Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The Dead Milkmen 'Metaphysical Graffiti'


Allyson and I got to the Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion around 6pm. I got on the phone so I could locate Heather and her friends. They were playing some kind of drinking game.

What’s up with drinking games?

I’ve never needed a game to encourage me to binge drink. Why are the games necessary?

I don’t get it. Anyway… Heather said they were in the parking lot close to the gates in section G3. They could have very well been in Germany 3, because we couldn’t find them. Allyson and I followed the natural order of the alphabet only to find it ending with E3 at the ass end of the Pavilion. I called again to find out where they were, looked at the time, and decided to screw it in the acorn. We’ll just go on inside and get a cold frosty one.

The prices practically blew my mess out! Draft beer was $9 a barley pop and a 24oz. can of Icehouse was $11! It was enough to make Foster Brooks weep in his grave.

Well since I was driving, I couldn’t have more than a few brews… It wasn’t going to be a big deal. Next time, I’ll make sure to get there early so I can get my drink on efficiently and economically. In the damn parking lot.

I ran into Molly from Raleigh before the show, but I never saw my coworkers Heather and Jo. And from what I understand, we were all more than likely within 20 yards of each other.

I learned about a fancy trick used by a economical and well endowed woman… She snuck in those small bottles of booze by using what she was blessed with. She had tucked a few bottles under her boobs!

Ingenious!

Allyson and I were camped out on the lawn. I was excited to see two rock legends in the same night, but my enthusiasm was killed off quickly when I noticed that Steve Winwood was playing in the next County. He was just a white shirt sitting behind a large box. I’m not sure, but I think it was some sort of instrument. Perhaps an organ or synthesizer. I wasn’t sure because there were no hawks with binocular-like vision hanging around to ask for clarification.

Here’s a picture that I took with my cell phone before Winwood hit the stage:



Luckily, the sun had gone down when Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers were supposed to take the stage. By looking at the huge video monitors, I could see that those distant figures on the stage were indeed TP & The H-Breakers. So I spent the rest of the concert basically watching a live concert on a video monitor. I could have done that a lot cheaper at home with modestly priced beer.

I jokingly told Allyson that we were going to leave after the fifth song. During the third song, she asked me if we were still leaving soon. I let her off the hook.

Tom wished the audience a good night and the lights went down. Allyson asked, “Can we stay for the encores?”

“Of course,” I said as I pointed out the capacity crowd around us. “It’s not like we’re going to get out of here anytime soon.”

The band was playing their 2nd encore when Allyson gave the word to leave. We made it out to the parking lot when we heard “American Girl” playing in the distance. I knew that was the closer, but the traffic leaving hadn’t picked up at all. We were on the main road within the playing time of “Midnight Rendezvous” by The Babys.

Yeah… Allyson choose that one. I didn’t fight her for control over MY Zune until we got to the highway.

For the most part, I was bored by both performances. They sounded good, but it was like watching them on large televisions in a big backyard. At least I have a ticket stub serving as a souvenir to prove that I saw a couple of rock legends. Unless the video images were from a different show while impersonators played to recorded audio.

I wanted to get a Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers t-shirt, but I couldn’t justify paying $40 for one. I could feel the old man rage filling up my nearly middle-aged ass over those price tags. I was having a massive Ensure moment.

There was a time when I would buy t-shirts of the headliner and opening act, but those days are long gone just like Jenna Jameson’s virginity. And I don’t think any of those days are coming back.

We got back to Allyson’s place in Durham and started drinking beer. We threw on Sling Blade and eventually slept off our evening.

There’s more to come tomorrow involving my first trip to a Bob Evans restaurant.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:02 AM

    TOM! The view was quite nice from the front row in Charlotte. I thought my seats were way over in front of Mike and Benmont, but it turns out that we were almost directly in front of Tom. I even came home with an addition to my Heartbreakers pick collection - I got one of Mike's. WOO HOO!

    I was in heaven. Winwood was awesome, too.

    Beer and tee shirt prices are blatant highway robbery. I usually wait until the tour is over and buy shirts from ebay.

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