Concerts make life worth living

You know all that talk about not flying by the seat of my pants? Out the window!! I like flying by the seat of my pants because spontaneity is the spice of life!

I met Oliver and Vanessa just after 8:00 on Monday so that we could go to the concert. The handbill that I had said “21.00” but didn’t indicate if that was doors or bands, but we didn’t want to take the chance, so Olivier and I blew off our respective German classes and arranged it so that we were definitely at the place by 9:00. Yeah… it was doors at 9:00 bands at 10:00. Whatever, no big deal; we were pretty much the first people there, but it’s not like we had to wait around outside or anything. And, judging by what I normally do at concerts these days, can you guess what the first thing we did was? That’s right, we got beers! I should also say that the bar was really small. Really, really small. We’re talking, like, smaller than the typical BP’s lounge; a little smaller than the typical venue on Whyte, but only because it wasn’t as deep as most of them are (I’m thinking, like, Suite 69, the Attic, Filthy McNasty’s, etc). I am trying to come up with a solid number and I would say about 60 square metres; but I suck at measuring things that way, so maybe don’t trust that number. Just trust me when I say it was small!

Now, the last time we hung out with Vanessa we spoke German all night, but I wasn’t in the mood (this is important later), and Vanessa spent a year in Georgia, so her English is great. The opening band was called The Havana Affairs and they are a local band. They were actually pretty good. Olivier and I were kind of grooving to them, but you could tell that they kept screwing up. It wouldn’t have been that obvious except that every time they’d screw up, they’d all kind of start laughing and look at each other. Anyways, halfway through the set I had to use the facilities and grab more beer, so I took off towards the back. After I was finished in the restrooms and had grabbed a couple of beers I swung by the merch table. This was very, very important for me because of the name of the headliner. Now, I’ll admit that I was initially drawn in by the name of the band, then I found out that the lead singer was the bassist from L7 (Jennifer Precious Finch), and then I listened to the songs that they have on the net (http://www.shockersite.com/) and really liked them. I went because I liked them… but also because I wanted to get some merchandise with the shocker symbol on it. So anyways, I bought their CD and a shirt and some pins and stickers, and was very happy with my purchases, and I headed back to finish listening to the Havana Affairs’ set.

Well, after the set, Olivier and Vanessa and I stood around in front of the stage, chatting, instead of heading back to the sides to sit down and, again, we were talking in English and quite loud because it was fairly loud in the bar. This heavily tattooed guy comes up to me and says something like, “You speak English really well.” “Yeah, that’s because I’m from Canada!” So we start talking and he introduces himself as Ronnie James and then says, “And this is Adam, he’s from Canada, too,” “Really?! Where from?” “Well, he’s not really from Canada, he’s from northern Wisconsin, so we just say he’s from Canada.” And then they kind of grab some equipment and haul it onto the stage. Turns out that that’s the band. The set started up right away and it was awesome. We were right in front; here are some pictures to give you an idea of how close we were:
As you can see, there was no one ahead of us, and I kind of had to take a step back to get these shots! I was able to sing along to some of the songs because of what I’d heard on the internet, and Jennifer even came up to me with the mic at points so that I could sing into it. It was awesome! I rocked out a little too hard, though, and my neck hurt for, like, 3 days afterwards; it kind of felt like I’d been in a car accident.

So, after the set the three of us were chillin’ and drinking a beer and got to talking to the band again. They ended up inviting us out to another bar with them, so we hopped into a couple of cabs and went. Jennifer and Lisa (the bassist) didn’t come, but the 3 boys did, and Adam’s girlfriend Carly, along with the members of the Havana Affairs. We got to one bar just as it was closing so we waited for all the cabs to get there, then walked down the block to this other bar called “Fraunhofer Schoppenstube.” It was this really small, kind of creepy pub with almost no one inside, but the tables that had people at them were arranged so that the group had to split up. Olivier and I sat at one with Adam, Carly and most of the members of the Havana Affairs and Vanessa sat at another one with Quist (the drummer), Basti from the Havana Affairs, and Ronnie James, who had taken quite a shine to her and wouldn’t have it any other way.

Right after we ordered our beers, Olivier and I both got up to use the facilities and I hung my coat on the rack that was right next to the table. When we came back, some people were sitting in our spots and drinking our beers. This didn’t actually bother me because we hadn’t paid for them, yet, so we just moved to the other table. I’d say an hour and a half passed and everyone was heading to a disco. I asked Olivier if he was up for it and he said yes, so we got up to grab my coat and his bag. Neither of them were at the table and, as half the people were waiting outside, no one was there to ask. Finally, Olivier found his bag at the next table, someone had obviously moved it, but I couldn’t find my coat. I remembered that I’d hung it up, but it wasn’t on the hook either. We looked under the table, under the next table, got the waitress (owner?) involved, got everyone in the bar to look under their tables. We checked the bathrooms and the entryway; I peeked my head outside and asked the people out there if they’d seen it. Nothing. Someone had stolen my coat. And to make matters worse, here I am wearing nothing but a black t-shirt and crawling under a table to see if it was under the bench, when I knocked the table, which had two half-full bottles of beer on it, which then tipped over and spilled their contents onto my back. I couldn’t even move; I just stayed there – stunned – as beer poured all over me. So, now I’m wearing nothing but a wet t-shirt. I took the two shirts that I’d bought (both were t-shirts as well - one’s for Ashley) and put them both on, but just then the waitress came up to me and gave me a coat. She said that someone had left it there months ago, so no one would miss it, and she couldn’t bear the thought of me going outside without a coat. It didn’t fit great, but it would do.

So, bummed as I was, I was just as angry and, with the trains not running anymore, I figured it’d be good to blow off some steam so we went to the disco. We walked the few blocks to the disco and I looked in every doorway, trash can and U-Bahn entrance to see if someone had ditched the coat. A wave of nausea washed over me as I thought about what was potentially in my pockets: but my keys were in my purse – Gott sei Dank! So I am now short my favourite winter jacket, the lining for it and my gloves. At least I had Katie bring another winter coat back with her after Christmas (I like variety) and I have a fleece I can use as a lining, plus a couple different pairs of gloves that I can use. As we were walking, I was talking to Quist about the band’s name and such, when I mentioned the term “smokin’ the pinky.” He said that he had never heard the term before, but thought it was so funny! He called Adam over and we explained it to him, and they agreed that that would be the title of their next album. I, for one, will be watching for it!

So, we hit this disco, which is called “The Registratur,” and started dancing. Olivier and I ended up losing everybody else, but I didn’t care and I don’t think he did either. (Oh, I should also mention that Vanessa and Ronnie James didn’t come with us, they took a cab back to her place. I have no idea what happened there… but I’m dying to know!!) This wasn’t the worst club I’d ever been in, but it was close. The DJ was awful, but still not as bad as the one that I mentioned that one time (the one who played American Pie), and the floor was filthy. I was actually having to kick broken glass out of the way to dance comfortably. Here, I took these pictures, but they don’t do it justice:
I ended up losing the ball for my conch piercing, again! I think I’ll have to get a whole new earring; after three years, the earring might just be getting old. Olivier also lost a pin off of his bag that he really liked, so we wandered around the bar looking for it (the lights were turned on, but the people weren’t ready to stop and the DJ was obliging them for whatever reason), but gave up after about 10 minutes or so. Anyways, it was about 4:20 at this point and we decided that the trains should be running, so he and I headed to the U-Bahn. We had to wait around for something like 28 minutes, but it was okay because we chatted until the train came. I got home about 5:30.

So, that’s the story. Not much happened for the rest of the week. I’ve spent the day bumming around and not writing emails. In fact, I was going to write this post earlier today, but put it off until after midnight. Yeah for me! Ugh. I kind of miss having a regular schedule, but not enough that I would force one on myself. You know how it is.