Pages

Wednesday, September 6, 2006

A Day In The Parking Lot

After a fruitful day at work, I decided to head over to Rolling Stones in Norridge, IL to see a famous rockstar, one that I admire and respect. So, I got there around 4:45 for a 7-9 PM meet and greet. I had called the record store previously to see what the line looked like and they made it sound pretty grim. I jumped into the MoMo and headed on over from Schaumburg as quickly as possible. The entire time I was bracing myself for a line wrapped around the block for this guy, because surely there were legions of fans like myself waiting to see him.

I got to the corner of Irving Park and Central and saw the record store...but no line. Weird. And I actually found parking right up front of the building. Weird. I parked the MoMo and stepped inside expecting to see the crazy queue, but to no avail. Weird Just saw some dudes walking around looking for records. Not weird. What gives?

I non-chalantly walk up to the counter and ask the goth chick working it, "Where does the line for the signing start?"

She looked at me as if I had just mispelled my own name on the SAT. "It's right out there," she nodded to the exit.

I then said, "Ok" and proceeded out the door. Now I noticed the line. There were maybe 25 people in line sitting on the curb playing a lot of Metallica and Megadeth circa 1985! Excellent. I then spent the next 2 hours getting to know this kid Jim who was 23 but looked 16 and this other dorky kid named Alex along with two girls Liz and Jen. The first thing I noticed was the age of the people in line. The average age was 15, so, I got promoted to the oldest guy in line REALLY quickly . I watched them in awe as they acted like, well, 16 year olds. The whole time I was thinking, "Man, I'm glad I'm almost 30." They were loud, annoying, and a bit obnoxious...just like I did when I was 16. I would love to think that I was the epitome of coolness but I know that I was just as geeky as a lot of the kids in line. It was refreshing to know that I've kept a bit of that youthful spirit into my older years. It was also refreshing to know that I have a good sensibility (most of the time) as to when to play and when to chill.

The line formed up and we got started a little bit after 7 PM. I got the new record, got it opened (only 1 item allowed to be signed), and a picture of the great man, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave fame.



They wouldn't allow me to take a picture with him, but I got to shake his hand and then left. The whole event took less than a minute, but the two hours leading up to it were a lot of fun!
Currently listening :
Revelations
By Audioslave
Release date: By 05 September, 2006

Note: This was orignially posted on MySpace with comments at:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&FriendID=16074757&blogMonth=9&blogDay=5&blogYear=2006

No comments: