than I expected.
I'm not begging to go back to a Misfits concert but I am happy to have Thomas get out and experience something that is important to him.
Next up are Coldplay in March when we introduce Nick to the world of rock concerts. Although I bet that between now and then, there will be some other show I'll get dragged out to.
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