What's the most "losing my edge"-like accomplishment you can boast?

he is on the cover, fat and goatee'd.

ROFFLE!!!!!

or 2?
m.

(this is really nothing to brag about.)

I WAS THERE ... sipping a hash-shake at the Melkweg during Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five's Euro tour in 1984.

http://www.themelesswonder.com/oldskull001.jpg

IS THIS DEAN?

at Flipper's last show, with Live Skull and Die Kreuzen. It was good.

at the first US show by The Sugarcubes/Jesus & Mary Chain. They were not so good.

at a show where Dinosaur Jr. & MBV played so loud I couldn't hear that well for a while.

at a Ride show at Maxwell's, NJ, flirting with Miki from Lush the whole night.

at an amazing AR Kane show at said Maxwell's with only about 30 other people.

Ah, youth.

ARHGASFHSDGSADHGDSAFHSAF

No, I'm not jealous.

Being in the same circle of friends as 1nf1n1t3 L1v35 and fairweather indie-dance types 50uth.

(Both encounters within a 4-month period in '91 at the same Toronto club.)

Rick Lee or Steve Calhoun?

God, I saw NIN on this tour, also, but at a little dive bar called DJ Freak's in Newark. Turd-O-Licious. All the Wax Trax/PIAS/TVT folk used to play at DJ Freak's. I saw The Young Gods/ Meat Beat Manifesto (dinosaur-suited dancers phase)/Severed Heads/MC 900 Ft. Jesus & DJ Zero there.

i'd be stoked to be in Pam's sitting room, whether it was the Clientele or fluff fluff fluff fluff and cuddlyness playing

1.Bumped into Phil Lynott in a restroom doorway at the 688 Club in Atlanta.
2.Took a swig from a can of beer that Iggy Pop handed me after a show, on the sidewalk outside 688.
3.Seen REM open for BowWowWow at the Agora Ballroom, Atlanta.
4.Been in a band that opened for Full Time Men & Plan 9 (two different shows, not together) at the 688 Club.
5.Let Johnny Thunders use my cap as a windscreen because the mic was shocking the flying hell out of him, once again, 688. It had a ton of his spit on it, and I never washed it again.
6. seen the Only Ones open for an Atlanta band called the Restraints, Atlanta Agora.
7. Gotten shitfaced with Nikki Sudden & Drivin' & Cryin' (his backup band for numerous Southeastern gigs while recording the Jewel Thief in Atlanta) before, during, & after their gig at the Point, Atlanta, and at the Chameleon Club, Atlanta. Nikki is partial to white russians, and a really cool cat.

(xpost)

("THE Fez"?)

I saw the Beastie Boys open for RUN-DMC at Madison Square Garden (circa License to Ill/Raising Hell)

i've (not) met him, and he (at least according to alex) does. and i'm your...

fuck washing a hat.

I was there, Spring 1981, when an unknown Soft Cell played Rock City to a sea of blank faces, the week that Memorabilia came out.

I was there, Nottingham Garage, Summer 1986, when Graeme Park started playing Chicago house imports to the indie kids.

I was there, The Cock Live, Summer 2003, when The Scissor Sisters played rock music to the electro kids.

What?! I would have KILLED to see those three bands!!! Marillon...sheesh...

my sister was going out with the drummer of marillion at the time so i remember thinking i was pretty cool being on the guest list. needless to say, marillion were awful and no doubt what was going on upstairs would have been life changing!

d'oh!

Er, oh yeah - I saw them play to about 20 people in Cardiff last year. A location that makes it a bit difficult to add much to this thread (especially as it's mainly populated by Americans)

I asked Kim from The Muffs to marry me after a CBGB's gig.

I snuck backstage at a Cheap Trick Concert.

Joey ramone moved out of my way so I could put my amp down at the continental.

I hung with Pop Will Eat Itself after they played the stone pony in '94

My band opened for Pony.
My band opened for Versus.
My band opened for Silkworm.
My band went nowhere.

We started up in Fulham and somehow (I have absolutely no recollection of how) ended up at The Captain's gaff somewhere in Brighton.

I suspect that the reason we got invited to join in was because Lemmy fancied my gf.

Rob, the problem here is that if you removed the words 'before a solo gig in 1992,' this would describe every conversation with Paul Weller ever.

I was there, when Michael Stipe called me in 1995, having wrote the letter later referred to in "E-Bow the Letter."

I was there at the Von Bondies first show, when they were called the Babykillers, at a house, in Ypsilanti.

I was there, backstage when Momus opened for Belle & Sebastian in Chicago in 1998, I swear Isobel was flirting with me.

I waaaaassss theeere......

I saw them six months earlier at Mercury Lounge, opening for VHS or Beta?, playing disco nu metal to the Chelsea boys.

at Pavement's first-ever show at the Court Tavern, New Brunswick, NJ. I bought a copy of "Slay Tracks" at said show for $2.00.

at a Butthole Surfers show, also at the Court, at the height of their underground popularity (1986 or so)

at what I believe was Neutral Milk Hotel's first show with their classic lineup at Brownies, NYC.

at a Go Team/Yo La Tengo double bill at Maxwell's

at the Pixies' first NYC show at CBGB, with some friends of mine from NJ who opened the show

friends with a girl in college who put up Faith No More, the Meat Puppets and Tex & The Horseheads at her apartment

I know. It *is* incredible.

Please don't, they're horrible.

I ran into George Clinton on the street during my lunchbreak once. He was lost and looking for his hotel, as he had spent the night elsewhere after a gig the night before. I brought him up to the mailroom of my then job to use the phone. The bike messengers who recognized him were trippin'. This is a highly cherished memory.

Four on One might be my favorite Matador record.

I chatted with Mike Watt for 45 mins before a fIREHOSE gig in Edinburgh.

I've fleetingly met Paul McCartney, James Iha, Dave Navarro, Brian Eno, Syd Griffin, Genesis P Orridge, Boy George.

I've shared a chinese takeaway with Lionel Ritchie.

I've mixed the sound for some ads with Brian May.

I was at Sugar's first London gig.

And Dark Star's.

I saw NIN not long after Alex In NYC in a little club in Glasgow.

I went drinking with Lynnrd Skynnrd (sp?) and Sweep The Leg Johnny.

I made an album at the Who's old studio with Simon from the Cocteau Twins.

Context please.

m.

or is that the point of these?
m.

etc etc

oh, and we saw trent reznor at universal studios in orlando with an elderly couple. he looked bored.

ah, and james gandolfini (sp?) sat next to us at ihop in nashville.

nashville is a starfuckers town for sure. it's small enough that anybody's that's been there for a decent length of time is easily one degree of separation from somebody.

m.

Nooooooooooo.....!!!

woot! we missed mark e. smith together!
m.

post of the week!
m.

At Matt Br1nkman's loft in Olneyville, surrounded by Forcefield monsters. It was the last Landed show ever, Naut1cal Alm4nac and D3ad Mach1nes and some other bands played. Br1an Ch1ppendale ate all my wasabi peas.

The time before, with Marilyn Manson in the crowd, she jumped off stage and freaked my friend and me.

Also Nikki from KaitO hugged me after I told her the band's performance was great.

Rennie Sparks jumped up and down excitedly and patted my back when I asked her to autograph my copy of her collection of short stories.

I remember house
before the superclubs.
I remember house
when people knew the lyrics of house.
I remember house
before record labels sold the house.
I remember house
when house was about love...

I remember house
when house was more then just a name to package the sound of this emotion.
I remember house
when it was just one house.
I remember house
when house had artists, songwriters and personalities.
I remember house
when you didn't have to be a DJ just to be into house.
I remember house
when house was broke.
I remember house
when house was done in the house.
I remember house
when it WAS a spiritual thing...

I remember house
before it was techno
I remember house before it had an afro.
I remember house
before it was deep.
I remember house
before it was hard.

I remember house
when house had tempos.
I remember house
before mpc16's.
I remember house
before house had loots
I remember house
before the whole world knew.

I remember house
Do you remember house?

Kissed Chan Marshall. *Blush* Mind you, I wasn't the only one. She's kinda like the female Har Mar in showing her fans love, except for being talented and beautiful and drunk.

Steve Hillage and Miquete Giraldy (we used to have the same supplier) really nice people always remember your name.

Djed with and then hung out with Mixmaster Morris super sweet guy who would not let anyone else put a record on, even after the show when we were back at the house.

Allan Ginsburg- great old fruit

and I once ran into Rob Corgury from the daily show at Amoeba

i was crushed, too, because it was a hasty thing i wrote a couple of years ago when i was annoyed about other things and taking it out via music nerd bitchery. i had no idea he'd find it via google!

anyway i wrote him a heartfelt apology explaining myself and my position and i *think* he feels better about it. i still feel bad about it and i'm trying to decide whether i should apologize to him in person (i'm driving 100 miles to see him dj in a couple of weeks)

Who is playing in LA in a couple weeks?

Though I did note with pride that she and I were both wearing black AND purple so I came away feeling we had bonded, anyhow.

..the rest of mine are very new zealand centric, as i'm friends with, have hung out with, played and booked shows with etc etc just about every major flying nun and xpressway artist..

a friend of mine has made out with hope sandoval

BEAT THAT!

another friend was furious she WASN'T invited back stage at a Red Hot Chili Peppers show.

If only Lucinda were a lesbian and my friend dug country and not c*nty music everyone would've been happy

THANK GOD.

hands down the most intense performance i've seen, crowd was out-for-blood, we-won't-let-the-band-get-off-the-stage eating it up, incredible

Nic Offer popped a pill and then puked all over the up-front audience

I once let Black Flag's Greg Ginn and his band stay at my house in 1994. I was worried about all sorts of debauchery and house-trashing, but he and the guys were really nice and chilled. They had herbal tea and went to sleep early. Greg got up before all of us to go to the library so he could photocopy an article out of my housemates 'Scientific American'. Zowee.

Go find the song "Losing My Edge" by LCD Soundsystem. It will all become clear...

I was there ... at the last Men's Recovery Project show in the United States ... they said "Men's Recovery Project is dead". Mil3m4rk3r showed up and there were a total of like 20 people there....

What a fucking weird life.

Oh--and like Alex NYC, I spent a good deal of the early 90s at Nich and Eddies. Nice steaks.

So that's my "losing my edge" moment.

I also think it's my organ on Metro Area's Caught Up. Or some other song. I always get the names mixed up.

Songs: Ohia lived in my attic. We rehearsed a version of Kraftwerk's the Model with me on air organ but I was too incompetent a musician to play it. Instead I performed an improv version of Bo Diddley with the guitarist of the Metamatics and Ray from Mitgang Audio.

Oberlin (indie-rock U) supplies lots of stuff like that.

At Aron's records in 1985. Buying my rare Tackhead and Einsturzende Neubauten records at the counter as Axl Rose rang the purchase up. I asked him if he liked Tackhead.

He looked tired, but he was nice and he said he didn't know who they were.

when Justin announced to the audience of small hardcore kids that they were changing their name to THE Locust... because of a cease-and-desist order from the management of Locust UK.

Justin was pissed off about the letter, but he said he liked "The Locust" more because the band name sounded more MENACING that way. And then The Locust played their first ever show as The Locust and rocked the house.

Chipping a tooth by trying to drink a bottle of beer while in the mosh pit at a Lubricated Goat show at CBGBs

Joining Upside Down Cross in a 30 minute argument with a posse of NYC bouncers who had seized the band's equipment because the Cross had dumped a pound of live nightcrawlers on the club's soundboard

Playing "The Temptress" in a performance of Suckdog & Costes' Rollerderby at the Kyber Pass in Philly while wearing a stockingmask

and the award goes to.....

While under the influence of lysergics at a Butthole Surfers show at the Ritz, I was hit in the head by Teresa who had unwisely leapt into the pit. By the time I got to my feet she had been stripped completely naked. I carried her momentarily - it is extremely surreal to have a naked woman suddenly thrust into your arms - and the crowd began to, uh, molest her. She was lifted out of my arms and her body became the object of a tug of war between the crowd and security.

Months later I spoke with friend who talked to King Koffee about the show. Apparently Teresa was tripping and jumped into the crowd on a whim. She quit the band after that show. A very ugly and unpleasant rock n roll memory, but it's about as far from my lifestyle now as you can get...

winner

second place!

Mom hung out everyday at the clubs when she was a tween and older, so she has dozens. Lennon's tampon arrest, went out on a date with a member of Spirit, one of the Buckinghams asked her out once (I think she was embarrassed and turned him down), was one of Randy Newman's earliest supporters and was friends with Love. Forgot to mention the VU High School pics I posted months ago. Oh yeah, she had her dad introduce her to Donovan Leitch backstage when she had a huge crush on him (George Harrison and Joe Cocker were there also) circa 1968.

My dad told me the best one though. It's her sister's fourteenth B-day party and she got box seats to see the Doors at the Troubador. Mick Jagger walks in during the concert and asks if the Rolling Stones can have her/their seats. She tells him no (can't imagine her telling him to buzz off, but she was only a teenager then) and so Mick and a few others had watch the show on the lap of another Rolling Stone. SHE WAS THERE!!! PURE ROCK HISTORY!!!

I should just give her my account here.

Lil' Dap from Group Home flipped a table full of half drunken beer at me Tramps, circa 1994.

The last train upstate having long departed, we spent the night on a bench in Battery Park. The Specials went back to England and called it splits.

That's pretty much it. I've a friend who was pretty close friends w/Karen O throughout college. And she seems to have met fully half of everyone who's at all well-known.

I was at Reading 1992 when Nirvana played what ended up being their final UK show, but got bored after two songs cos we were so far from the stage and went back to my tent to make out instead.

I predicted that the "Boris Musical Mix" of "Sing It Back" would be a massive hit if given the right priority, but nobody listened to me.

(not sure I'm all that good at this game!)

"I competed against Kleenex Girl Wonder in junior-high quiz bowl"

Who won?

also went to the white stripes at the 100 club in london.....was that the first uk show?

I had an underage beer and a sandwich with backstage with Phish.

A good friend was at a wedding reception and was seated at a table with a high-school friend of the bride and her husband. Their names were Jack and Meg White and they were telling her how they were going to start a band.

Another friend of mine used to see some white rapper at a ameteur nights at Detroit clubs.

I once met Thurston Moore while crossing the street downtown Tokyo. He was with Jim O'Rourke and some others, and they were on their way to the same show that my friend and I were.

Well, it was my school against his school, and I'm pretty sure we won.

And I was at the RATWARD in Hampton Roads, driving 3 hours back to my hometown for every show after leaving for college until it was closed down due to violence, vandalism, and general insanity.

Saw Mathew Jonson play for 30 people in an apartment on Rue Sherbrooke after he just finished playing for 1000+ at Metropolis during Mutek 2005.

I remember when Wolf+Lamb was supa fresh.

Saw Matthew Dear open amoung the first in a lineup of 15+ artists in the aux room at Swamp Thing, WMC 2004. He's gotten a lot better since then. Later on that night, the remains of Anti-Pop Consortium fucked up as Airborn Audio because High Priest was way too fucked up to work his laptop.

This needs a revive, I'm sure we've all got amazing stories about hanging out with Wavves or Hadouken and shit.

I was there backstage at club eastbrook, grabbing a snack from Blind Mellon's rider when Shannon Hood came up and stepped on my toe. It didn't hurt because I was wearing shoes and he was barefoot.

i bought jack and meg white a couple of beers after seeing them play to a crowd of 4. they were 4th on a bill after three locals and everyone left after the locals played, and i felt bad for them

I hung out with Billy Childish at the afterparty of a Portuguese garage rock festival, got very drunk, sprinted for my boat back to Lisbon, fell on my face and scraped it open so badly that I had people asking if I'd been in a motorbike accident.

I shot john lennon

I inspired Neil Cicierega to make dumb mashups, via my dumb mashups. Even told him about Rock Band multitracks.

I set Harry Pussy up with the Fort Thunder crew for a show in Providence, circa 1996... Bill O. emailed me when he saw a review I wrote, and asked if I could put him in touch with someone local for their tour. (I didn't have any "edge," though; I was just a college kid.) It was a good show, I videotaped it!

I once used a Rat pedal that was used (owned?) by Fugazi. Truth.

And one time I was in the St. Louis airport and Tiny Tim spilled his change in the security line; my sister and I helped him pick it up. We had no idea who he was until our parents told us later.

Also I once got a hug from Jane Goodall but that's not really in the spirit of this thread so

oh yeah, I and my friends packed out an indie night in 98/99 which moreorless kept a struggling nightclub going, on Tuesdays they hosted a UK garage night which launched The Artful Dodger & Craig David.

When I was a cafeteria cashier at Newark Airport, Lars Ulrich asked me for directions to Taco Bell.

I was there...when a guy threw a Birkenstock at Perry Farrell (Jane's Addiction show, Hollywood Palladium, December 1990).

if you watched Making a Murderer then you know about Brendan Dassey. I was good friends with his half-brother Brad in middle school and some of high school, so obviously I knew Brendan and the fact that he was "not all there", so to speak. Anyway Brad and I used to make music together, I taught him how to play piano and we did a lot of shit on the computer. Anyway turns out he kept making music way after we lost touch and after the documentary came out he had a viral hit called "They Didn't Do It". not saying it wouldn't have happened if not for me but who knows??? listen at your own peril:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH1wJLa9VvI

1988 in London with a friend who was the biggest Pussy Galore fan in the world led me to be hanging out with them after the gig, but the band scrammed quickly to go out on the town without us 20 year olds. Except for Bob Bert who told me he hated London. So we hung out the rest of the evening talking about music and books and such. Edge achieved!

Then 25 years later I was on a flight fro work from Helsinki to London, and there were three guys boarding ahead of me who were clearly in a band but I couldn't place any of them. I was a few rows behind them for the flight and was wracking my brain the whole time. As we deplaned, I told the guy on the aisle that he looked familiar, and it was Weasel Walter and he was playing guitar in Lydia Lunch's backup band for a one-off gig, zooming back to NYC or CHI. Then he pointed to the other guys, Algis Kizys and Bob Bert. Edge lost!

But then in ridiculous coincidence, a few hours later in London with a different friend from the 80s, into the bar walks his old roommate, who was a drummer in one of Lydia Lunch's other backing bands. So some edge regained. Noise rock drummers get around.

Marilyn Manson asked me to videotape his band (“Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids”) at a bar in Fort Lauderdale, FL in 1991, which I did. This was so early on they didn’t have a drummer yet, just a drum machine.

Side note re Bendy’s post: Speaking of Bob Bert, I played in a band in 1992 that used a set of timbales that our singer had bought off of Bob Bert (probably in the late ‘80s)

I bought a T-shirt (the "This Friday Night Only/From The Hate Fuck Capitol City Of The World" one, black print on a red shirt) from Bob Bert when Pussy Galore played L.A. in 1989. He wanted $10 but accepted $5 because it was all I had on me.

I'm pretty sure saw No Doubt at a small club in Milwaukee a few weeks after Tragic Kingdom came out but before it hit MTV. I was in middle school and there was almost no one there. This almost seems like a false memory but it's on their tour schedule from that year, they started in clubs and were in arenas a few months later.

I once used a Rat pedal that was used (owned?) by Fugazi. Truth.

I used to be in a band that shared a rehearsal space with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and their guitarist took my capo on their tour of Japan by mistake.

(it was returned to me as soon as they got back)

I was there in July 1981 at the Gang of Four show at Perkins Palace, when a teenage Flea (yeah that one, I'm pretty sure it was him) leaped on stage naked and gave Andy Gill a big bear hug

Used the same practice space as DC Gogo legend Chuck Brown

And I loaned a mic stand to Rachel "Fight Song" Platten. Never got it back.

i crowdsurfed at a lil b the basedgod concert. not a "I saw ____ in (year)" kind of thing, but it's still a bizarre string of words

i was there when regis came up my arm when he was 14.

I was there... in the Good Mixer, Camden Town... drinking with the singer from Scouting For Girls... after an Owl City show.

I nicked a fuse from the Super Furry Animals tank

I was there...when a pre-fame Pete Doherty staggered out of the toilet in the studio I was working in, his skin tinged yellow and his eyes displaying a tell-tale smack glaze. Then his shitty band got really big, I've still never figured out how.

My friend and I ran into the Breeders at a hotel after they'd played a show. Kelley Deal braided my friend's hair.

on the opposite tip, like "cant have have lost my edge bc it wasnt there to begin with": when i lived in DC in my early 20s i had a pal who was also friends with ian mackaye and he hung out with us a few times, but i lol didnt recognize him bc i didnt mess with fugazi. just thought he was a nice dude named ian who had been to a lot of shows.

I inspired Neil Cicierega to make dumb mashups, via my dumb mashups. Even told him about Rock Band multitracks.

― MarkoP, Tuesday, November 9, 2021 12:25 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

thats pretty cool. arguably changing the course of internet history. along the same lines I used to correspond with him a decent amount back in the day and I used to urge him to check out Cardiacs which he now says is one of his favorite bands, and obviously a chief influence on Spirit Phone. not saying it was because of me, but who knows????

OEO: lol, I completely ignored that whole thing at the time. I was into jazz and Mozart; thought Minor Threat sounded like a vacuum cleaner. Dischord Records's office is literally downstairs from my neighborhood dry cleaner and 7-11; I cheerfully bought beer there for a decade before noticing.

it makes me laugh now bc he was extremely friendly and engaging, which looking back, clearly he picked up that i didnt know who he was and just enjoyed being able to not have to talk about himself

xp i read that as you were buying beer at the dischord office which is hilarious to think about

I was there...watching pre-Oracular Spectacular MGMT do karaoke -- I swear the electric guitar wasn't plugged in and the other just sang and hit a cymbal -- in a now demolished college union cafeteria.

Joygoat, technically Dischord is underneath the drycleaner. The 7-11 is next door to the drycleaner, but it's all the same building.

idk how this factors into the whole thing but boz boorer stopped in the used record shop i was working at in reno while morrissey was playing a few nights at a casino across town. i recognized him but didn't really make a big deal out of it. he wanted to browse the expensive 45s we kept in boxes behind the counter, so i helped him out with that. very pleasant guy. i didn't mention anything to him about knowing who he was the entire time. he paid for his stuff (three or four 1950s country 45s from what i remember) and, as he was leaving, i said,

"thanks for stopping in. tell steve i said hey."

his face immediately went into confused embarrassment and he was waving goodbye out the door.

also i know it was definitely him because he was back the next day and the store manager had him autograph a polecats album. which he was very happy to do.

I was there at the Bull & Gate watching Suede with no more than nineteen other people on a at least two occasions. Manic Street Preachers and Blur at the Camden Falcon, Ride at the LSE quad, Stereolab at the White Horse in Hampstead. Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the Freebutt in Brighton. Divine Comedy like ninth on the bill at some all-dayer at ULU, I bought the first LP off them. Verve might have headlined. Radiohead supporting Cardiacs at the Astoria. Smashing Pumpkins at the Venue in New Cross. Carter USM everywhere.

Nothing particularly edgeworthy - just catching a lot of shows and some of the bands got more popular. Of more signifance in my personal canon was the first Telepathic Fish party in Dulwich where Mixmaster Morris set up CD decks and a DAT player in the Kitchen and played through to the late morning to the assembled few stuck to the floor. Satellite Serenade was a moment.

I was there at my university dining cellar at lunchtime when a guy named Tim Dog got on stage and talked shit about Compton over a beat.

My closest is probably seeing Kyuss open for Dinosaur Jr.

One of the only times I've been rude to a band onstage was seeing the Black Keys in a small bar abt 2002. My friend and I found the singer's affected over-the-top 'grizzled bluesman' voice hysterical, and yelled "wooo, BluesHammer!" at them a few times. They were not amused. Not extremely proud of it but I stand by it.

I saw Dead Can Dance in 1990 and they asked for requests and I was the "Free Bird!" guy. I mean, come on, you're Dead Can Dance. You don't ask for requests.

I saw the Replacements and they asked for requests (after playing about 25 songs)--I yelled out "I Don't Know." Paul and Tommy shrugged at each other and launched into "I Don't Know"

Saw 10,000 Maniacs play a sparsely attended show at First Avenue and afterwards Natalie Merchant walked up to me and asked if it was always like this.

Me and two high-school pals had front-row seats to Lou Reed's "Magic & Loss" tour in 1992 (not quite front-row center... the guy who got to the record store window before us, on the Saturday morning the tickets went on sale, had those seats for himself & a date).

My buddies and I were going crazy for much of the show, yelling dumb stuff at Lou, etc. He looked over at us a few times – most notably, when he sang-spoke the line "He was turning into his parents" (in "Harry’s Circumcision (Reverie Gone Astray)"). After the last song, after Lou set down his guitar, it looked like he started taking a few steps toward us; then changed his mind and walked offstage.

I just remembered one exchange (to give you an idea of how dumb we were) –

Lou: "This next song is about something that's very important to me... does anyone know what that is?"

Us: "HEROIN!!"

Lou: "...No. Revenge."

ok most of this is whatev but I would have been pretty thoroughly undone by a sparsely attended 10,000 Maniacs gig and a slightly perplexed Natalie Merchant

^ found the GenXer

I was walking to a bar to see Mark Eitzel play and a guy on the street asked me for directions. The guy was (you guessed it) Mark Eitzel.

I asked D4vid Newg4rden, who was stepping out of a West Village bar with a few other people, if he was headed to the Yo La Tengo show down the street... after a pause, he motions to the guy standing next to him, and says: "Yes... here, meet James, the bassist."

saw jeff rosenstock perform solo in 2005 (?) with his ipod as bomb the music industry at an ethiopian restaurant with three other kids and an accompanying dad. i absolutely would have never thought he would end up p4k famous in any way

after playing a festival i got to sit around back stage with peter lang as grant hart stood around waiting for the fest manager to show up

waited in line behind laurie anderson at big ears for a beer

...knew the guy who put out the first 7" EP by Ragady Anne (before they changed their name to the Donnas) and went to a couple of their early gigs.
...drove the band Kirihito across the SF bay in my tiny Toyota Corolla and ate Thai food with them.
...had a conversation with Anthony Braxton in a tiny Canadian hotel bar while Thurston Moore was hanging out with members of Wolf Eyes nearby.

Of more signifance in my personal canon was the first Telepathic Fish party in Dulwich where Mixmaster Morris set up CD decks and a DAT player in the Kitchen and played through to the late morning to the assembled few stuck to the floor. Satellite Serenade was a moment.

best downtempo gigs in the worst spaces, always

Flew back 1st Class from Brazil in 1998 (partner worked for BA; this was her Christmas trip) and Nick Cave was one seat over from me. 12-hour flight and I didn't once pluck up the courage to speak to him. He drank about 3 bottles of red wine and smoked a ton of cigarettes.

Had better seats than Lou 'n' Laurie at a Richard Foreman play and a screening of Ladislaw Starewicz animation.

I was onto Shamir very early, from soundcloud before their first EP came out. Did a song together that they were on uncredited, and I still have some post-album Shamir demos on my hard drive (songs that never came out).

I helped my roommate lug his electric piano up to Bill Berry's dorm room and sat around while they attempted to jam.

i crashed The Big Bopper's plane

I saw Perfume Genius play at a little basement all-ages venue called the Healthy Times Fun Club, looking somewhat terrified to be performing at all. Several years later saw him commanding a festival stage probably 500 feet from the long-gone venue, looking supremely confident.

I saw the first ever Silverfish gig when they sounded like they had been together for like ages. Camden Falcon.
Also saw fuzz's previous band the In-Stinks quite a few times. Should have taken over as singer.

I saw Nirvana on their first UK Tour a few times, still with Chad Channing drumming

I saw the 2nd Nick Cave & the Cavemen gig. Wish I'd heard about the first one supporting Nina Hagen at the Fridge before it happened.

I saw the London debuts of both Sonic Youth and the Swans not sure how many people did. SY were really p-ed off that they had to go on so early cos the audience hadn't arrived and definitely not the press who were supposed to be coming to see them. Very intense though short set during which i think they blew up a bass amp. Swans supported the Fall at Heaven and i think the bar was in a different part of teh club so I think more people went there rather than face the barrage of sound.

lol Neanderthal

Saw Jewel at the San Diego Music Awards in like 93 or 94

I guess that’s not a coffeehouse.

there are few bands who I was an early adopter of, closest I can get is having seen Dillinger Escape Plan on the Calculating Infinity tour and buying my actual shirt off of Dmitri, but by then they were already a big deal.

I did see Foo Fighters first world tour and met/got Dave Grohl's autograph in 1995, but he was already a well-known star then, and this was well after "i'll Stick Around", "Big Me", and "This is a Call" were all over radio.

if you're a fan of The Drag Race, I knew Ginger Minj before she did drag, and did a production of Grease with them in 2002 (I was Roger, they were Doody).

I saw the first ever Silverfish gig when they sounded like they had been together for like ages. Camden Falcon.

That reminds me I ended up at a party at (I think it was) Fuzz's place on new year's day a while back. Thank for the glass of port, Fuzz.

Also not so long ago I was at a new year's eve thing where there maybe 15 people including me, C0lin Newm4n and M4lka Sp1gel. I don't know them and didn't talk to them so this just sounds creepy. Although I suppose this only really works if it's people you don't know.

This also sounds creepy and I'd met her a few times pre-fame but the future cap'n Phasma wearing something very small and gold in a burlesque club can't help but make an impression.

i don't have any of these, but this happened today:

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