Things I Did (or Didn't Do) This Summer, Part 3

Way back in 1996 I dated this guy named Sean who had really great hair. It was my freshman year of high school and the first time I had a boyfriend on Valentine's Day. In honor of the occasion, he bought a gigantic bag of Skittles and separated out all of the purple ones for me. They were in a white paper bag decorated with pink and red hearts. Two weeks later he dumped me. More precisely, he had one of our mutual friends call me and do it for him. Sa-weet!

But I did get a few things out of that (brief) relationship - a navy blue hoodie, my first real kiss, and my love of NOFX. Sean introduced me to punk rock, and for that I thank him.

(Note: I might take some sick pleasure in seeing that he's now completely bald. He really did have some great hair, but that was a really ball-less way to dump a girl)

A few months ago I happened to dig out some old mixtapes. I popped the first one into the tape player in my car and was greeted with the beat to Linoleum - one of my most favorite NOFX songs. I decided to pull up their website and see what they were up to. Well, one of the first links I clicked on was about a 2012 tour, and... they were coming to Cincinnati! Not just to Cincinnati, but to Bogart's, one of my main high school hangouts. Yay! But the problem was, who would go with me? C and I share a lot of musical interests, but punk rock just wasn't something he ever got into. My close high school friends were long gone and the ones who were still in town weren't the type that I could just randomly call up for company. So I decided to take my search to the internet, where I asked begged this super cool internet friend of mine to come with me. I knew she'd say yes, and she did!

Concert day came and we dressed up in our favorite Chucks, because where else can you wear them if you can't wear them to a concert??

 

 

There were a million opening acts. Ok, there were three. But it felt like a million! The website had said there were two, and the show started at 8, so I had calculated that NOFX would take the stage no later than 9:30 and we'd be home and sleeping by midnight. Yeah... not so much. They didn't even set up until after 10, by which time I was already yawning and lounging against the wall. I'm so old! Thankfully, my youthful exuberance returned once they ran out onstage and started playing. I had never actually gotten to see them live, so this was really, really awesome.

 

We stayed clear of the mosh pit.

 

 

They played my most favorite song - Linoleum. I tried to take a video for my sister, but in true to my oldness I pulled a grandma and ended up with just the last 30 seconds



I stumbled home around midnight:30, exhausted and with less than 5 hours before I had to get up to go to work. It was a long night, but so incredibly worth it. Thanks, H!

 

 

In the afterglow, I reminisced about how political music used to be. You know, back in the "good old days." And so, in honor of the current election season, I present one of my most favorite NOFX songs ever - Perfect Government