Taking a page from the book of Mötley Crüe (but not the actual Mötley Crüe book), I am taking a brief intermission in the middle of the Mötley Crüe concert. I had part two of the concert review slated for today but I got an email last night from one of the regulars that gave me the idea for an intermission. He brought up many good questions, and the answers to those questions may help you enjoy the Mötley Crüe review experience.
The wise reader said that if I hate Nikki Sixx and knew that Vince Neil would sing every other word, why would I go to a fairly expensive rock concert? In parentheses he asked if they were free tickets. Well, yes. Thanks to LCG's little brother I ended up with a pair of Mötley Crüe tickets. LCG's little brother (destined forever to be known as a little brother even though he is around twenty-four) had a spare Mötley Crüe ticket which he offered to LCG. LCG said he would take that spare ticket but would not go himself.
As he recounted this story to me on the phone I got that sinking feeling.
Me: Ohhhhh, no.
LCG: Yes!
Me: I'm. Not. Going. To. Mötley. Crüe.
LCG: Come on! You and my little brother? At Mötley Crüe? It will be such a good time!
Me: Maybe for you. (For the record, I like LCG's little brother. One hundred percent of the issue was the Mötley Crüe part.) Why don't you go?
LCG: Why would I go when I can hear about it from you?
Me: Bunghole.
LCG: You never saw them back in the day, did you?
Me: Nope.
LCG: See? You have to go! And think about it! It's not just me! You owe it to your readers to go! You must suffer for your art.
This brings me to the part of yesterday's email where the reader said he wouldn't pay for something that would irritate him because he's not a glutton for punishment. The email, by the way, was not as rude as I may be making it sound. There were lots of smileys to assure me of that. Glutton for punishment could accurately describe some of my concert going habits.
I keep my concerts filed in a few different categories. Some concerts I don't write up, and I never thought much about it until last year when Megala asked me when I was going to post my David Bowie review. That January I had posted a giddy newsflash right after I got home from the Bowie show. A couple of weeks later, Megala provided consumer demand and I had to say, well, it's never being written up. It fell into the wrong category.
I didn't take a notebook to David Bowie. I didn't even have a pen in my pocket in case I had to make emergency notes on my arm. I showed up and took my spot next to CEB and during the first song he said, "Where's the notebook?" I told him I didn't bring one. He gave me his best surprised look, I assume because he is used to the presence of the pocket notebook, or because a Bowie concert is surely a hotbed of material.
No, it's not. It's a place for me to go and dig on the fact that All The Young Dudes is one of the greatest songs ever written and just love the music and love David Bowie. That was one of the best times I've ever had at a concert and I can't tell you anything concrete about it. The specific memories are fuzzy, but as a whole I remember it was excellent. That doesn't make for good reading.
Other times I go because it's a band I missed out on when I was young, like Poison or the triple bill of Dokken, Whitesnake, and the Scorpions. (That one I never wrote up because I was still in school with a busy quarter.) Those concerts are hit or miss. Whitesnake exceeded my expectations and stole the show. On the other hand, I'm still mad about Poison. Even though I may or may not enjoy those concerts, they often make for a good story.
Then there is the most vague of categories, the oh, why not? category. The night of Kelly Osbourne I went on the spur of the moment just to see what it would be like. The ticket price was cheaper than a CD (not that I buy CDs, but I'm sure you take my point) and I would much rather try music in person than buy an untried record. I wasn't especially crazy about her music, it just wasn't my thing. However, her crowd banter and the way she handled her heckler is something I remember fondly.
Since my friends all know I'll go see any old crap (most of them will go see any old crap too so they shouldn't really point fingers) sometimes I experience peer pressure to go to something I may not enjoy. LCG and CEB happen to be big fans of my unflattering concert reviews; they think it is far more hilarious if I have a bad time at a concert than if I have a good time.
This is the reason LCG wanted me to go see Mötley Crüe. He thought hearing about Mötley Crüe from me would be more fun than actually going. I appreciated the compliment but not the Mötley Crüe ticket which eventually became Mötley Crüe tickets. The night before the concert LCG's little brother said he couldn't go. His wife was coming back from a vacation and there may have been babysitter issues too. LCG said, "She was just in Florida! You can take two hours for the Crüe!" That argument didn't work and suddenly LCG had his very own Mötley Crüe ticket, which he didn't want.
We sat around trying to figure out who might want the ticket. By Monday afternoon we hadn't thought of anybody so LCG resigned himself to going. Then I got home from work and checked my email and had a note from Jeff J.! He had written to say hi and asked in passing if I was going to Mötley Crüe. I went, "We have a winner!" and called him right up.
Jeff J.: Hello.
Me: Spare ticket to Mötley Crüe! Do you want to go?
Jeff J.: How much?
Me: Free!
Jeff J.: Yes!
Sweet! Jeff J. lives between my house and downtown so it was a slick carpool arrangement, never mind the fact that he was the biggest Crüe fan I knew when we were in school. I kicked myself for not thinking of him sooner and called LCG.
Me: Jeff J.'s in!
LCG: I am so happy! Not only does Jeff J. get to go...
Me: ...you don't have to!
LCG: Exactly!
And that is how I ended up going to see Mötley Crüe with Jeff J., all thanks to LCG's little brother. Go ahead and think I'm a chump for going, but at least now you can stop wondering why I did go.