The Liquid Kosmos

Suburban girls and meat-heads

I promised my friend I would go to see a 70's cover band with him at Mercy Lounge and last night was the night. I truly do not like cover bands, but he's a fun guy and when he invited me he had that "kid hiding something" look, so I was intrigued. It was one of those "you'll thank me later" things.

More like, I'll "kick your ass later."

Mercy Lounge is a cool music room, but I can't deal with the crowd a 70's cover band brings. It's like Demonbreum Street came over to Cannery Row last night. It was full of meat-heads smoking cigars and giggly Brentwood girls freaking out over "Boogie Nights".

I don't know why I hate cover bands so much. It must have something to do with my aversion to living in the past. I have nothing against the past, it's just that I think too many people "define" themselves based on it. The beauty of life is that you can morph into anything you want if you want.

My antiquated claim-to-fame is baseball. I was an All-Conference shortstop, team MVP, and all-around bad student in college. In fact, I'm still ninth on the all-time batting average list for my University and that was about 50 years ago. After college I played shortstop for a World Champion softball team, but, that is not who I am now.

Sure, I could probably still throw down in a lot of sports settings, but I am more inclined to gravitate toward artists. It was an interesting transition going from being the campus jock
to designer and drummer. Especially since I didn't know anything about the arts or drumming until after college. But, what I did know, was that I was incessantly intrigued by that world.

After working in the (you guessed it) sports world for a couple years out of college, I decided to "go for it" and start my own graphic design business. I found a guy who knew what he was doing and we formed a partnership that lasted 4 years and was very successful. I sold the business to him and he is still doing well.

During that time I bought a few sticks and taught myself how to play drums. After a month of paradiddles, I boldly jumped behind the kit on an open stage and embarrassed myself in front of a live audience. I mean, I was terrible.

Thankfully it was in a bar I worked at and I had a lot of friends there. One of them was another other bartender who was a burly old curmudgeon that ripped on every band and was sort of a music snob. Following my "performance" I walked over to his table and sat down. I was disgusted with myself and mustered the courage to ask him what he thought. Without missing a beat, he gave me that piercing stare that you get from a drunk who's on the edge and growled, "I've heard worse."

Those three words saved my drumming "career." I was just vulnerable enough to cave in and hang up the sticks, but the fact that he didn't condemn me was all I needed to keep going. In fact, I think I ran home after that and practiced for a couple hours.

Ok, so what does all of this have to do with Mercy Lounge and a 70's cover band? First of all, the crowd reminded me of that jocular mentality that I have kind of left to rest in my mom's attic with all the other stuff. The conversation opportunities pretty much end after you ask someone "What's your favorite gym?."

Or maybe it's because it all reminds me of a wedding or bad class reunion, and weddings tend to give me the creeps.

The best conversation I had all night was with the bartender. She is kind of combination edgy punk-rocker meets geek. The Supersuckers go to Star Wars. Other than that it was "Oh, I LOVE this (bad) song, let's dance." Or, women in bad outfits spilling drinks on my back.

My goal is to live in the moment, but when "moments" are moments like last night, it makes things a little tricky. I want to see what's new in the world, not languish in the past. Move on, evolve, grow.

On that note, I would like to thank Mr. Dick E. Lixer for all his fine comments.

posted by The Oscillator @ 8:58 AM