bethb's Diaryland Diary

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boring play by play

oh this rain....bah.
I just got back from taking Chester out for mother's day. It was kind of a joke between us, and for as annoying as he was, I did work for the man for over 9 years and I did feel like his daughter sometimes. It was really the first time I've seen him since leaving and there was a lot of talk about what's been going on...actor gossip, financial woes, shop accidents almost ending in castration (seriously). We just went to Ihop and then did a little shopping at target. He says the girl who replaced me isn't fun and he still laughs when he thinks of things i said....I have a habit of not sensoring myself, so one time i said something like "that looks like it should be holding the gold-plated foreskin of some angelic choir" when describing a porcelin, putti-decorated box and once when I was over two ultra-granola coworkers finding everything 'toxic' I went into his office and flopped down in a chair complaining i was tired of the two 'farting on each other in the woods'. I have to say, one of the best things about chester was that i could just say whatever and it would be ok.
I think i've had a too-much people weekend. Friday AOM attendance reached at least 5000 people. Checking ID's at the bar- good. serving people at the sattelite bar-good. greating people at the entrace had me a little freaked. too many people tapping me on the shoulder when I'm already trying to find someone to talk to the LCB, an artist whose work was stolen, people trying to find the bar which was about 20' in front of their face.
i finished up at two, came home, showered, slid into bed about 2:45, and woke at 6:30 to get ready for ballston. I was so tired I actually wanted to die. for. reals. I loaded my car in the rain, drove down wilson blvd, was detoured because of some stupid race, got lost, called todd, figured it out. I listened to the night marchers the whole time becuase i didn't want to lose interest in seeing them. i got to ballston, still raining, no tina. took a nap in my car for 20 minutes. still no tina. at this point, it's about 9:15 so i unload my car in the rain, thankfully at least debbie shows up and she and her husband help me unfurl my tent. still raining. although now it's that shitty misty-rain. i finish unpacking my car and i'm contemplating what to do because it's mist-raining and i don't want to get everything damp and grodie. tina arrives with her two kids, so now there's 4 kids and 5 adults. around 11:30 it stops mist-raining and is merely overcast. sometime around 1 the sun comes out in 90 second spurts. i try to catch them when I'm not running into potbelly's to pee or get warm. I sold a yeti (the only one) and a small owl to a little bow who is seen later singing to it.
that makes the day completely worthwhile.
At 3:30 it looks like it's going to pour again i start throwing everything into a bag, tina's husband helps me collapse the tent, they leave and i'm stuck loading everything in my car by myself. i'm home by 5, I see devin, invite him to the night marchers, i think (judging by what I overhear in the bathroom since he's outside right below my window) the wife puts the kaibosh on that) I sleep 'til 8:30 pm and am on the road to baltimore by 8:51
Now, when i was in college, I had this friend named John. And his theory was if you listened to a band you were seeing the day you were seeing them, the show was jinxed. your car would break down, their van would break down, the show would be sold out, whatever. something always went wrong. I knew this and honestly, for the last 14 years, i've abided by that law. however, I wanted to remain excited because when I woke up again at 8:30, i thought to myself, oh, fuck it. i'm exhausted. but my heart went "no! you need this rock and roll therapy!!!"
And i'm glad i did. i stopped to fuel up and bought a red bull, a tiny box of nilla wafers and a banana and ate it for dinner on my way to baltimore. When i got to the ottobar, chester calls and i'm getting off the phone with him, walking up howard and from the corner of my eye i see a tall, bald dude dressed in black striding right for me and then i realized it was bill who i haven't seen in forever so that was pretty great. Actually, I saw 5 people there I knew and at least 3 i wanted to talk to, so that's pretty good.
opening band were fine. i probably will remember them more for the lead singer/bass player bearing more than a passing resemblance to Pat Harrington from one day at a time.
Also, the guitarist's (brian or ryan?) parents were there and afterwards the father comes over to the part of the balcony where you're practically sitting on stage with the band and extends his hand to his son and says 'brian/ryan, I can see why you want to do this for a living now'. it was pretty adorables.
Waiting for the obits to come on, I spy two people i know, wave them up to the balcony.
the obits were fucking *great* although i have so many questions....they said they were from brooklyn....did rick move? are he and reis no longer friends? isn't that the drummer from shortstack (a DC band) on drums? I'm pretty sure it is because i kinda love him. did he move to brooklyn? what kind of building permit do i need to build a wall around brooklyn to prevent more people from moving there?
night marchers, live, were more like old RFTC. At least john's stage presence was. In Rocket he was always the glad-handing, barker-type showman. In hot snakes, while still charming, showed up to rock.
He's so weirdly good looking. Although...maybe a little spray-tanned???Maybe? Just a little? he looked a little orange is all i'm saying.
With all the members of Hot Snakes (between the two bands) present, todd and I were hoping for maybe a little impromtu Jehu moment like the last hot snakes show at the 9:30 club. After the first encore was done, i thought 'ok....if john and rick come out together, i'll stay. if not....i should go". houselights came up at 1:14. I said "ok bye" and walked to my car.
Not tired on the way home.
let me tell you, if you've ever wondered what 80's music gets played in the wee hours of the morning? it's not good.

i slept in today 'til 9 having weird dreams about the state of montana (never been) and moving to Los Angeles (never been)
I wish i could figure out what i did with yesterday's newspaper.

6:17 p.m. - 2008-05-11

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