2003-06-16 - 0:47

Stephanie

A quick entry, since I have to get up very early tomorrow to fly home. I can't state strongly enough how well the weekend trip to Boston has gone. Considering that I had never met Paul or Jon in person, I suppose that it had been optimistic of me to assume that we would get along as well as we did; but it really did go as I expected. They're both very cool, very funny guys; and I got a lot of laughs out of this weekend.

Of course, the main reason for the trip was the Rollins Band (with Keith Morris) concert, playing a Black Flag set. I'll have much more to say about this show later; but the one-word summary is that it was (surprise, surprise) intense. The lingering feeling for the night is an appreciation for just how surreal of an experience that it was. Every so often, the realization would hit me: "Hey, Hank is ten feet away from me, going absolutely insane--and that's the lead-in for 'My War.' Fuck, yeah!"

I will relate one story from the show. Paul and I spent the whole night only one person back from the barricade, right in front of guitarist Jim Wilson. Before the show, we were chatting with the girl in front of us, Stephanie, and she mentioned that she had secured the same position for the last Rollins Band concert in Boston and had snagged a guitar pick, only to lose it on the way home. So, I got that idea in my head and was keeping an eye out all night.

Sure enough, Jim soon tossed a pick our way. I had a sense that he was about to, although I was fairly pinned in by the crowd. Nonetheless, I managed to get one arm up before he made his throw and I grabbed for the pick . . . and had it bounce off my hand to the floor in front of the barricade. Curses!

Then, during the encore (which was almost all Ramones covers--very sweet!), another pick came flying past us, ending on the floor. Stephanie and I both bent over for it and she came up with it, so I gave her a cheer. (It was cool to see her get one after hearing her story.) Then, at the end of the concert, she asked the bouncer for the pick that had landed on the floor . . . and then she turned around and gave it to me! (Yay!)

Even apart from how great everthing else had been, that generosity really made my day. Sometimes people can be pretty cool. Thank you, Stephanie: you made one amazing trip even that much better.

J.