It's been a rough couple of days, so I decided to reminisce to make myself feel better...
At the end of last summer a couple of friends and I were looking at Danzig tour dates (because who doesn't spend their nights obsessing over various bands???) and we saw that Doyle was touring with Danzig. YOWZA! Being from lil ole Reno, we knew they wouldn't be coming through our city, so we started checking out tour dates we could make the drive for. We wound up settling on Wednesday August 21st, 2013 in Boise, ID.
I work weekdays, and I also coach cheerleading after my work days, so due to my busy schedule, and even taking off two regular work days, we were going to have to drive through the night Tuesday after I got out of practice, get there Wednesday morning, locate a hotel, hopefully nap, see the show Wednesday night, and drive back Thursday morning in time for a football game at which my girls had to cheer.
We left Reno Tuesday night around 10, loaded up with candy and ZERO music as my car is not modern enough to have an auxiliary input and none of us even had cd's. And let's be honest, rural Nevada doesn't offer much in the way of radio stations... One friend ate too much candy and passed out in the back seat, so the other friend was a real dear and kept me awake (sometimes by singing songs from Dirty Dancing, what a peach!) while I drove us at light speed.
When we got to Boise Wednesday morning, we discovered that there was some major fire raging nearby and most of the hotel rooms had been taken by firefighters working that blaze. Luckily, after about an hour of the three of us calling every place we could find, we found an open hotel room that was even going to let us check in early, yay! We got settled in the room, and my friends promptly fell asleep. I, however, received multiple phone calls from my work asking various "how to" questions, so I decided to just shower and get ready instead.
After the boys napped, I hung around some more while they got ready and then we grabbed some lunch. One of them realized at that point that he had somehow managed to lose his e-cig, and thus an emergency expedition through downtown Boise was born. We (thankfully) quickly found an e-cig store to calm his nerves, but we were still a bit early to head to the show venue. Shortly we came upon a record store, and decided that was a good way to kill time, so I cut a few cars off and parked along the curb outside the store.
We went inside and promptly started seeking out Misfits memorabilia, as one does in a record store. One of the guys and I were checking out some vinyls we found, when our other friend came speeding up to us saying, "He's here. He's here." We laughed, because there was no way we were going to let our friend mess with us.
At this point, it's worth noting that we, being good little stalkers, are aware that Danzig hangs out in local used book stores and record stores when in town for a show...
As I said, we didn't believe our friend, and he quickly gave up on us and hurried away to another aisle. We began to falter in our disbelief, we followed him to the aisle he disappeared down, and lo and behold there was the man himself, Glenn Danzig!
I've never seen two more giddy and shy men! They asked Danzig if they could take a picture with him, and I had the honor of being their photographer. After some thank you's and praising (Danzig narrowly avoided us dropping to our knees and shouting, "We're not worthy!") we let him go about his business.
I then noticed a Legacy of Brutality print sitting around, waiting to be purchased. Now again, being good little stalkers, we were also aware of Danzig's tendency to avoid certain bits of Misfits merchandise. Not being sure if this print would be one of those items, my friends decided to send the tiny little girl to ask for an autograph. To my delight, he happily signed my print and posed for a picture with me!!!
Glenn Danzig (left) ... Ava peeing her pants (right)
The man was a real gent, and it was just thrilling to have met him.
After much squealing with excitement in the car, we finally arrived at the show venue. While waiting in line to enter, a couple of girls in front of me were talking about how Danzig never takes pictures with people. They were sadly misinformed, and being as how I hadn't yet had any whisky so I was still a relatively nice person, I did not pull out my phone, show them the pictures, and yell, "YES HE DOES! YES HE DOES!"
After getting through all the venue's security measures (that always manage to miss my switchblade, by the way), we went inside to peruse band merch and get some drinks.
By this time, someone had decided it was a good idea to feed feisty little Irish Ava some whisky, so I was feeling good and super excited about the show. After Huntress finished their set we figured it was a good time to get to the front near the stage. Now, my friends are about 6' tall a piece, and I'm all of 5'2" on a good day. My height aside, we all enjoy being right on top of the stage anyway. As we headed up there, I spotted an open area at the railing and made right for it. Unfortunately, next to that open area were some terrifically unpleasant women who were hell bent on keeping me from being that close.
As I said, I'd had a bit of whisky, and I do get whisky mean. I started to talk a little shit because, hey, I'm 5'2" and about to see some legendary music, for chrissake! Well, these women decided to start nonchalantly throwing elbows and loudly telling each other how obnoxious the redhead next to them was when they were there first. Just as I was about to start some real problems, one of my friends grabbed my arm and whispered to me that he'd handle it. He proceeded to charm the pants of these two ladies, and they no longer had any problem with me standing next to them.
And the metal began...
The show was just brilliant! After a killer Danzig set (including my favorite, How the Gods Kill), Doyle came stomping on stage and we got one helluva Misfits set. The whole show was just amazing. My friends and I screamed the lyrics to every song they played in both sets, while I overheard one of the women telling the other, "I don't even know who this Doyle guy is. I just like the song Mother." Thankfully I was too awestruck by what I was seeing/hearing to do a little striking of my own...
After the show ended, it came time for a certain specialty my friend and I have - grabbing up show memorabilia. He's super tall with long arms and can always reach past everyone else at the railing, and I'm strong and light so I can climb the railing and get myself where I need to be. We made out like bandits! We managed to get 2 1/2 out of the 3 set lists (one signed by Tommy Victor) and two guitar picks. After all was said and done, between the record store, merch tables, and our special talent, we wound up with some killer stuff!
Misfits, Danzig, and Doyle merch (front of the lens) ... Ava peeing her pants (behind the lens)
We slept, we drove, we got home, so on and so forth... :)
That was one helluva trip. :]
