Wednesday, October 15, 2008

The Day The Music Died

Okay, there comes a time in a young man's life: a ritual if you will...A time when traditions are passed from one generation to the next....Now, as with any tradition, you do not simply thow the pastime at tomorrow's youth, and hope for the best... There has to be a proper introduction into this great passage at the threshold of adulthood....

This is how I talked myself into taking my then fourteen year old son (the three toed sloth to his first concert........
My own first show had been at the ripe old age of about 12. A YOUNGER girlfriend's father had connections at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan....Two tickets to see the group YES in The Round (which means they stood on a revolving stage so that even the rear obstructed view seats were worth $$).... Any way, two naive, young, hick, suburbanite preteens some how scammed our folks in to letting us take a 42 minute train ride ALONE into the bowels of NYC all in the name of fun!!!!! We were thrilled not to have gotten lost, (or kidnapped or stabbed!) and who cared if the seats were literally 2nd to last on the highest tier.....We had accomplished our first live show, complete with $5.00 jerseys bought from a Very shady looking guy out of a duffle bag on the train...Hey, he didn't even charge tax, how's that for nice? (grey jerseys with black sleeves and a whole tours worth of dates written on the back-yup, we were their very own walking billboards and happy to be such!)-Any way, we made it home alive and well, even walked the three miles from the train station to home afterward.....More importantly, this was the first of literally hundreds of shows to which we rocked, sang, cheered till we were hoarse, snuck in wine sacks full of tango....well, you know how it goes....Any way, Thanks Trish where ever you are... for being my FIRST.

Any way, at around the onset of musical puberty, my son began begging to see live concerts. For years I begged off (your too young, I'm too old, they're too old, too far away, too costly)---Eventually, I realized, he was going to do this with or without me, and I physically shuddered at the thought of him going it alone.....(I STILL questoin how I talked my parents in to it ? What were THEY thinking?!)

So, finally an opportunity arose that I thought wouldn't be too regrettable on my part....Slash, lead guitarist formerly of Guns'n Roses-one of my favorite bands back when-had teamed up with Scott Weyland -former lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots -another Sue favorite-joined forces to form Velevet Revolver ---Surprise! One of the sloth's favorites!


Okay, so tickets are bought for then venue Jones Beach Theatre.... Dinner for two at the Crab Shack in Freeport----(he had steemers--ew)... Then we were off to the show.... Parking, no problem, wine sack smuggle --not an issue this time! although I did smile at the kids getting frisked at security! Four dollars for a bottle of water (Don't even think of bringing your own from home, it's confiscated and tossed !), THIRTY dollars for the Got To Have T Shirt!!!!!, and we were finally seated.....Better seats this time, Trish....although I'm pretty sure they were over one hundred dollars a piece with surcharges, taxes, and the old if you can afford this kind of entertainment, we'll just charge the hell out of you fees......
So, we both loved the show... When he was up and rocking back and forth to his faves, I was sitting still, 'cause I didn't know those tunes....But there were a few songs from their old days that I (and the other halves of the parent-kid concert tag teams) were up and dancing to.....The highlight was probably one of the encores, Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, which miracle of miracles.... We Both Knew!!!Yeah Score one for the team!!!!

Anyway, about three quarters through the show, I start to wonder about the parking, and how it's gonna suck sitting in traffic waiting to get out of the parking lot at the same time as Every One else...I even suggested to my son that if we hit the road BEFORE the encores, think of the Time we'd be saving....

Well, that earned me a scowl and a pout and a well deserved "But that's when they play the best songsssssss".. And, you know what...He was right......We stayed... it was LOUD, but it was also great.....

The next time he mentioned going to another rock concert, I remembered fondly the fun we had, the food, the laughs, the music, the traffic......I gave him one hundred dollars and a kiss on the forehead...and told him and his friend to have a great time....At least I gave them a train schedule!!!!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aw! It's hard as they get older. Travis is really giving me a hard time about going to a show - I know that my turn is coming. You're a good mom giving them the train schedule and all - we were all totally on our own. Although RVC had trains every 20 minutes, right?
Is the Trish you speak of, the one we called Doodah? I wonder where she is now.

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking it is Doodah!! (I went to see Elton John w/ her and we had backstage passes because she fell off the rail the night before and landed on the stage!) Do you remember when we won the lottery for Springsteen and missed the last train out of Penn Station? What a great story! Sometimes it sucks to be the parent because we know what we did as kids and got away with it (most of the time!)

Christine said...

I'm thinking we need to find her...
Desperately Seeking Doodah!

MYSUESTORIES said...

Okay, and what if she went off and became a brain surgeon or rocket scientist? This could shatter ALL my childhood images!