ayla

So last night was the Redemption 87 reunion show at The Pound SF. Tonight is the Gilman show, but I is a no show because I lack one single, crucial detail: a membership card. (Must buy one soon. All the good shows are at the Gilman. Grrr.)

We (Amber, Debbie and I) got to the venue around 9ish. Right when one of the bands was going on. I wish like hell I had caught their name, but I didn't. BUT I did recognize the lead singer....as RJ, one of A.F.I.'s roadies. I never knew he had a band!!! They're pretty damn good, I must say. Place was packed already and we instantly started burning up because of how crowded it was. We were standing on the right side of the stage, by a chained off area that was strictly for backstagers. I saw that Adam was there, to which I'm like, "Damn, probably won't get to meet him, eh, oh well." (Adam is the only member of Ahfee I hadn't met yet.) We didn't think Davey would be there because his god, Morrissey, is playing some SoCal shows. But, a few minutes after we got there and found a spot, Amber grabs my shirt, pulls me over and yells in my ear "Davey's here after all." That genuinely surprised me. I mean, yeah, I didn't really think that he would abandon his friend, but still..it's Morrissey...and though I can't understand the appeal...it's Morrissey. Smith was there too, of course. We saw him in the crowd when we first got there, Amber introduced me, and thank god almighty - he didn't remember me from the San Bernardino show. There is a God after all.

Anyways, so RJ's band was indeed awesome. There was another band that played, Powerhouse, but I didn't pay much attention to them. By that time, it was around 10 ish and I was on the verge of passing out from the heat and crush of the crowd, and the fact that I was clad in all black didn't really help matters any. Before Redemption 87's set, I went to get some water, and ran into Amber (hadn't known she had taken off for a second), who was talking to Dan (The Frisk) and Hunter. I was suprised that Dan recognized me. I've only talked to him once, but I came up to them and nodded and Dan smiled all big and was all "Heeeeeey!" He so sweet, I need to message him or something. Hunter cut his hair, it looks cute. I think Dan cut his hair too.

So, finally, Redemption 87 comes onstage around 10:45. The place got packed to the brim real quick - to the point where most of us could not move a bit. Davey chose those few moments before the band started to come out of hiding and make his way through the crowd. So Amber was right on that point. Amber pointed out that one of the guys in the band is Timmy Chunks - who is Green Day's tour manager, I guess. People cheered when he came onstage. They cheered a little more when the other members make their way onstage. JADE walks onstage and the crowd fucking erupts. (Hmmm...wonder why?) To note: THEY WERE FUCKING AWESOME. Need to find some of their stuff now.

I couldn't see the band from where I was at, and I was tired of being squashed, so I went to the bathroom to cool off again, then made my way to the pit. Hey, if I'm going to be sweating my ass off because of how many people are there, I'm gonna have some fun doing it. So I got to the edge of the pit, so I could shove people in, and saw Alex (BALExTRON) was there too. Yay! So we had fun getting pushed back by moshers and shoving people in the pit. Lo and behold, I look around and there's Davey, doing the same damn thing as us. He did eventually jump into the pit...and now I'm forever traumatized, because he just does NOT belong in the pit - he has NO clue what the hell he's doing anymore. I about shit myself twice laughing. Towards the end of the show, RJ made his way out there and jumped in the pit. My god, that guys is fucking BRUTAL! I'm never jumping into a pit if he's in there. Davey got shoved into me, so I shoved him back...and cringed cause I got Davey sweat on my hands. (Ew!). RJ was shoved into me twice, shoved him back into the pit twice. I think I shoved a little too hard the second time, cause he went clear across the pit, got all confused, turned around and saw who shoved him and was shocked...umm...ooops? And in case you're wondering (I know some of you might be) yes, Jade was fucking great. He really is an awesome guitarist. (And he looked pretty damn good to boot.)

Finally, show ends around a quarter to 12. Everyone starts to pile out. I talked to Alex while Amber milled around, saying hi to her buddies. I went to tell Dan bye, and was hugging him when some guy comes up to us and says, "I know you're not hangin' on my bitch." Dan got this "what the fuck?!?" look on his face. I said, "Oh, damn, I'm sorry, but can I borrow him on the weekends?" De-nied. Damn. *lol* She introduced me to Timmy Chunks, he's kickass. Smith was over by the backstage entrance, and some girl from NC that's tight with A.F.I. was calling to Smith. No response. So Amber calls. No response. I call, even though I'm still terrified of him. No response. Fucker couldn't hear us. So Timmy belts out "SMITH!!!!!!" He jumps and turns around, and comes over. Timmy goes, "She wants to talk to you, she wans to say by, and she's scared of you, " and points to me. Smith looks at me with a raised eyebrow. I go, "Thank you Timmy, for airing that to the world." He goes, "It's best to get it out in the open." Amber, fucking smartass, goes "It's like group therapy." I've already been in group therapy and it sucked!!!!!! Anyways, I noticed that Alex came from backstage, so I approach him and asked if Davey was still there. He's all, "Yeah, why?" I told him about some charged crystals and a blessed pendant I've been trying to get to him since February. After debating if we could talk the security guard into letting me backstage for a few, and some kid volunteering to give me his backstage wrist band, we approach the security guard, who after a moment agreed to let me go backstage.

So I go, thinking that he might be in the green room (I know the backstage area to The Pound quite well, I've interviewed bands there before.) Out of the corner of my eye, I see Davey's outside, not backstage. Shit, if I had known that, I would have just walked outside from the main entrance and walked around to the loading area. AND I would have taken Amber with me to say hi. But anyways, he wasn't even looking in my direction, I wasn't in his line of sight, not even out of the corner of his eye, no one was paying any attention to me, and I made no sounds, I was so fucking nervous. I take three steps in his direction and he instantly turns to look at me. (How...the...hell...did he know I was there?) But anyways, nervous and as shaky as I was, I finally got my gift to him (to which he smiled and thanked me), hugged him and went on my merry way...and had to lean on Amber again to keep my knees from giving out on me. (That's the second fucking time that's happened, and NO OTHER GUY has ever been able to do that to me! WHAT THE FUCK, YO!?!?) Adam walked by and Amber grabbed him and said, "This is my friend Lauren, you're the only member of the band she hasn't met yet." (I'm soooo going to get her for that.) He gets a "Oh really?" look on his face and said hi. Yay! Met Adam. Amber asked him when he was getting his hair cut, (I guess he mentioned something about that at a Bleeding Through show recently) and he said, "Oh next week maybe." Amber protested and I said, "No, you can't, your hair looks cute like that!" He got all red and smiled (I think, sounded like he did in his voice) and walked away waving his hands and saying "No no no..." (Awwwwww!)

Amber stuck around to talk to her friend Brandon for a while, he's a good kid. Then we left, I came home and crashed like a tree in the forest. If that makes sense. That was my night in a whole. No pictures this time, sorry. I can't afford film now, and I couldn't have gotten good pics anyways.

Oh, and today, I made $12 - $2 in tips and $10 on a bet that a customer that asked me to change my gloves would be ordering a vegetarian sandwich. I was right. Like always.