SHARING THE SHOWS
So this would be the second hump day in a row I’d be going to see a concert film. To get myself psyched up, I blared Metallica’s Death Magnetic, their 2008 return to their thrash metal roots, on my office computer. Once I got in my car to go home, Hardwired…to Self-Destruct filled my car’s speakers.
Drew and I would do our bro meal at my apartment. We’re both trying to save cash on eating out, and we’re on low-carb diets, so I air-fried some salmon fillets with a side of broccoli. Good eats, indeed. We talked about those badasses who hike the Appalachian Trail and shared our lives since the last time we hung. Him getting involved at his son’s school, me getting more involved with my book. Anyway, I couldn’t find my Iron Maiden shirt, and was too wiped out from work, so I put on the Goofy (the Disney character) shirt Drew gave me for my birthday last year. An anecdote explaining it: On January 20, 2017, Drew and I drove to Richmond to see Umphrey’s McGee. After a nice Thai dinner at Carytown’s Thai Two, we drove around downtown Richmond trying to find a parking lot, but we kept turning away. Eventually, we found out but saw a billboard for Disney on Ice at the Richmond Coliseum. We then re-enacted a dialogue exchange from Rob Reiner’s classic, Stand by Me (what the hell is Goofy, anyway?). I also jogged after work, wearing that same shirt, and an elderly lady stated, “Thank you for having the courage to be different.” Lady, you don’t know the half of it! Anyway, after a short drive down 64 to the Studio Movie Grill, we parked behind a minivan with a license plate that read “Slave to the Traffic Light,” which reminded me of Jesse’s minivan all decked out with the Phish stickers, including the one that reads “This car climbed Mt. Icculus,” or something to that effect. After talking with a couple of teens about the hot new flick Joker, we headed inside. Once in the theater, I pulled out my bag of Skinny Pop popcorn, Diet Raspberry Snapple, and Atkins Bar. A waiter then approached us to ask if we had orders. The food was blatantly positioned on my tray, to which he said, “You’re actually not supposed to have that. I’ll let it go, but don’t let anyone else see it.” I then hid it under my jacket. I’m used to sneaking snacks into the theater, but not used to having a waiter come up to me there, so note to self: be careful until the lights go down, and even afterwards. Of course, Drew and I started singing, “Busted, in the Movie Grill” to the tune of the Grateful Dead’s “Truckin.” One thing I love about Drew is he’s always willing to burst into song with me (“Have mercy! Been waitin’ for the bus all day!”). We saw previews of Ford vs. Ferrari, the new Terminator flick, and Zombieland 2, right before Metallica’s four horsemen interviewed about the Metallica Scholars program, a charity they’ve established that helps kids get community college educations and job training. As an educator, I can get on board of that (I wouldn’t even have to be one to admire that). So we learned that S&M2 was the concert to open San Francisco’s new Chase Arena, a venue Dead & Company will play at for New Year’s Eve and the Golden State Warriors will sink baskets in for the foreseeable future. I’m pretty sure I heard an “Unforgiven” tease to open, but the band launched to my second-favorite instrumental of theirs, “Call of Ktulu” (my first is “Orion,” which is also my second-favorite Metallica song ever, next to “Jump in the Fire”). It was amazing hearing Kirk Hammett’s solos in sync with the violins. “For Whom the Bell Tolls” was next. If my junior year English teacher, Mr. Robert Wilson, had taught the Ernest Hemingway novel of the same title that year, I would have made the association with the song and might would have been more engaged with class. Oh well…I did play an Iron Maiden song for an introductory literature class at Bergen Community College back in 2010 (the name escapes me) to introduce my students to poetry, so at least I did something right. And my students were engaged. “The Day That Never Comes” was next, which brought me back to 2008 when I played Death Magnetic nonstop on my iPod. I was ecstatic to hear Metallica was going back to thrash metal, which prompted me to burn the CD and pipe it through my headphones during workouts. No more commercial stuff!, I thought. “Moth Into Flame” from Hardwired was next, followed by “The Outlaw Torn” (I had to write down the lyrics and Google them to find out the song title, since I never actually listened to Load all the way through (the Cliff Burton era was the only Metallica I listened to for a long time). “Halo on Fire” closed the first set. The second set began with Lars giving a shout-out to fans who had descended from all over the world to bear witness to this monumental occasion. They had come from places like France, Israel, Panama, and I even saw a flag that read “Mexitallica.” I say, Excelente! He then called up Michael Tilson Thomas, Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. He gave his props to Metallica before having them play a tune called “Scythian Suite, Op. 20, Second Movement,” sans the four horsemen. They then collaborated with Metallica on a song called “Iron Foundry.” The combination of the two seemingly disparate groups playing this tune gave the song a Psychedelic feel. “The Unforgiven III,” was next, and “All Within My Hands” was played as a tribute to Cliff, which sounded a bit like “Orion.” “Anesthesia” came next, followed by “Wherever I May Roam.” “One,” Maggie’s favorite tune from the boys, came next, which leads me to another anecdote. I’ve mentioned in previous blogs how Beavis & Butthead got into metal through the boys’ “critiques” of the videos. “One” was my first exposure to Metallica, as fifteen-year-old Craig banged his head, played air guitar, and sang “darkness imprisoning me” along with the dynamic duo. “Master of Puppets” was next, followed by Black’s “Nothing Else Matters” and “Enter Sandman,” which closed the show. When the lights went on, I turned to Drew and said in a facetious manner, “What! No encore!” The lady next to me said, “Oh, it was only $15.” My dry humor doesn’t seem to play too well with most Southern folks. C’est la vie. It was still a good time, despite my eyes being at half mast for much of the second set. Since I started rising up at 5:30 to write, I’m a zombie by 9 at night. But I fought through and enjoyed the show. And a midweek bro night rocks too. Love you, Brometheus!
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