2001-08-25
feeling kinda
okay. i'm hoping it's allergies. it's Not The Flu. hey, there are things that come into bloom this time of year, right? *crossing fingers*
today was all about the show, in many ways. first, i couldn't focus until about 3 this afternoon. i took some cold meds last night, and they wacked me out. slept well, and was able to breathe, but. had a hard time getting up today. of course, it's Saturday, so i didn't have to get up all that early. it messes up your internal clock, tho, when you don't wake up until 3 in the afternoon. and it didn't give me a chance to do much before heading down the Pavilion.
in terms of practical stuff, i did manage to get the plates off my car. i have a decent tool box, so it wasn't a case of finding the right tool. one of the screws was rusty, and a bit stripped on the head. it wasn't pretty. but it finally worked. and then. and then, i walked back into the house to make sure i had the title and bill of sale. *small heart attack* couldn't find them for about 10 minutes. sort of like trying to find my checks the other day. finally found the papers, tucked inside some newspapers i had inside my backpack. *whooo*
so life is good, and i headed down to the show. now, mind you, this show has been in town before. last night? one of the guys who used to work for security giggled, and said 'good luck!' when i signed up for the show, it was titled a VH1 private party. i just recently found out it's sponsored by Samuel Adams. (the brewery, not the patriot) now, that means everyone coming to the show has been drinking for at least the day, if not two or three. eesh. so they'll come in drunk and leave worse. now i know why the security guy was giggling. and he's a 6 foot 13 man mountain. didn't make me happy.
i get down there, and things seem okay. we have almost enough ushers, and the ushers there were good, as in get things done, don't take any guff. the preshow music was tasty... but it's still bugging me. one of the tracks they played had a bass line i wanted to recognize. it sounds like a track i know. i actually plugged my ears for a few minutes, and hopped around, replaying the bass line in my head, trying to place it. i *think* it sounds like a Morphine track. but don't hold me to that.
how sad is that? if the bass line sounds like a track i love, i should be able to place it, right? eh. one would think... but then again, i read an article today that said we start losing our memory cells when we hit 20. well, shit. then i'm far past the curve. having just turned 34, i'm starting to feel like an Old Lady. ( i called a 22 year old a kid today.) the article just confirms it. plus? i'm pretty good with music, and i still couldn't do it. *humming to self* gah. you know i'll have to go thru all my CDs this weekend. it could be something as simple as having a common producer - it sounded like a Mitchell Froom track. oh, phooey. hey, maybe it's more positive: maybe i have so much music stuffed in my head that there's an overabundance of information from which to choose. ;)
so we're working the show, seating people, dealing with stuff, whatever, and the head of Sam Adams gets up on stage to introduce the show. and i turn to my left, and keel over laughing. i say to Brenda, does it sound like Jim has been on a three day bender? when she finally stopped laughing, she agreed. the man sounded so wrecked... he walked out on stage with a beer in hand and croaked into the mike. mind you, he probably had spent the last few days doing a *lot* of public speaking. but still, it was so funny to watch him weeble out to the mike and crankle his words out.
so it was a good show, in that i loved the opening band. Train is wonderful. and i was finally able to place tracks i've heard on the radio (Meet Virginia). like i need another reason to buy more CDs... (note to self: figure out where you're going to keep all this music.)
but the second band was hideous. they made up for lack of musical talent with a light show. and normally, i'd just pop in the earplugs and not care. but they were using strobe lights. lately, strobe lights have set off migraines for me. this sucked. i didn't want to wimp out, but it wasn't like i had a choice. there were too many people, and not enough of us. so i tried to stay at my post... and kept squinching up my eyes. bleargh.
the place that i was working, we had to check every ticket and keep people from going down front if they didn't have tickets. sounds easy, right? nope. remember: they're drunk. and they have wristbands. the wristband gets you beer, not a seat. and one of the CrackerJack prizes they were giving out? a 'staff' laminate. who the hell thought that was a bright idea? normally, if someone has a laminate, all good. not tonight. we had to check every damn laminate, every ticket, and explain to people that wristbands didn't get them anything beyond beer. feh. oh, and there were people wearing Sam Adams shirts. didn't count for anything, but oh mi lord. they certainly thought it did.
i was called so many bad names for shutting people down that it was hard not to feel like a shitty bitch. so, lesson for you, if you go to a concert and try to scam your way up front. i heard so many bad lines... if i heard one more 'i'm with the band, i'm with security, i forgot my ticket, my boyfriend/girfriend/fianc� has my ticket, i should be down there, don't you remember me...' oh, please. there are 5,000 of you. i don't remember any of you. if you at least gave me an original line, like 'my pants are on fire, and the guy down there has a bottle of water, and i'm gonna die if you don't let me thru' - hey! you poked a badger with a spoon! all good, and i'd be more than happy to let you go.
i ended up, at one point, in a confrontation with a 6 foot 4 guy. i'm much shorter than that. he wanted to go down front. he said he knew a security guy. but that wasn't enough, for any of us, even the security staff. (he didn't know anyone.) he didn't want to take no from me. so i planted my hands on his chest and told him to back off. he was so surprised that some sparky little redhead half his size would take him on that he just stood there, going WTF? much to my surprise, i didn't get taken out. instead, i won the confrontation. *raises eyebrows* go figure.
i was so glad to have the right people there to back me up at the right time. security came by when things got ugly, shift managers were there when we had questionable situations, and head honchos were there when we had to deal with video cams or people out of control. i spent a lot of time grabbing people by the shoulders, signalling for help. *sheesh* you know? as much as i love live music, i really wonder if this is worth minimum wage.
