"Yeah, I started going to their shows about 5 years ago, that was when
Steve's hair was down past his chin and bleached blond. He'd play shows
drunk off his ass and falling off the stage, it was ridiculous." I say,
"yeah, I saw a few of those drunk shows. He'd trip on his shoelaces and it'd
take him 10 minutes to tie them again. Ha ha."
"I've partied at all their houses so many times. I discovered the band and
like 6 months later I turned 21, so it was great!" he says after I lamented
about being too young to have done the same.
"I saw him in his underwear, once," he says, grinning evilly at the girls.
"He wears boxers." He pauses, waiting for their reaction. They must be in
some sort of shock, cuz they don't say anything. They just kinda stare at
him. Finally he continues on "I just happened to be in their dressing room
at a show at Willamette University. It was a student only show, and I wasn't
a student, so I had Howard smuggle me backstage."
We talk some more and I leave to walk around. I can't stay in one place for more than a few minutes. And it's near 6, anyway. Coming around the back, I see my friend Chris sitting on a bench. "Hello!" I said. He tells me Naomi is in the bathroom. "Yay! I said, there's actually going to be some REAL fans here!"
We figure out how to get inside and the gates open. Turns out that cameras ARE allowed! But my bag was with my dad. SHIT. So I get my stamp and take off to my dad's booth to retrieve the thing.
Back in the stadium, I wander around lost. There's like 20 people there. That's it. Feeling alone and vulnerable in my seat, I go over to the merch stand. I see Steve behind there for a moment, wearing his blue jacket w/ the patches. Then I see Venus! Yay! Someone else I know! She introduces me to her friend Katie, and we are promptly banished to the beer garden when she lights up a cigarette.
"This is a nonsmoking facility. Please move into the smoking/drinking section two feet from where you are currently standing. Thank you." A sign of things to come....
While we were talking Marty came over! I hadn't seen Marty since school got out, so I practically attacked her with a big hug. I saw some more Pee-Town residents and since there was so few people in the ampitheater, I actually knew the majority of the crowd. It was a very strange feeling. "Ya know," I said to Katie and Venus, "I've seen more people at their shows at the WOW Hall. In fact, I've seen more people WAITING IN LINE at their shows at the WOW Hall!" It was 6:45.
