Strange things happen in the midnight hour

Ahh summer 2010, you've barely begun and yet already you are full of memories.

Work ended Wednesday on a relatively quiet note, with lots of hugs and such from the kids.
Later that evening I got the call from E saying she didn't get accepted for my apartment and did I want to get drunk? Silly question my friend. Later in the evening, several bottles of wine and king cans into the night our little misery party was invaded by a certain member of a certain local hellbilly band, who brought with him a few more beers and some medicine and I can't recall the rest of how that story goes. I slept for 24+ hours after that, woke up for about 3 hours to assemble my mind, go to the gym and then fall back into the abyss of my bed.

I came to sometime on Friday and headed to Hurley's for our last staff gathering of the year. Food was eaten, drinks were had and we even made a "friend" with a very strange character who joined us at Terry's request...always picking up the strays that one.

The best night so far has to be last night. Other M, or "Cuz" as M and C refer to him, turns out to be very close friends with the drummer for Alexisonfire so the next thing you know we are driving to Montebello for some rock fest.

M and C couldn't have cared less about the situation but as it happens I am rather in love with Alexisonfire. I don't care much for their older stuff but the last two albums have come to mean a lot to me and get a ton of play at my place. The whole experience was rather surreal.

Anti-Flag was also playing and so whilst we hung around the hotel members of both bands were milling around doing their pre-show things. At one point M and I were sitting out front on the steps when Justin Sane trotted by with a case of beer. 10 years ago I would have fallen all over myself and probably cried a little. "Die for the Government" was one of the first punk albums I ever bought and their words fueled my little angry-at-the-world and stuck-in-a-small-stupid-town fire that raged at 15 years old. Even then I'm sure they were still considered punk-lite but this was before the internet was full of ways to discover music and so they were a pretty big deal to me. Had someone told 15 year old me that I would be where I was last night, 15 year old me would have laughed in your face, spit on the ground in front of you and told you that was impossible since I probably wouldn't make it to 16 cause "life sux" and "if I don't get out of this town fast I'm going to kill myself". Oh, youth.

We went backstage for AOF's set, and stood around while they gathered up the drum kit of A-F and shuffled it over to their stage. It was at this point Dallas Green made full eye contact with me and offered for us to move around to the other side of the stage to watch the show. It was like a dream sequence. I didn't experience any omg omg omg moments while we were around anyone (blame it on being spoiled, many of my friends make amazing music that means the world to me so for the most part I've gotten over the whole star struck thing). It was just very odd that this man who I listen to all the time and don't actually know, but see everywhere in the media is being so casual and cracking jokes with us about being locked into the stage area. And I know this man means the world to some people, the way I feel about Mike Ness and all my idols. And I felt a little bit sad that I couldn't stir up those omg feelings the way I used to be able to whenever I was around anyone remotely important to me.

And yet I was feeling so very grateful because for me moments like this is all part of "living the dream". For some people it's money and houses and cars and excess and living comfortably. For me it's being as close as I possibly can to music and the people who make it. And experiencing that treatment I used to daydream about constantly as a teen meant so very much to me.