Ryan ChartrandIt’s Monday and I’m starting to write my column already. My next one comes out in the morning. I’m a little embarrassed because that column is mostly about me and how I think I’m a bad writer and not really about the concert I went to which was amazing. The problem is, I was going to write that this week because I knew there were no shows between now and when my column is due Sunday night. The Twilight Sad show will be on the next Monday and I won’t want to write about it late because the next column will be about the Folk Yeah festival.
So, I’ve basically screwed myself and run through a list of topics. It occurs to me that I never really explained how I got pneumonia before spring break and it’s a really great story. So, here’s the column about The Dead Science and Parenthetical Girls. A little late, but if it was worth pneumonia, then hopefully it’s worth reading about a month after it happened.
I almost pass out dragging equipment from the station between coughing fits. The Dead Science pull in late and, as has become the norm, give me the traditional hug. I tell them I’ve got to go pick up some pasta I’ve cooked for them and they ask me if it’s OK for them to practice Prince covers for the after party later that night. Of course it’s OK because it’s the first confirmation I get of them playing as a Prince cover band for the after party with local cover band the Its, who only play songs that have the word “it” in the title.
The show goes well and there’s a good turnout. The Dead Science play like the amazingly talented individuals they are; impressive every single time with incredible theatrics. Parenthetical Girls follow up the show. I’m slightly distracted because their keyboardist is amazingly beautiful. Their lead singer talks a lot about Spider-Man in some strange comparison between him and the band. The show ends with all the members slamming their hands and various instruments into the drum kit. We all love it. I buy a vinyl and start pulling out equipment for the after party.
Here’s where things get a little hectic. The whole show plus a few latecomers ship over to a late-night, which is made up of members of The Lounge, house party where the Its begin playing. They’re protecting a 30 pack of beer and cannoning cans out into the audience between covers of “Say It Ain’t So” and “Push It.” Dancing and craziness sweep the entire crowd.
During the whole affair, I work out a possible internship. The lead singer of Parenthetical Girls runs a record label and I ask if I can do public relations work for them. He tells me it should work out fine while sipping back on my friend’s home brew.
The Dead Science follow up with a full set of Prince covers. And somewhere around 2 a.m. I have a shirtless Sam Mickens hoisted over my head while he yells out “I Would Die 4 U.” He passes out on the floor and the whole things seems to end. However, the music kicks back and he starts singing again from the floor.
The party dies out. I get driven home only to realize I don’t have the keys to my house. A fellow DJ borrowed them to unlock the station for graveyard shifts. I walk all the way to the station to get them.
By the time I get home, it’s around 4 a.m. I catch a few hours of sleep and wake up feeling just as bad as I was when I did while dragging equipment the night before. Hours later, I learn from the Health Center that I have pneumonia. My St. Patrick’s Day involves me laying in bed reading a copy of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “Love in the Time of Cholera.” I realize I’ve probably had pneumonia for a while and not known it. Thank God I didn’t though because I might not have been able to see one of the best late-night shows of my life.
Show tip: Folk Yeah! this weekend! Three-day folk festival in Big Sur. I was sold a long time ago. If you weren’t, it’s too bad because tickets are sold out.