I got off work early at
3:00 or so, then shot straight out to L.A. successfully avoiding the Friday
rush hour traffic. This is where my lucky streak started. Next, I found a
parking spot near Meltdown Comics that still had 2 hours credit in it plus my
comics were half price. I was seeking out old underground comics in Meltdown,
which they didn't have; but I found an awesome collection of Spain Rodriguez
autobiographical stories about being a juvenile delinquent in the 1950s. Also
grabbed a Hate anthology so I can see what that series is all about. Both of these were half off! Last day of the sale. Grabbed an old copy of
SIN comics as well. Which appeared on somebody's list of favorite underground
comics on the Internet. It was so-so.
The Spain book was awesome. Haven't read Hate yet.
Next, I drove out to the
show venue, parked across the street then walked over to a coney dog place
where I figured I could kill an hour until the doors opened. I ordered a coney and a "detroit style" hamburger (grilled onions and cold pickles -
pretty tasty) and a beer. Needing to kill more time, I ordered another beer,
then walked back to the venue where I learned they mis-announced the door time,
so everybody had to stand around for another hour. It was an all ages show and I love seeing the
young kids dressed in hardcore gear. One girl had a badass jean jacket with a
Black Flag "Everything Went Black" shrubbery shears panel on the back
and a DK patch in front, split in half to accommodate the zipper. There were
also a lot of older skinheads there plus the general population of hipsters and
whatever. I should practice small
talking at times like this instead of just standing around.
Recollections:
Girl behind me talking to
her friend was in the same situation I was:
From Orange County, bought the LA Cro-Mags tickets out of excitement,
then a week or so later they announced a Santa Ana show which would have been
much closer to home.
Little kid hanging out
with the older skin heads. The skinheads all got way drunk later, when they
asked what he was drinking, he would cross his arms like an X to signify he was straight edge. He was
probably 13 or 14 years old.
Guys in front of me
talking shit.
The opening bands were
ok. The guy in one of the bands was good
naturedly mocking the other bands:
"This next song is
called Meth Mule."
"Def
Leppard!!!????"
"Meth Mule!"
"I LOVE Def
Leppard!!"
Strife was awesome, I got
so excited I pushed over one of those speaker monitor things in front of the
stage and was pulled out by security, but of course I returned through the
front entrance. He noticed me in the crowd later and glared at me.
Cro-Mags were
great!!! It was actually just John
Joseph, but if a true reunion is impossible, this is the iteration I would most
like to see. He was awesome and intense.
I loved the show, though lost my cell phone trying to take a picture of
him when the crowd surged. One highlight: Toward the end when people were
climbing up on stage and diving off, a security guard was on each end of the
stage trying to prevent people from climbing up. Somebody got up on one side of
the stage, barreled across to the other side, and slammed into the security
guard (the same one who threw me out earlier), knocking him off the stage and
into the crowd. Pretty awesome, even
John Joseph cracked a smile. Great show.
I had to work the next
day, and about halfway through my shift, I could tell a bad cold was kicking
in. I felt pretty lousy by the time I got home and was sick well into the next
week, so I did not check out the Santa Ana show on Sunday.
No comments:
Post a Comment