It was incredibly hot Thursday - as in 100 degree temperatures. Apparently there was a heat advisory in Livermore, which is pretty much as far east as you can go in Alameda County. (I don't even want to imagine what it was like in Pittsburg/Bay Point -officially considered the end of the East Bay.) It was hella hot in Emeryville and that's as far west as you can get. Plus, it was a "Spare the Air" day, which was perfect for those folks biking to work.
We're all very green and progressively environmental at my office, so it was only fitting that we throw a beer keg party at Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe for those people who actually rolled into their offices on "Bike to Work Day." Organic beer served in compostable cups makes me incredibly proud of the progressiveness of East Bay communities. Al Gore would weep tears of joy.
But as stoked as my coworkers were about working an outdoor event in that heat, they were even more excited for the make-shift after party. Or, the real party as some of us saw it.
I can't lie. I definitely have some awesome perks that come with my job. I handle the copy for club ads that run in our paper. So, I have contact with a few club promoters. It's mostly via email and I've never met them face-to-face, but they count on me to make sure the listings on their ads are correct. We were a bit passed deadline when the promoter from the Stork Club in Oakland called me in total excitement. "You have to change the May 15th listing. I just confirmed Foxboro Hot Tubs for that night!"
Ok, so, for those of you who have spent the last few months living in a cave somewhere in the middle of nowhere, Foxboro Hot Tubs is a Green Day side project. The only one with all three of the original members playing in it. (Plus two other guys who aren't Billie Joe, Mike or Tre.)
There was this whole hoopla when the singles started surfacing on the internet. Radio personalities were suggesting that the singer sounded a lot like Billie Joe and that it had to be them because Foxboro Hot Tubs is some kind of reference to something in Rodeo. (Not to be confused with Hottubs, a new wave chick band from Oakland, or the Hot Tubs in Berkeley fondly referred to as the "Soak and Poke" by locals.) Ahh, Rodeo . . . the jewel of Contra Costa County and home to the alleged Zodiac killer. The only time I actually go to Rodeo is when I stop for a latte at the drive-thru Starbucks on the way to Sonoma.
But for those in the know and I'm excluding the DJs at Live105 from this, apparently they've been doing this for a while. Green Day started as a small club punk group playing at places like the Stork Club, 924 Gilman and Ashkenaz. They were already huge the first time I saw them play at The Fillmore in The City. I think they were actually on their third major label CD at that point, but they still played like they were in a small club interacting with the audience, throwing beer, getting buck naked . . . etc. But Billie Joe still signed my girlfriends' book and gave us all Green Day stickers. What more could a 16 year old want? Plus, I think he might have winked at us. I heart rock stars that don't act like rock stars. So, I was very disappointed when i went to see them on the American Idiot tour at AT&T Park. It was decent concert, but it made me feel old because there were a bunch of teeny boppers with their parents waving their phones around as if they were lighters. It was incredibly depressing even though they put on an awesome show.
I think this is their way of playing the smaller venues without getting mobbed. And . . . I've also heard from those in the know that it's their great marketing ploy to test out prospective hits with a new audience. Oh, please, as if they need to worry about getting another hit.
The show itself was awesome. I got there early enough to not find a huge line to wait in. (Again, another reason not to trust the dumbasses at Live105). I only paid $5 - unlike the $20 they had advertised and broadcasted. It was probably the awesome East Bay Express wristband I was still wearing from the bike'n beer party earlier. I don't like to flash the fact that I work for the raddest (and only) independent alternative weekly in the EB, but I will, if necessary. I think I even scored some brownie points by inter-departmental guest list adding. It's good to make everyone happy.
The club was fucking packed. Luckily we all found the outside area to chill at for three hours. As chilled as one could get. If it was 80 degrees outside, it was at least 280 degrees inside. One of the "special guests" as I had put it on the ad sang some punk song about . . . you guessed it . . . Rodeo! After this they excused themselves to make room for "the next band". At this point the brave few of us that had stuck together practiced the fine art of throwing elbows -something I haven't had the pleasure of doing in a while. We nudged our way into a little nook between MacSweaty and MacSmelly. Imagine being fully clothed in a sauna full of belligerent hipsters, punksters, skinheads and motorcycle gang members blocking you on either side, sweat dripping from every pore of your body, holding on for dear life to the only source of hydration at your disposal. PBRs are exactly like H2O -but not as good when hot. I loathe hot beer and got even more pissed because my 40 oz. cans kept turning into hot water.
And then . . . finally . . . at 11 pm they came on stage and a tidal wave of terror and fear swept over me. Literally. Before I knew it I was being cast into the mosh pit. I'm not a mosher. The last time I was in a mosh pit was at the Vans Warped Tour during the Dead Kennedy's set. I remember almost getting an asthma attack but somehow being helped up by a cute skater boy and finding a $20 bill on the floor. I started flailing around drowning in the chaos until a hand grabbed me and pulled me back to safety. I love having tall coworkers - they're like body guards. My other two vertically challenged coworkers in front of me were not so lucky. People started pushing me around, so I pushed them back. It was a pretty tame pit for the most part. Five songs into the set sweat was dripping off my clothes and the coworker who saved me suggested we seek refuge in fresh air, sarcastically adding: "Congratulations! You now have hepatitis!" Awesome.
I didn't get to see the encore. I didn't even get to see their faces. But the short coworkers who got swept away made it to the front to see and confirm that it was indeed the three dudes from Green Day. Suck on that Live105! All in all a pretty fucking awesome experience. Not only did I prove that I can still stay up late partying on a "school night", I can also brave the mosh pit. Best of all, I got to see the very first show in the very first Foxboro Hot Tubs tour ever. Friday they played Toots Tavern in Crockett before heading to Little Rock, Arkansas. Now, here's my geography lesson for the day: any idea where Crockett is? Dude, it's right next to Rodeo!
We're all very green and progressively environmental at my office, so it was only fitting that we throw a beer keg party at Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe for those people who actually rolled into their offices on "Bike to Work Day." Organic beer served in compostable cups makes me incredibly proud of the progressiveness of East Bay communities. Al Gore would weep tears of joy.
But as stoked as my coworkers were about working an outdoor event in that heat, they were even more excited for the make-shift after party. Or, the real party as some of us saw it.
I can't lie. I definitely have some awesome perks that come with my job. I handle the copy for club ads that run in our paper. So, I have contact with a few club promoters. It's mostly via email and I've never met them face-to-face, but they count on me to make sure the listings on their ads are correct. We were a bit passed deadline when the promoter from the Stork Club in Oakland called me in total excitement. "You have to change the May 15th listing. I just confirmed Foxboro Hot Tubs for that night!"
Ok, so, for those of you who have spent the last few months living in a cave somewhere in the middle of nowhere, Foxboro Hot Tubs is a Green Day side project. The only one with all three of the original members playing in it. (Plus two other guys who aren't Billie Joe, Mike or Tre.)
There was this whole hoopla when the singles started surfacing on the internet. Radio personalities were suggesting that the singer sounded a lot like Billie Joe and that it had to be them because Foxboro Hot Tubs is some kind of reference to something in Rodeo. (Not to be confused with Hottubs, a new wave chick band from Oakland, or the Hot Tubs in Berkeley fondly referred to as the "Soak and Poke" by locals.) Ahh, Rodeo . . . the jewel of Contra Costa County and home to the alleged Zodiac killer. The only time I actually go to Rodeo is when I stop for a latte at the drive-thru Starbucks on the way to Sonoma.
But for those in the know and I'm excluding the DJs at Live105 from this, apparently they've been doing this for a while. Green Day started as a small club punk group playing at places like the Stork Club, 924 Gilman and Ashkenaz. They were already huge the first time I saw them play at The Fillmore in The City. I think they were actually on their third major label CD at that point, but they still played like they were in a small club interacting with the audience, throwing beer, getting buck naked . . . etc. But Billie Joe still signed my girlfriends' book and gave us all Green Day stickers. What more could a 16 year old want? Plus, I think he might have winked at us. I heart rock stars that don't act like rock stars. So, I was very disappointed when i went to see them on the American Idiot tour at AT&T Park. It was decent concert, but it made me feel old because there were a bunch of teeny boppers with their parents waving their phones around as if they were lighters. It was incredibly depressing even though they put on an awesome show.
I think this is their way of playing the smaller venues without getting mobbed. And . . . I've also heard from those in the know that it's their great marketing ploy to test out prospective hits with a new audience. Oh, please, as if they need to worry about getting another hit.
The show itself was awesome. I got there early enough to not find a huge line to wait in. (Again, another reason not to trust the dumbasses at Live105). I only paid $5 - unlike the $20 they had advertised and broadcasted. It was probably the awesome East Bay Express wristband I was still wearing from the bike'n beer party earlier. I don't like to flash the fact that I work for the raddest (and only) independent alternative weekly in the EB, but I will, if necessary. I think I even scored some brownie points by inter-departmental guest list adding. It's good to make everyone happy.
The club was fucking packed. Luckily we all found the outside area to chill at for three hours. As chilled as one could get. If it was 80 degrees outside, it was at least 280 degrees inside. One of the "special guests" as I had put it on the ad sang some punk song about . . . you guessed it . . . Rodeo! After this they excused themselves to make room for "the next band". At this point the brave few of us that had stuck together practiced the fine art of throwing elbows -something I haven't had the pleasure of doing in a while. We nudged our way into a little nook between MacSweaty and MacSmelly. Imagine being fully clothed in a sauna full of belligerent hipsters, punksters, skinheads and motorcycle gang members blocking you on either side, sweat dripping from every pore of your body, holding on for dear life to the only source of hydration at your disposal. PBRs are exactly like H2O -but not as good when hot. I loathe hot beer and got even more pissed because my 40 oz. cans kept turning into hot water.
And then . . . finally . . . at 11 pm they came on stage and a tidal wave of terror and fear swept over me. Literally. Before I knew it I was being cast into the mosh pit. I'm not a mosher. The last time I was in a mosh pit was at the Vans Warped Tour during the Dead Kennedy's set. I remember almost getting an asthma attack but somehow being helped up by a cute skater boy and finding a $20 bill on the floor. I started flailing around drowning in the chaos until a hand grabbed me and pulled me back to safety. I love having tall coworkers - they're like body guards. My other two vertically challenged coworkers in front of me were not so lucky. People started pushing me around, so I pushed them back. It was a pretty tame pit for the most part. Five songs into the set sweat was dripping off my clothes and the coworker who saved me suggested we seek refuge in fresh air, sarcastically adding: "Congratulations! You now have hepatitis!" Awesome.
I didn't get to see the encore. I didn't even get to see their faces. But the short coworkers who got swept away made it to the front to see and confirm that it was indeed the three dudes from Green Day. Suck on that Live105! All in all a pretty fucking awesome experience. Not only did I prove that I can still stay up late partying on a "school night", I can also brave the mosh pit. Best of all, I got to see the very first show in the very first Foxboro Hot Tubs tour ever. Friday they played Toots Tavern in Crockett before heading to Little Rock, Arkansas. Now, here's my geography lesson for the day: any idea where Crockett is? Dude, it's right next to Rodeo!
No comments:
Post a Comment