dancin' fans at the show
I didn't even know that the Blue Flame was gonna be closing (again!) that night. All I knew was that the Night Vandals, the Vidi Vitties, and the Preverts were going to play at the Blue Flame, so I took the good bike (I'm sick of the goddam Death Bike; one moonless night I swear I'll get killed on it) and rode on down to the show. As soon as I got to Red River I saw John and Philip across the street. They waved, and then John shouted that he would put me on the list. That little unexpected gesture gave me an wave of goofy, sentimental happiness. I locked up Megan's cruiser, which might as well be Amy's because it's always in our apartment, and went inside.
I immediately saw kids I knew and started talking and hanging out and stuff. It was early, but there was this sense of urgency and finality in the air. Everyone was talking about how the club was closing for good, but nobody could really say why. I didn't plan on drinking, so when I heard that the bar was low on beer and that they planned on selling out of it early; I figured it was no big deal.
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Once the Night Vandals started playing the buzzing energy of everyone in the club seemed to erupt and it never let up until the employees started kicking us stragglers out onto the spooky corner of 7th and Red River. But I'm not to that part yet...nooo there was much fun and beautiful wildness (John later described the night as having been "magical" without a hint of sarcasm) to be had before that. |
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Even though the drunken picture-taking seemed to have worked out okay for the 1-4-5's show a few months back, I thought I'd be good and not drink. But, like I said, there was that urgency and excitement in the air and I thought "it won't kill me to have a couple of beers, why not live a little." So I went to the bar and ordered one of the rare, coveted beers from the fridge that everyone seemed to be eyeing nervously. |
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I was thirsty from the bike ride and the cold beer slid down my throat in a matter of minutes. The music was loud and crunchy and fun. All of us front row kids were already getting bouncy and rowdy. I took pictures and drank and danced and hugged pals and smiled alot. It was Gross-Sticky-Texas-in-the-Summer hot and everyone was sweating heavily in the smoky, crowded little club, but nobody seemed to care. It was all about getting crazy that night...the entire front of the club was soaked in a "fuckitall, let's have fun" attitude that came through in kids spinning and jumping and laughing and cheering and letting anyone who wasn't getting as excited step out of the way.
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After the Night Vandals played a bunch of us went on a journey for more beverages. Teressa, Ryan, Jennifer, their pal in the orange shirt, and I all went to a crowded bar with lots of fratty-looking boys in it and we all took shots of Goldshlager. Then it was time to try to make it to the one convenience store on 6th street before midnight since the bands were allowed to bring in their own beer. We scurried to get to the store in time, but when Ryan Vittie tugged on the glass fridge doors they were locked! Damn! We were disappointed. It seemed that our plans were going to be foiled. We left the store but our failing to get more beer didn't ruin our excitement. We ran around in the street joking and playing. Teressa and I got into a mock argument over how much bigger she was than I, and she attempted to prove her superior mass by scooping me up. I think she held me for a good 1/4 of a second before we both tumbled over in a grinning heap on the still-warm asphalt. We got up laughing and the others made fun of us for knocking off as the pack of us navigated through the crowded street towards the club.By the time we got back to the Blue Flame, the beer situation had degraded to an emergency level. I could tell immediately because Gavin was drinking some sort of red colored wine cooler. I approached him and gave him the bad news about us not getting any beer at the store, then he offered me a swig of the fruity intoxicant and asked if I wanted to play the ancient arcade game in the back with him. Now, I suck at video games, but I said yes anyway and we played this game where you fly jets and blow sh*t up. Each of his lives lasted about 10 times longer than mine, but I didn’t care, I had alot of quarters and kept plopping them into the machine. Soon we were out of quarters and wine cooler and the Preverts were starting, so we went back into the front room to begin wreaking havoc once more. The Preverts were great and after they played they handed out beer relief to the needy. Talk about people coming together in desperate times. I didn’t really need anymore beer, but it found it’s way into my hands anyway while getting passed around and sipped and chugged and shared by everyone. The Vidi Vitties performed their playful reverbed-out songs for us as we danced and shouted in clumsy euphoria. Ryan kept bouncing off the 1’ stage and joined us in our freak behavior. I kept getting swung into the edge of the stage and my shins got all banged up, but I didn’t really care at the time...it was just so much fun. |
When the Vitties were finished alot of us stuck around and finished off what was left of the beer until the club people started pulling the beers out of our hands. I thought Gavin and I were going to ride our bikes home together since we live pretty close to each other, but he left before I had noticed. I’ve biked home alone after a few beers often enough, so I didn’t see a problem with it really. I got my bike and was walking with Dwayne and Katey to their cars when it became apparent that I was in no shape for biking...yeah, I kind of lost hold of the bike and fell over trying to recover it and that was when Dwayne suggested that I put the bike in the back of the hearse and leave the streets of Austin to the more manually dexterous folks. What a way to end the night...getting a ride home in a hearse.
