Strung Out At Strung Out

Tonight's show was promising to be a good one. I had been anticipating for weeks the Strung Out show at the Edge in Palo Alto on Wednesday, September 10th, 2003. The show really delivered the goods.

The evening began at Doug's house, where we were getting warmed up for the show by consuming whatever alcohol we wanted. I was going back and forth between taking shots of Jagermeister and having long, drawn out gulps of Jack Daniels' whiskey with my buddy, Kayleigh.

Before too long, I realized that I had consumed at least half a bottle of each. This is when Jessica called me, I was trying to get her to get me on the VIP list for the show but she called to tell me she couldn't pull it off. "Oh well," I said. The night was going too well to let something like that mess it up.

So it was around 9 p.m. and it was time to go. We waited near the van for OJ to come back so we could all leave together. In the meantime a friend of Jesse (from the Program) decided that he was the next Shaquille O'Neal and tried to dunk on the basketball hoop. His weight on said hoop was enough to rip it clear off the roof. The commotion caused Doug's mom to come out and begin yelling. At the end of the tirade, she was heard to say to Doug and his brother Jeff that they had better "start looking for apartments." She then discovered that we were planning on drinking on the way to the show, she expressed her disappointment but let us go on our way.

On the road, Kayleigh and I passed the Jack Daniels a little bit more. She confided in me that she liked Doug (which I already knew because I am amazing at reading people). When we got to the show, Jeff and I completely finished off the bottle of Jager. Then it was time to go.

On the walk over, the guy who had ripped off the basketball hoop began vomiting. I believe his final count was 9. We get inside just as Pulley was playing their hits, I was singing along, but I was hardly interested. I went to the well lit bar area. The first person I recognized was Eric Fanali. He was working on posters for the upcoming Hot Water Music/Lawrence Arms show at the Edge. He introduced me to some friends from Anaheim. We got into a discussion involving our top 5 favorite bands and the conversation was centered around Social Distortion, as they were common to all lists.

At some point we started talking about the new Fountains Of Wayne song "Stacey's Mom". I claimed "Although asinine, it's the perfectly crafted pop song." The girl at the table responded, "Maybe, but do you realize how hard it is for people like me now?" That's when I deduced her name was Stacey. Eric went on to say the song reminded him of another pop song. I said it remind me of Rick Springfield. I then asked the other guy at the table what his name was, he responded, "Rick." I was so blown away I had to take a second to collect myself. In that second I noticed Jason Thinh just two tables away. I excused myself and joined Jason when he was entertaining three young girls (too young for Jason to be entertaining).

I was friendly with the girls as I usually am. Jason, always the show off, pulled his balls out and placed them on the table top video game next to me. I groaned in disgust and the girls looked appalled. It was then that Jason decided he had to relieve himself so he departed our company.

It was in my time alone with the girls that I got to know them. From left to right there names were Jen, Julie, and Sally. I learned also that they were from Redwood City. They asked me if all guys from San Jose were as creepy as Jason. My response, cool as ever, was, "Yeah, all of them except for me." That somehow seemed to impress them and one responded, "Yeah, I can tell!" In my head I said, "Tight." Then they asked me to guess their ages. Now, whenever girls do this, there is no way to win, however, I thought I'd give it a shot, I guessed Sally was 19, Julia 18, and Jen 17. I wasn't incredibly horrible, although I was 0 for 3. As it turns out Sally was 17 and both Julia and Jen were 19. I still don't think I did that bad. So I had them guess my age. Julia and Sally guessed 19 and Jen guessed 24. Collectively they went 0 for 3, since I am 20.

Strung Out was going to start soon, so I decided to depart company and go in. Before leaving the girls said it would be cool to see me at a show again. I said absolutely. Then I said, "I would ask you girls for your numbers, but I feel that would be too forward of me, so I'll tell you my number and if you want to call me, that's cool." As I said my number, I saw that all three were taking it down. Again I told myself, "Tight."

Inside I ran into a friend from High School. We only shared a small talk not worth of being published. She introduced me to her boyfriend that I had happened to meet a year years back when I subbed on bass for a friends' band. "You're the guy with the hat." He exclaimed. "I am indeed." I responded, I then walked away and ran into Carl Dawson. Carl is tight. That is about it on him.

The show started and I moved my way up to the front. I was about two people from the stage right up front and center. The whole time I never stopped moving. I was making friends as I danced and sang along. The friends I made were the types of guys who take off their shirts and bully their way to the front. At one point I gave Jason (from Strung Out) the metal sign and he came up and pointed to me and said something with a devilish grin on his face. I didn't understand what he had said though, cause it was too damn loud. While the band played, I ran into Stacey again. At some point, I realized my clothes were soaked through with sweat, so with some encouragement from my half naked buddies, I removed it and rocked it sin camisa. Eventually the band finished and I caught a drumstick from Jordan and shook hands with guitarist Rob and bassist Chris. I put my shirt back on, found my friends and went back outside.

Outside we met Rob and gave him three Plans For Revenge CDs. He said he hoped it wasn't another band with melodic vocals and then another guy is screaming. I laughed heartily, because that is exactly what it is. Rob left, but guitarist Jake came out and was talking to the fans while disrobing outside of the tour bus. As he disrobed he left his clothes in a bush right next to where I was standing. He went into the bus for a second and I noticed he had left his clothes still in the bush. It then popped into my head to steal his black workshirt (that is what they wear on stage when playing). I wrapped my own shirt around it and walked away quickly. We got back to the van and the Strung Out bus came driving next to us. I was paranoid that they were looking for me for taking the shirt. They kept on going and I had to make a clean escape.

On the car ride back home I drank a beer and had a Jumbo Jack. Overall, I'd have to say it was easily the most memorable show I have ever been to. Strung Out were great, I was plastered, I met lots of people, I met most of the band, I caught a drumstick and I stole the guitarist's stage shirt. Strung Out is my favorite band and they will continue to be as long as they continue doing what they're doing. On a sad note, attendance was very poor, but understandably so. It was a Wednesday night, plus Bad Religion was playing at Slims.

It is 2:30 am and I need to be up for work at six. The top bunk in Jeff's room is so damn uncomfortable.

Ruben Balderas