Thursday, 4/5/07
It was the day of the Iggy Show at the 9:30 Club. 9 blocks from our Apartment. Iggy & The Stooges reunion with the added talents of bassist Mike Watt, co-founder of 70’s punk band Minutemen. It was to be a glorious day. Doors were to open at 9:30. We decided to invite some friends over for a pre-fest dinner at 7.
Clayton: Long time best friend of Dani
Tina: Long time friend of Dani
Courtney: Friend/co-worker of Dani
Kyle: Courtney’s SO and our friend
Clayton & Tina are 40 something’s
Dani & I are 30 something’s :p
Courtney & Kyle are 25 & 26.
I make my pasta & Gravy. Dani makes the apps and salad. Guests bring wine & bread. I start rotating our Iggy CD’s. They all show up about the same time and Tina has some unfortunate news. They’ve added a band or 2 and Iggy won’t come on until Midnight. Ugh. It’s gonna be a long night but we can always have coffee. So we start. Clayton & I have Whiskey. Kyle & Courtney decide on vodka crans, Dani &Tina open the wine. There was much drinking. And eating. But I think more drinking.
We all sit down to Dinner. I put on the new Iggy & the Stooges CD. Not his best work by far but no ones heard it and he’ll probably play a few at the show. We have a nice long dinner. The wine flows freely, as does a lot of liquor. After dinner drinks are done, I brew the coffee. Dani wants me to do it b/c my coffee is eaten with a fork. I seem to keep drinking until Dani has the Laphroaig removed from the table. Clayton adds enough whiskey to his coffee to cut it in half. Wired & drunk for Iggy. How awesome is this gonna be?
Brawl
We head out around 10PM. I think it’s a little early but they (or someone), insists. In hindsight I can say the euphoria we were all feeling was from the upcoming show. And the coffee and alcohol helped a bit. Probably. Supposedly it was cold out. I couldn’t tell. We were all wearing T-shirts and light jackets. 9:30 club stands about 3000, with maybe 2-3 dozen seats, including the bar stools. If you have to wear a jacket then you wanna be able to wrap it around your waist……..please hold.
Hmmmmm. Bloody Mary. Should done this and saved my Scotch for later.
Soooooooooo we get to the club and there’s not much of a line. I bet 90% of the idiots showed up “on time” Bet they froze their arsses off. Kyle brought a Backpack. Only took about 10 minutes to search that. Oy vey. On Claytons insistence, we head to the basement Bar. There’s a bit of nostalgia down there. Pictures of shows at the original site and what not. I head right to the bar with Dani & Tina in tow, I order 2 beers and a vodka cran for Dani. They come in those not so big red plastic cups. $18.00. I look around wondering where the strippers are. I hand the bartender a 20 and ask him when they’ll be coming on. He doesn’t find my comment funny. I “let” him keep the $2. for the first time in my life, I under tip. Fuck it. A weak vodka cran and 2 drafts that were MAYBE 10oz? He can skim off the top. Should have brought my flask, I thought. Luckily, I didn’t. At some point we(?) decide to go to the 3rd floor. Dani dashes up and out of sight. I follow Clayton.
The set up is kind of odd. Second floor is U shaped, the sides with a lot of room, the back is a tiny VIP type area. Third floor only sits behind VIP section and has a bar. Great view but I’m thinking I need to be up front. It is Iggy. Dani reappears from somewhere At one point this dude moves from the wall separating 2nd & 3rd and I move in. After being there about 10 minutes. the fun begins.
This Tommy Chong looking dude, only uglier, shorter, and older, nudges me from the right. Tells me that was his friends space and I need to move. Before I can say “sucks to be your friend”, Dani says “sucks to be your friend”. Love that Women. Then people from my right sytart giving me grief. At this point (I swear) I just said in a not really nasty way: “WTF? We all come here, pay our $40 and try and enjoy a show. Lighten up.” Then this troll women, think Janis Joplin, only older, uglier, and talentless, gives Dani grief. A lot of grief. She took the place of Tommy and is probably his “partner”. Dani chews her a new one. The looks at me and says “she called me a Bitch! Now I’m really gonna Fuck with her.” I agree and we close ranks on her. Tommy “bitches to 2nd floor security. He ignores him. Tommy leaves. What the fuck? Meantime Clayton has a new scotch & soda in his hand and puts one near me. “What’s this?” I ask. “My next drink” he replies. “Oh” Guess he won’t be buying any drinks. Maybe. I still have my beer from downstairs. In the meantime, we give Janis shit. After a while I feel the tap tap tap of a Gorilla. I turn to see……………………….A gorilla. Wearing a shirt that says “Security”.
Mr. No Neck informs me that these people “asked you politely to leave and you didn’t”. I respond “are you kidding?”. Gorillas have no sense of humor and asks me to move. I say Ok. And do. Dani and I both realized at the time of the “tap tap tapping” that the Game was over. I kind of bantered with the Gorilla. I was confused. I asked him if he knew these people. He said “yes”. Well, I was bantering. He kept his responses much shorter. No big deal. The important thing was we were here to see Iggy and I wanted to be on the 1st floor anyway. Right?
So we step back. Clayton, right next to us, is asking “WTF?” I see Kyle & Courtney in the 2nd floor side area. Dani tells him. Including the little verbal tiff she had with Janis. Clayton goes to speak with Janis. I grab his arm to know avail. Dani and I turn to leave and here a glass or two crash.
In case you forgot. There was copious drinking. We turn and don’t see Clayton. I look on the floor and see two pairs of legs. They are splayed in such a way that I deduce the rest of the bodies must also be on the floor. I try to run over there. Simultaneously, Dani grabs me and Gorillas push me out of the way as they move in. It’s amazing how these animals seemingly come out of the woodwork. Anyway. They pounce for a while on the body on the floor, there seems to be some resistance but up they stand with a very restrained Clayton.
Fuck.
They pass us. But ahead of them is Tommy. Damn I wanna kill that weasel. Behind them is Janis. Looks like she’s wearing a Scotch & Soda. We head out. They aren’t being to gentle with our friend. Outside there’s a cop. SOP for 930 club to have a few around. Tommy & Janis give their version. Dani & I also make up a version. Clayton’s bloddied. Cut face, fat lip, broken glasses.
This is wear we learn from the head bouncer that the area in question was reserved for some “handicapped” person. Janis. I’d like to say something but what can we? The cop gives Clayton a lecture, says she won’t press charges if you leave. Dani’s upset. I’m pissed. They never said anything to us about the area being reserved. Nor did the first Gorilla. Clayton insists we go back inside and enjoy the show. We go in, Dani tells me he doesn’t have cash on him so I run back outside but don’t see him. I ask the Cop and the Head Gorilla where’d he go. They informed me he was long gone. I then politely tell the head dude that although our friend was in the wrong, all his lackey had to do was tell us why we couldn’t occupy that space and none of this would have happened. He was very polite and I apologized again before heading back in.
I was so hoping to run into Tommy after the show.
Touching God
Back inside I see Tina & Courtney consoling Dani. Clayton had never seen Iggy. Dani blames herself for saying anything. I correct her. Clayton should have backed off and just left with us. They had Security on their side. Arguing with them is like arguing with cops, minus your civil rights. I grab Tina & Dani and head into the 1st floor. I’ve never seen Iggy. I’m wired and wasted. We are getting our money’s worth, dammit.
I need another BM (Bloody Mary!LOL! I Kill me!)
The bar on the left appears easiest to get to so we head there. Or we just stumbled left. Tina buys us drinks. I get a whiskey. I now it may be my last drink. We are maybe a dozen or so rows back. They’re setting the stage up for Iggy. I’m getting antsy. We’re too far back. The crowd is a surprising mix of young and old. I was thinking it would be mostly old. The bad comes out, starts right up and then FUCKING IGGY POP EXPLODES ONTO THE STAGE!!!! Right into “I wanna be your dog”. Dudes 2 weeks shy of 60 and still has the body of a 20 yr old. A 20 yr old with a 6 pack. We go fucking apeshit! You know, jumping 4 feet off the floor and pumping your fists. Not much room to do anything else. But no one’s with us. Up front they’re going nuts like us. This will not do. So I grab Dani and we go in. Mind you, I’m 5’8ish and Dani’s 5’2ish. Hardly average size. Always seems like the bottom of the curve at shows.
As we go in, stage left, I notice the speakers seem to be clear of people. How odd, I think and head towards them. Thinking we can outflank the crowd. As I break free a get a Gorrila hand imprint into my chest. Dani gets one, too. Damn they’re being pricks. But it is Iggy. So we squeeze into the 4th row and can’t get any closer. It will have to do. For now. We are with our people. The music is all hard core Iggy. All from his previous stooges days and current album. I’m going Fucking Crazy. Like I’m 18. All of a sudden I have a women attached to me. Arms around me, jumping up and down with me, crotch pressed against my hip. Face really close. She has a drink in one hand. Most of it ends up on us. Taste & smells like whiskey. I look at Dani several times. I’m trying to shake her off but she’s glued onto me. Finally, she decides to follow my gaze and sees Dani, looking a little less then happy. She disengages and apologizes. Dani is extremely pleasant to her. And then, Iggy invites fans onto the stage. We bolt. Dani in the lead.
That women can get through a crowd like no other. I’ve heard stories. She’s been first row for David Bowie, Skinny Puppy, and Iggy 17 yrs ago. She gets where she wants to be. Now I was gonna see it. And she cut us through like the proverbial hot steak knife through air. But too late. No more people on stage. It’s too bad. Half of them are moving like their first dance. If that first dance was with a Great Aunt that smelled of mothballs and liked to pinch cheeks until blood pored out.
But we were first row. Against the Metal fence. It was maybe 20 people wide and we were on the outermost left bank. The Goons in front of us were the same ones we dealt with during Clayton’s ejection. Lucky us. But we were front row. Iggy was stage diving. Iggy and his band were fucking rocking like they were 20 yr olds on meth and Coke. Twice he dove near us. But we could not lay our hands on him. A splash of his sweat, some spit, a little water. Teasing us. Taunting us. We were covered in our own sweat. I haven’t gone nuts like that in ages. And it was all electrifying. Unfuckingbelievable. First row can be a fight to the death. But for the most part it was civil. The women to my right was not being so civil but she grew tired of my elbow in her neck and my knee in her ass and gave up. Front row rocks. Then I started getting hit from behind. You know when you’re in a pit and the hits “feel” belligerent. I took a few and then turned around. Ready to get into it. Dude easily had 20-30 lbs & 6 inches on me. Didn’t stop me from getting in his face and shouting “WTF is your problem!?” Again, it all happened instantly. As I did that The goons from in front of me jumped on him and told him to get the fuck out. I was impressed at how well they watch and interpret. But I guess that’s there job. And I’m Not excusing the testosterone levels. Just reporting.
Through all this, Iggy had that serious look on his face, half the time.. The other half he had a shit-eating grin. Nothing like a performer who loves his work, eh?
Back to the show and Iggy was still being Iggy. The stooges and Watt were doing their thing and the it was over. All most. The crowd cried out for more. And he provided. Ending with a better(?) version of “I wanna be your dog”. Then he jumped off stage. In front of us. And we lurched. We made Contact. Our hands sliding off his soaked drenched body. He sat there for an eternity. Thanking people!!!! The God-FRIKKEN-father of PUNK! Saying Thanks! I turned and there was Hump girl. I said “I touched a God. I have his sweat on me.” She grabbed my hands for some God Sweat herself. It was over. A short wait for a 30 dollar concert T and we were out.
Outside I looked for Tommy. I guess the night would have been too perfect if I saw him. We walked Tina to her bike. Clayton had text’d us. He was home. He apologized and hoped he didn’t ruin the show for us. Courtney & Kyle had also left a message. “They hit a wall” and left before the show before it was over.
I haven’t partied like that in a Decade or so and it felt fucking awesome.
Next day, Clayton isn’t exactly sure what happened. Nor who did what. Just that he should've left with us. Oh well. He’s seen the Clash & Dead Kennedy’s. Maybe next time?
I put this show as #1 for me. Often, I was looking at Dani in blissful disbelief. I have never been to a show, rocking like delinquent youth in the front pit with someone I loved. ‘Twas a beautiful time.
Gotta go meet my partner in crime.
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