Fat Girl Comin' Through
Joe and I had a rather alarming time warp back to the early 90's when we drove out to the Colley Cantina for Randy's surprise birthday party last night. We used to live down that way from about 1991 through 1997 and neither of us had probably stepped foot into the cantina, a popular hang-out spot for a lot of the old music crowd I used to know when I was in my 20's, in I suppose a decade or more. And it's funny how little things have changed.
Nathan, still looking exactly the same, greets me at the door with a hug. I really hadn't seen him in in just about that long. Dave Allison, who I just ran into and talked to for the first time in years at Volume Records last week, was there DJing -- with vinyl, no less! -- stuff like the Gin Blossoms, They Might Be Giants, The Who, The Buzzcocks, and T. Rex. I hardly recognized Billy Bagges, still haunting the place after all these years. And I think we both identified either Ronnie or Ritchie Comia dashing out the door from the sea of Saturday night revelers crowded up at the bar. What made it all the more strange is seeing this place, hearing this old music, catching up with the old gang, and the only thing different from all of that was the vision of people sitting with laptops and chattering away on cell phones, two pieces of technology that hardly existed in ubiquity as they do today. In a funny way, the music, the people, were exactly how I left them when I moved to Virginia Beach eleven years ago. Only the landscape had changed.
Anyway, it was a nice night, making Randy happy and all, especially since he's planning to move back to Austin, TX this summer. And I got to meet a sweet friend of his named Tricia Martin who is involved in the Norfolk art scene, making horror dolls and such, and working for the Virginia Opera house. Makes me all so nostalgic for Ghent life again, reminding me of just how stagnant I've become since taking myself out of that creative circulation for so many years. It's actually a little depressing, having nothing really to show for myself in all those years I've been away from the scene -- no art, no music, not a ruddy thing. Nathan and Dave and Billy and a bunch of those people are all still there, as one big community family I once belonged to back in what felt like an eon ago. Not only does the music still run through their veins, but each other as well. It hasn't been since I started going to brunch with some old friends from the scene every Sunday that I really started to remember, and apperciate, that sense of community I used to share with my fellow music peeps. After losing so much in the last few years, it feels exhilarating to be gaining something back again.
Ironically, a guy sitting at the party table was telling that I looked so familiar to him, wondering if maybe he's seen me at one of Dexter Romweber's parties, or hanging out at the Tap House or something. Turns out he knew me from several weeks ago, when I was helping him special order several obscure CDs in my store. I guess, in a way, I still have my musical connections after all.
Anyway! I'm enjoying my new cell phone. Never thought I might actually say those words, hating cell phones as much as I do. But I suppose like everyone else, I've grown to rely on them, much to my own chagrin. Last night I was entering in friends' numbers and after I put in Steve Holmes' number I decided to send him a text, since I never really was able to text before on my old phone. Seconds later he called me back asking who this was, and I just remembered that Steve has my home number, not my new cell number, so he had no idea what weirdo it was texting him... whoops! But once he figured out what weirdo it was we had a laugh over it and chatted a bit before I had to bolt to Randy's birthday party. He did text me back after the call, "Thank you and big kisses!" Aw, mama's lil' perv.
Nathan, still looking exactly the same, greets me at the door with a hug. I really hadn't seen him in in just about that long. Dave Allison, who I just ran into and talked to for the first time in years at Volume Records last week, was there DJing -- with vinyl, no less! -- stuff like the Gin Blossoms, They Might Be Giants, The Who, The Buzzcocks, and T. Rex. I hardly recognized Billy Bagges, still haunting the place after all these years. And I think we both identified either Ronnie or Ritchie Comia dashing out the door from the sea of Saturday night revelers crowded up at the bar. What made it all the more strange is seeing this place, hearing this old music, catching up with the old gang, and the only thing different from all of that was the vision of people sitting with laptops and chattering away on cell phones, two pieces of technology that hardly existed in ubiquity as they do today. In a funny way, the music, the people, were exactly how I left them when I moved to Virginia Beach eleven years ago. Only the landscape had changed.
Anyway, it was a nice night, making Randy happy and all, especially since he's planning to move back to Austin, TX this summer. And I got to meet a sweet friend of his named Tricia Martin who is involved in the Norfolk art scene, making horror dolls and such, and working for the Virginia Opera house. Makes me all so nostalgic for Ghent life again, reminding me of just how stagnant I've become since taking myself out of that creative circulation for so many years. It's actually a little depressing, having nothing really to show for myself in all those years I've been away from the scene -- no art, no music, not a ruddy thing. Nathan and Dave and Billy and a bunch of those people are all still there, as one big community family I once belonged to back in what felt like an eon ago. Not only does the music still run through their veins, but each other as well. It hasn't been since I started going to brunch with some old friends from the scene every Sunday that I really started to remember, and apperciate, that sense of community I used to share with my fellow music peeps. After losing so much in the last few years, it feels exhilarating to be gaining something back again.
Ironically, a guy sitting at the party table was telling that I looked so familiar to him, wondering if maybe he's seen me at one of Dexter Romweber's parties, or hanging out at the Tap House or something. Turns out he knew me from several weeks ago, when I was helping him special order several obscure CDs in my store. I guess, in a way, I still have my musical connections after all.
Anyway! I'm enjoying my new cell phone. Never thought I might actually say those words, hating cell phones as much as I do. But I suppose like everyone else, I've grown to rely on them, much to my own chagrin. Last night I was entering in friends' numbers and after I put in Steve Holmes' number I decided to send him a text, since I never really was able to text before on my old phone. Seconds later he called me back asking who this was, and I just remembered that Steve has my home number, not my new cell number, so he had no idea what weirdo it was texting him... whoops! But once he figured out what weirdo it was we had a laugh over it and chatted a bit before I had to bolt to Randy's birthday party. He did text me back after the call, "Thank you and big kisses!" Aw, mama's lil' perv.
posted by Melissa at 8:01 AM
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