I went to the show ALONE!!

as i sit eating the first morsel of food to hit my stomach in nearly 12 hours i'm desperately trying to organize the memories of the night that are flooding through my mind. trying to remember every minute detail in its entirety. at this moment i don't care that i'm eating mcdonalds for the first time in 3 months, or that i had to drive around for an extra 30 min to find an open drive thru that took credit cards (because i spent my last $15 on illScarlette cds, leaving me with $1 in my wallet). all i care about is basking in the glow that was tonight. a most spontaneous, surprising, glorious night. to say that i'm proud of myself would be an understatement. and to say i was happy would be a gross understatement. for i am so ecstatic, so busting with jubilence and love that the seems that hold my body together can barely contain it all!

i will attempt...without bursting...to put the events of this night in writing. now. while they're still fresh. though i'm fucking starving and would love to eat, i must get this all down now. for like a dream, with every passing moment, it will begin to fade. and its already been an hour and a half! and thats not counting my endless rambling. so here we go.


as i only found out about this show a week ago, and seeing that it was in LAKE WORTH or what i like to call Bufu (i'd never even heard of lake worth before this), i had no one to go with. seeing as how its a week night and everyone works. and the ones that don't, don't even know or could care less about ska. and being that it was in bufu i had written it off. but then i thought...hey...whats really holding me back from going?? i have a car. i don't have to work the next day. why the fuck not? so i psyched myself up and decided just a couple of days before that yes i would go alone. ALONE! ME!!! can you believe it??

the drive there was surprisingly easy. no traffic at that time. it took me an hour but it was a smooth and easy hour with lots of ska to keep me entertained. when i got to lake worth i was surprised to find that it was a quite nice looking little town. not shady at all like i had thought. not like miami. oof. i actually wasn't afraid someone would steal my car. and can we talk about parking? i was able to get a spot right in front of the club, which to my delight had its name on the front in neon letters. PROPAGANDA. let me tell you, though its small this place has character out the wazoo. this is a superb venue in my opinion. very intimate, plenty of seats at the bar, friendly staff, clean bathrooms and i really like that it was an 18+ crowd. oh and did i mention the parking?!?! I def give Propaganda an A+. In fact, I'm sure I'll go there again.

When i got to the door they gave me a bracelet to indicate i was old enough to drink and get this...it was checkerboard!!

it was a sure sign that the night would be awesome. I walked in feeling confident and totally excited. And for once I didn't feel completely self conscious. i hung out, and watched the methodaires. they were awesome! they played a great set, i especially loved their one upbeat tune____________. they're from ft laud. yay for local ska bands. gotta get in touch with them.

then whilst waiting for the 2nd band i thought perhaps this would be a good time to imbibe as i imagined liquor would loosen me up so i could talk to ppl. i didn't find an open spot at the bar so i waited...and low and behold some chick jumped off the bar stool in front of me. i asked the guy next to it if the seat was taken. he said no and graciously offered it to me. i sat down and saw that the guy in question was Ryan, the sax player from Big D sitting next to Dave the singer. AHHHHH!!! freak out much? ok ok play it cool mel. besides, what was i gonna say anyway? so i asked him what drink i should get that wasn't too strong. he asked me if i liked beer. i said no. he said the mixed drinks weren't very strong. so i went for a sex on the beach. he asked me what i ordered, i told him, he said "good call". then i tasted it and said "this is strong" to which he replied "sorry about that." lol. can i just stop right now and say how nice ryan was? super friendly. anyway i sat there drinking. freaking out inside that he even spoke to me. and that i was right next to them. when all of a sudden dave leans over and says "Whats Emerson?" you'll come to find that this was the theme of the night. you see, i was wearing my EMERSON SUCKS tshirt that i had made back when i was going to Emerson College in Boston. i haven't worn the shirt in years but i had nothing else to wear to the show so i threw it on. and thank god too because it ended up being quite an ice breaker. but back to my story. I answered him "Emerson College". "In Boston?", he said? "Yeah", I said," I went there. I used to wear this to class". He really got a kick out of that. and i just about died inside.

a few min later the bartender said she liked my shirt. "I don't know what it means, but I like it. My ex-husband's name is Emerson". Wow! what are the odds? i laughed. ryan looked over and said "she just likes your bad attitude". :) you might be thinking at this point that ryan is adorable. and you'd be right! but there's more (fuck i almost forgot). i was thinking so hard of what i could talk to him about since he was right there. he asked me when i went to emerson. i told him the whole spiel. i told him that i had seen them at a frat party at MIT some years ago. i asked him the only thing i could think of, "where did you guys shoot the video for Shining on?". He told me they filmed it in LA of all places! the gall! lol here i was, and probably some of you, thinking it was filmed in boston! but no. LA. imagine that. ;)

then the convo died down as i couldn't think of anything else to say and i didn't want to bug them. for crying out loud, its astonishing they showed as much interest as they did!! it was almost painful though, to know he was ready to listen but i just had nothing to say. oh well. i turned around to enjoy illscarlett. they were great as well! they had no horns. but their keyboard player reminded me sooooo much of scott klopfenstein of rbf. they were more on the punky side sometimes leaning toward hardcore but all the while with ska guitar riffs. the singer was short but very charismatic. the drummer was sporting some pretty short shorts. don't think that went unnoticed.

then the moment came...big d and the kids table hit the stage. i got right up front with camera in hand. unfortunately someone taller got in front of me. but still, i was close enough that i could see just fine. big d was of course AMAZING. and i have never had such a great view of a band. i mean, i was right up front. thanks to it being a tuesday night the club wasn't packed. so there was room to breathe for sure. i got some great video of them doing "noise complaint" and i got some of "shining on" before my stupid memory card filled up. i'm always so torn about recording video. on the one hand you can't dance, and you really love that song and you wanna dance. but on the other hand you know you'll love having that video later. its a toss up. i had to get the video because i've never been that close to a band before! by the way, you're welcome.

during big D there was this one really drunk guy. he was a really hardcore fan and knew all the words to all the songs. he was beyond enthusiastic. he bumped into me multiple times. at one point i thought he would burn me with his cigarette. but one time he bumped me and then put his hand on my shoulder and smiled and apologized. so i said to myself, this kid's alright. he had a sharp lookin hat too. i just hope he didn't drive home because oooof. when big d ended the set drunk guy led a chant of "LAX" and then proceeded to get on the microphone and shout "LAX! LAX!" incessantly. the band came back to do their encore and even they were like geez relax guy. they played a couple more songs but they didn't play LAX. lol. i was happy with how much material was from Strictly Rude. They played some of my favs but I was really hoping they would play "She knows her way". I found myself not knowing a good deal of the songs but it didn't stop me from enjoying the hell out of it and dancing my little heart out. i thoroughly enjoyed the entire set. i gotta say, i was mesmerized by Dave's incredibly laid back moves. I don't know how he does it. Its not even to the rhythm he just like..on his own wave length. the Doped Up Dollies were great as well. great pipes and fun to watch. especially for the fellas as they are very beautiful and elegant. oh i have to mention that for Strictly Rude Dave busted out a pianica! old skool. *edit* ok so since this is only going on my personal blog, i can be honest. those fucking doped up dollies were so annoying!! who cares! get the fuck off the stage i didn't come to see you! ugh....

i should mention that i met some nice people from miami. i was so excited to see that people from miami were at a ska show. so i had to make sure i have them the website. hopefully they join the mission!

after the show i bought some merch. i asked ryan if he could sign their cd (god he is soo nice!) and he did. he wrote EMERSON SUCKS underneath his signature!
:D
then he asked Dave if he could sign it too. and dave, omg, he is one of the most genuinely friendly people i have ever met. honestly, there's just no ego there at all. he told me how cool it was that i actually wore that shirt to class. and again i died inside. i explained to him what mission:ska is and asked him if i could get a short interview before they left. he told me to hang out by the trailer to make sure i caught them before they left. wow! i felt like a total tool standing there. like..omg these people must think i'm a stalker. lol. but i waited patiently. i watched the guys load the trailer and studied them. trying to get a feel for what its like to be a band on tour. i wish i could go with them and experience it.

outside were some nice girls who were talking to dave about Lynn, MA. they came up and talked to me. they were very cool. one of them, laura, gave me a hug and asked to have a picture taken with me. lol. how cute is that?

dave was super cool. he didn't blow me off. at one point he even made an announcement that i would be taping them. lol. so pressure right? i had so wanted it to be a real interview but my fucking memory card sucks ass so it had to be short. and after they were done loading up dave called ryan over and they graciously made this little video for me. i honestly can't say enough nice things about these guys. i'm flabbergasted. i have not met 2 nicer guys in my life. just great people. thank you guys. from the bottom of my heart. nothing makes me happier than bands who are nice to their fans.


whether it was the metodaries, ill scarlett, or big d i found myself scoping out each member. watching how they played their instruments and really appreciating it. fascinated by every detail. how they wrapped their mic cords around their stands. how their horns seemed to be faded. how they played the drums or the keyboard. truly appreciating how each one of them worked their craft. i was truly amazed. they're all so talented.



one thing that shocked me about this night was hot incredibly positive i was. i never made a shit face. even when guys were knocking me with their elbows, or stepping on my feet. i just smiled. it must have been the music. i was just radiating love. and i've found that instead of being closed off and expecting someone to be a jerk i should just smile. people are pretty nice. if you smile at them, they're probably gonna smile back.

now really, i gotta go...my chicken nuggets are cold.