My RSS Feeds
"she's with me": austin night two
We'd driven by the SXSW madness the night before, but tonight we were driving straight into the heart of it. Meg wanted to see Year Future and the Chinese Stars, Mike and Lynn wanted to hit another show, then join us at Emo's for Some Girls. I wanted nothing but to be out with all the music and people and maybe find some mischief. "Tonight's for fighting or making friends!" I yelled as we pulled into the parking lot, and Meg shook her head. "If you start anything I'll have to finish it! I'm the big one. Don't start anything!" I made no promises.
We walked a few blocks, said goodbye to Mike and Lynn for the time being, and walked the last block to Emo's. "I hope I see someone I know tonight," I said to Meg and we rounded the corner and standing at the club's door was someone I did know, a young man who'd once given me a mix CD on a subway. I shouted his name and hit him on the arm and nearly knocked him over. He gave me a hug and a smile and dropped some names and we all made our way into the club. The girl at the door stamped my wrist as the young man disappeared into the club, then went to stamp Meg's when another door guy stopped her. "Wait, wait. Do they have wristbands?" You mean the $150 pieces of plastic that you can't ever take off your arm on pain of not being let into any of the clubs again? No, no we don't. We'd inadvertantly snuck through during the confusion at the door, and while I'd gotten a stamp, Meg hadn't. The door girl tried to wipe it off my wrist, but the ink was permanent. They sent us around to the side door, where we could pay "if there was room".
I tried the old lick-your-hand trick to get the stamp onto Meg's arm, but when that didn't work we decided to go with the regular old lie. "I was just in the show," I told the side door guy, "But my friend wasn't. Is there still room for her to get in?" He said there was and checked her i.d. and took her $10 and in we both went. Chance encounters! Free stuff! Some of my favorite things and the night hadn't even gotten going yet. I found another free thing an hour later, when the Chinese Stars played and their lead singer posed and my manic energy (fueled by Sparks and Lone Star) finally found it's dance punk outlet.