I’m not going to bury the lede. I’m having David J play my 55th birthday bash! (And by bash I mean it’ll be David and Erin and me. That’s it. Call me selfish, but I don’t want to share, and I don’t have to.)
I first thought of this idea when I was on the verge of turning 50. I saw that David was playing some house shows and that his fee was reasonable. He had a guaranteed minimum, but the host could sell tickets. Or something. I don’t really remember. I do remember lamenting that I did not have a house big enough.
Then it dawned on me that I could rent a space. I used to help book shows all the time in college. Big ones like U2 and New Kids on the Block and little ones like Fugazi and Hot Glue Gun and every band in-between. My motto back then was “anyone live.” I saw hundreds of bands and interviewed a slew of them for college radio.
I probably helped put on 50 shows in the M-Shop. So Suddenly I thought, I’ll rent the place. I’ll get someone to do sound (Hi Chad), and for the night the M-Shop can be my living room.
Then COVID-19 (as we called it then) hit. My dream, like many of my dreams, came crashing down and this idea faded.
I’ve always had eclectic music tastes. I know most people say this and believe it, but I’m comfortable in so many genres. I’ve been into gothic, electronic, synth, experimental, industrial, big hair rock, metal, singer songwriter music, country, and I helped define “college rock” with three radio programs and writings on music.
My tastes change, and my interests in various genres wax and wane, but one of the few constants has been my love for Bauhaus, Love & Rockets, Tones on Tail (yes, I know David wasn’t in this band), and David’s solo work. I was obsessed with Bauhaus in high school (as my then girlfriend could attest). I was obsessed with Bauhaus and Love & Rockets and David J in college (as my then girlfriend could attest). I even went to a halloween party dressed as one of the Bubblemen along with my friends Joe and Chad.
Anyway, I’m no longer in a tiny duplex. We’re not in lockdown. And I wanted something good and decent in my life. I reached out to David.
Erin and I still treat Covid (as we call it now) as something serious. Neither of us have had it. Neither of us want it. We mask in public. Erin is 100% work from home and I tried to minimize my in-person contact when I was at work. Things have changed in my working life (and I’m not ready to talk about that yet), and I’m currently “on leave.” I may or may not go back, but like I said, I’m not ready to talk about that yet.
Since we’re part of the minority that is still “Covid cautious” I proposed a virtual show. I figured a few songs over FaceTime and it would be a scaled down version of what I’d been planning 6 years ago, but David quoted two prices. One for virtual and one for live in my living room. (I now have a living room.)
I haven’t figured out all of the logistics yet, but I paid the deposit today. It’s going to be the three of us. This is surreal.
I feel like I’m living the plot of the movie The Ballad of Wallis Island (but without the suitcase of money). My friend Marty says it’s more like the Diary of a Mad Millionaire episode of The Partridge Family. I don’t know, but I do know my inner 14 year old, inner 20 year old, and my middle-aged self are living the dream.
Christopher
p.s. I’ll probably delete this later or move it over to The Great House Project, but I wanted to write it and I didn’t know where to put it.
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