I Might Be Too Short to Rock

This weekend found Scoochie and I taking a five hour road trip to Spokane to see Black Label Society in concert (for which tickets were purchased back on Scoochie's birthday).

Back at the very beginning of our getting-to-know-you conversations, Scoochie mentioned liking Black Label Society. I decided that the time would be right to impress him with my knowledge of useless trivia, which almost never comes in handy. "Black Label Society... isn't that Zakk Wylde's band?", I asked pseudo-knowledgeably. "Yeah! Do you know who else Zakk has played with?", Scoochie quizzed me to see if I knew my stuff. "Ummmm.... Ozzy Osbourne, I think", said I. And I was RIGHT, thereby earning METRIC TONS of RESPECT from my new not-yet-boyfriend at the time, Scottie Doo. So when Scoochie's birfday rolled around and I spent HOURS searching for something monumental to do, the best I could come up with were tickets to see BLS, three months away.

Should I mention now that I didn't know ANY of their music? The fact that I knew anything at all can be attributed to the fact that I will read anything put in front of me, and often retain the knowledge for no useful purpose. This time it paid off though, and for that I feel eternally grateful to Zakk Wylde.

I have to say, despite trying to cram at least some song knowledge in during the road trip (we forgot to bring along any of Scoochie's BLS CDs, and so needed to make an "emergency" stop along the way), I still arrived knowing no songs at all, and didn't even know who the opening bands were going to be until they actually came onstage. In spite of that, I have to say this was one of the best concerts musically that I have ever been to. I have been to quite a few concerts in my day, though preparations for this particular concert caused me to realize that somehow I haven't been to a music concert in ten years. Me! The girl who has seen over the years Kiss, The Beastie Boys, George Strait, Sarah McLachland (2x), Marilyn Manson, The Violent Femmes, Ani Difranco, Dar Williams, Dan Bern, Jewel (2x), Indigo Girls (3x), U2, Depeche Mode, Reba McEntire.... well, I think you get the picture. So I thought I knew what I was doing when we finally got into the concert and I said I wanted to stand up front.

Apparently, I've never been to a HEAVY metal concert. A Beastie Boys mosh pit pales in comparison. Violent Femmes? Nope. Marilyn Manson?? A rough one, but not even close. For some reason, heavy metal fans are much taller than other fans. So when I stood up at the very front with only two strangers between me and a metal fence, I was towered over from all sides. And once the music started, that became a dangerous scenario to be in, since everyone started slamming into each other and jumping up and down. Luckily for me, I'm a slammer and jumper too, but my lack of height definitely put me at a disadvantage. Poor Scoochie had to spend the entire show with his arms wrapped around me to form a protective cage so I wouldn't get knocked over.

Did I mention we had a blast?

We have no pictures to speak of for the concert, due to the fact that I was trying mostly to stay alive, and didn't need the added worry of protecting any electronics. I have decided that I will definitely need to rethink my strategy for our next planned concert outing; Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction at the Sasquatch Festival in May. Maybe steel-toed platform boots?

Hop on over to my sister's blog to see the photos she took while watching the kids and pets during our absence. They didn't miss us at all!