Wednesday, October 19, 2005

10 years ago today-

My friend called in and won tickets on the radio to see a rock show in Anchorage, Alaska by answering the cheeky question "What color is a red light?"
After she won the two tickets instead of thanking the radio station, she asked if she could have two more to bring all of her friends. (Only she would be brave enough to do that!) After a brief hesitation they granted her wish.
That show was for a band called The Posies. We knew they had put out a record called Failure some years before but we did not know they had put out any records since then. When she first told me I was going to this show with her, I must admit I thought she meant the band who wrote that Monkey song, but after a while I figured out it was that band who wrote that I may hate you sometimes song off of my favorite mixed tape.
Since I had not really gone out because my daughter had only just turned 1 year old the day before, I was quite hesitant to go to the show. I never really did the rock show thing at that point. I was way more into going to goth night at dance clubs. (That statement makes me laugh now, because you could not drag me into a goth dance club and rock shows are my life! Funny how things change.) After much convincing on my friends part I gave in. She did almost get in an accident trying to get home to her phone to try to win tickets after all! (This was a little before everyone had cell phones in their cars. heck, this was nearly before regular/non techi people had the Internet!)
I got my dad to agree to watch my daughter and my group of 4 mommy friends got all dressed up and went to the show. It was like Mommy and Me goes rock-n-roll! Three of us had children under 2 and the 4th, our friend who won the tickets, her daughter (My daughter's half sister) was almost 5. Got it? Good.
The club we went to was a place called Gigs music club in Anchorage. It was an all ages club that had a designated beer garden style area upstairs.
The ladies wanted to go up to the beer garden to avoid the overwhelming amount of crazy teens there. I don't think I had ever seen that place so packed before or since. I was told later the show had been sold out. They had a three night stint there and this was day #2 the next night was supposed to be a strictly 21 and over show.
My friend who won the tickets and I were stopped dead in our tracks when we saw someone that we thought momentarily could have been the jerk of an ex that we had in common (The reason our daughters are half sisters) Upon closer investigation, it was not him, it was one of the band members. (Later we found out his name was Ken.)
A few minutes later she spotted another boy talking to the ex's doppleganger, but this one she fancied. We could tell was not anyone from our tiny town (As we knew all of the cute boys) His name was Brian. She didn't talk to him, but was able to figure out he was in the band.
The rush down to the stage started a few minutes later and we went down to secure our spots. The place was packed. The only standing room was all the way in the back or the little "secured area" to the side of the stage. This venue also had these huge monitors that were the size of a table top sitting in the front of the stage. My friend grabbed my hand and worked our way up to the secure area on the side of the stage. Security was a little lax here so no one harassed us (It was Alaska after all!) The band got on stage and started playing. We were on the side of the stage where this cute boy with purple hair was playing. He looked like a purple haired Antonio Banderas. We also noticed he was wearing a wedding ring almost immediately so the fact he was cute mattered not. One of my friends, determined to get a better view of the drummer decided she was going to climb up on one of the big speakers and start dancing. There was plenty of room, you could have easily fit two people on them, and moments later my other two friend proved this by jumping on the other speakers on Ken's side of the stage.
Seeing as I am not the worlds biggest exhibitionist, I sort of ducked back to the side of the stage and watched my friends get their boogie on. The band was rocking out and jumping all over the small stage. Jon was flinging his guitar chord all over the place, which was quite a bit longer than he needed for this sized stage. The next thing I know it flings out and whips me right across the face! He saw what he did and looked me in the eye with a really horrified apologetic look. I just shrugged it off and he kept rocking.
A few more songs later my crazy friend grabbed my hand and pulled me up on her speaker. I figured they had been doing it for the whole show I could at least take a chance and give it a go. Of course the minute I get up on the speaker the next song is REALLY slow! (I found out later it was a song called Coming Right Along) MAN ALIVE this song was slow, so I busted out with the serious slow moving Goth moves! Oh yes! Contorted body and flailing hands, the whole nine. Thank God my friend dancing next to me was the same, so it was dandy. If you are familiar with this song you might also know that it lasts like 10 minutes, or at least that is what it felt like when I was trying to dance on that speaker! By the time the ended the song, I was ready to get back on the floor. The guys left stage, came back for an encore and then disappeared down the hall to the side of the stage where I got hit in the face. At the end of the hall there appeared to be some kind of small greenroom area. My friend, determined to investigate the drummer situation a little more thoroughly looked at me and said, "Wait here a minute!" and took off down the hall and disappeared into the small room.
I stood there waiting, at this point a little annoyed because I had already been away from my baby longer than I ever had, and I think I was still feeling a little conspicuous due to the silly speaker dancing and just the fact that I was still not completely used to my body since having a baby. (I never really had boobs before and at this point I was a nursing mom and I was sporting quite a top heavy look if you know what I mean! Another thing I have totally embraced over the years but made me feel very self-conscious at barely 21.) So I was just generally uncomfortable. As I stood there staring down the hall getting increasingly annoyed, the guy who looked too much like my ex came up to me and said, "Hello, hold this for me!" and handed me a large Slurpie cup. I took the cup more out of shock than anything and stood there while he vanished into that back room as well. I looked in the cup and realized it was full of beer. I hate beer, so it would do me no good, not to mention the fact this was an all ages show and this was not the designated beer area. The last thing I needed was to get thrown out of the first club I went to after turning 21 for having beer in an all ages show. I don't know if it was the fact that he reminded me of the ex or the fact I was just on crazy postpartum hormones, or that I got smacked in the face that night but I was over it.
I stood there fuming when I caught a glimpse of purple hair, I grabbed his arm and he turned around, I said, "Hey, this belongs to your friend, will you take it please?!"
He said, "Oh, hey, I wanted to talk to you! I am so sorry for hitting you with the cord..."
We chatted for a bit. I don't really remember what was said, but I remember this distinct feeling of being pulled in, sort of like being hypnotized. That is the only way to describe it. I was having an internal monologue about the fact that I could not be interested in this guy because he was married, but there was undeniable chemistry while talking to him. I could literally feel something in the world shift. The night progressed and there was a lot more talking and hanging out. One night turned into the next four days, it was all very innocent though.

It was still several months down the road before we even kissed for the first time, but that moment, on the side of the stage at a rock club in Anchorage, Alaska that no longer exists, over a Slurpie cup full of beer that was not ours is when we locked eyes and spoke for the first time and the rest is history. (A long drawn out history with years of craziness, ups and downs, distance, doubt, questions, silence, other relationships, music....)

That moment ten years ago was the first paragraph on the first page of the history of us.


Angelita - Jon Auer SFTYOOD:
"It was a beautiful sight
all in the blink of an eye
like at the end of the night
when the darkness turns to light.

With the promise to be
You kept it burning for me
Like the sun in July
when it hurts too much to see...

You were the only one who knew all of the hell I put you through
you were the tested tried and true...
Angelita
You were the only pair of eyes clear enough to recognize
you were the first to realize
Angelita

I kept you hidden away
seven years to the day
The 27th of May...
You were beautiful then
you're astonishing now
as much as life will allow...
Angelita

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Happy 10th Anniversary!

I met a girl who was once special to me at a Posies gig, myself.

But my story is a whole lot more filthy, so I'll save it for another time.

me, myself and I said...

You made me cry - just a little.

teresa said...

That is a very sweet story. It moved me.

 

Two going on twenty. Template by Ipietoon Cute Blog Design