[ASTRO] Re: I'm too old for this sh*t

[Michael Kepler <kepler@metro1.com>]

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On Fri, 23 Apr 1999, anatomic heart wrote:

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> 
> Thats not how all the kids are, was there an odd opening band?

Well, this is just my opinion, but the Rock-a-Teens are a rather odd
opening band.  They remind me very much of the Delta 72 and they
draw and/or create a similar kind of out-of-control audience.  There
is something about the style of music, and I don't know what to call it,
and the over-the-top stage theatrics that whips them kids up into
a wild devil-may-care frenzy.

I'm not saying these bands are bad.  In fact the guitarist for Rock-a-Teens
is a player with amazing ability.  They just aren't my cup-o-tea.  There
isn't much more in it for me after about the third song.  I hesitate to
say this, because I beleive this is the band touring _with_ MOA?, so they
were probably hand-picked by MOA? themselves.  I am again surprized that
my favorite band apparently admires bands I don't much care for.

To be completely fair, there was really just one guy who I think had
targeted me specifically, for whatever reason, for repeated doses of
what I think might be called "slamming".  He just kept jumping up
and thrusting his whole body against my right side.  I happened to be
trying to video tape MOA? with a camera held in my right hand and his
behavior was making that impossible.

I asked him to stop a few times, and he kept claiming that it wasn't
him, it was the crowd pushing him.  However, I noticed that he somehow
managed to _not_ repeatedly slam into me while we were talking, so it
was obviously within his power to avoid doing so.  

Despite the fact that he was intentionally being a jerk to me, he said
something with which I cannot argue.  He said "If you don't want to
get pushed around, don't go into the middle of the crowd." 
Well, I was actually right on the edge of the stage, in a spot I had
staked out out and held since literally two hours before the first
opening act.  He obviously wanted that spot and knew how to make me
move.  It doesn't matter that he just bulldozed his way up there after
getting drunk back in the bar.  There are no assigned seats and no
rules in a punk club, and squatters rights to a spot don't really
mean a thing.

My only choices were to fight or leave, so I left.  I was getting
so angry I felt like my heart was about to burst out of my chest.
I've already had one heart surgery, so that was the end of the night
for me.

It really is my own insanity to blame.  It is insane to attempt to
video tape a band in a punk club from right at the edge of the stage.
After mulling it over, I realized that the reason I had more success
and less trouble taping two previous MOA? shows was because at those
shows I had a rather large and strong friend with me.  I think he did 
more to run interference for me at those shows that I had previously 
appreciated. Too bad he had to be out of town last night.

Anyway, what little I did see of MOA? was pretty awesome.  Their new
stage setup is ultra-cool.  They obviously put a lot of thought and
work into it, not to mention a few dollars.  All of their gear appeared
to be new.  Trace has gotten better at playing the Starcrunch parts
since I saw him last year as Chromocrunch with the AlphaV1.0 Clones.

Gotta go,

Mookie


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