against you!

last month someone told me that against me! was scheduled to play northampton in september. five years ago i would have been ecstatic to see them play, as they became one of my favorite bands upon first listen. in fact, i did go to one of their shows in october of 2002 at abc no rio in nyc. it was amazing. unfortunately, they are a much different band now.

thursday night's show was part of a tour to support their major label debut no wave. i had an idea to gather some friends outside the show and do some covers of their old songs as everyone was pouring out of the club. we would sing:

we want a band that plays loud and hard every night
and doesn't care how many people are counted at the door
who will travel one million miles
and ask for nothing but a plate of food and a place to rest

i was scheduled to work thursday night. if i had gotten a free ticket i would've tried to get the night off but i didn't really try. i wanted to make fliers for the against you! performance but i never got around to it and all the people who were down with the idea couldn't make it. as i biked home from work jocelyn called from the show. the song was inaudible as i sped down the hill from florence but it was definitely against me! playing.

i biked down there as everyone was getting out and i wish i had my fucking guitar. the drummer, warren oakes, was signing autographs and hugging extremely cliched-looking punk girls in front of the ginormous tour bus. i thought about the kid who was hitchiking from gainesville earlier this summer and how warren was the first boy he had ever kissed. i just stood there dumbfounded, yearning to share the moment with someone who could understand. i called nick albertson who used to sing along to their old songs with me when we were at bard college. he lives in portland now but was in new york for a few days when i called. i described the situation and wished that he was there, on top of the tour bus with me singing:

who strike chords that cut like a knife
mean so much more than t-shirts or ticket stubs
and will stop nothing short of a massacre
and everyone will leave with the memory
that there's no place else in the world
and this is where they've always belonged

i returned to that same spot, across from pearl street, the following day to retrieve my bike that i had left there over night. it was gone. actually, it wasn't even my bike. it was emily's and she was loaning it to me indefinitely so i could commute to work.