SHARING THE SHOWS
So you know how sometimes you’re all psyched up to see a band and there’s an opener and the opener’s even better than the main act? Well, I do. I know that very well. New Year’s Eve 2022 was the first time I had gone out on New Year’s since before lockdown. I had ridden an Amtrak from DC to Philadelphia to see moe. with Shana. A group named Eggy opened for them, and I remember being more enthralled with Eggy, whom I’d never heard before. So when I heard they were coming down to DC, I had to make them my March show. I had to rally for this one. The night before had been a late one; I’d gone up to Baltimore to meet with my friends Kevin and Alicia to attend a discussion on Rhaina Cohen’s The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center, which posits the argument that friendship be given the same status as romance, an argument I wholeheartedly agree with. The talk and company were both amazing, but Thursday was rough. I did manage to give a dynamic lesson to my students, but the rest of the day consisted of recuperation and repeating the mantra, “Gotta rally” so I could psyche up for the show. After pounding a Diet Coke and getting to the venue, I was back in action. A quick chat with a dude named Ryan from Bethesda got me fully charged, and he assured me the Disco Biscuits, a band I had seen a few times when I was younger but just can’t get into now, had improved. I did jog to a recent show of theirs, so I suppose I can open my mind up. Much like with New Potato Caboose and Circles Around the Sun, I don’t know Eggy’s repertoire. But they do a lot of classic rock covers ranging from Pink Floyd to Kiss to ELTON JOHN (I see “Benny and the Jets” in a new light). This evening, they did “Hush,” my favorite Deep Purple cut. And their jams were amazing. On my way out, a dude grabbed me and said, “Bro, I gotta tell you you were my spirit animal tonight!” I was so touched I had the perfectly cogent reply of “Oh, wow, ummm, thanks man.” Looking back, I should’ve gotten his name, but I was hustling to make my two-line Metro trip. Oh well, next time. That was the best compliment I’ve ever received at a show. So what made me his spirit animal for the night? Well, I danced with intensity. And dancing can be a powerful tool to push “talkers” away. After one Phish show, during that long walk down Madison Square Garden’s staircase, a woman with whom I talked handed me a card that said, “Please stop talking” and encouraged me to give it to people who insist of having conversations at the show. Talkers annoy me. A couple behind me just kept going back-and-forth. I didn’t have the card to hand them, so I figured if I can dance intensely, I mean, like “in their faces” intensely, they’d move. I did accidentally, lightly bump into the dude who spilled a drop of his beer on me, but hey, that’s a small price to pay. And they did move. “Gotta dance ‘em out,” was the advice I received from a concertgoer on how to get people out of your space at a small, general admission venue. A New York attitude for sure. Seriously, people, do your yapping on the patio. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. Anywho, I made a point of cooking up some scrambled eggs post-show. I mean, I was seeing a band called Eggy. It wouldn’t make sense NOT to have some eggs afterwards, right? So now that I’ve graced you with food porn, here are some more pics from the Atlantis’s rooftop. As Ben said, “It’s like going back to 1985.” I would’ve loved to patronize the old 9:30 Club. And that missing parking meter is incredible. “Some drunk must’ve hit it after a show,” I heard someone say. Sounds about right.
And that’s why I Metro to shows. I love DC!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
April 2024
Categories |