mememememe

[rusty_halo]

This is a meme that's going around. I probably should've posted it yesterday, but whatever:

Lurkers out there, yo, today's your day. Whether you're a LJ-lurker or from someplace outside reading this journal, you are the reason this journal isn't locked by default. So, come out and say 'hi' or something. Tell me what you're doing here, how you feel, who you are, whatever. No need to be shy. Feel free to post anonymously!

I'm a bit curious about this, since I've been kind of friends-locking by default lately.

Robot soldiers. So creepy. Didn't these guys see "Terminator"?

I'm trying to think of 10 things I've done that most people probably haven't. Some of these things are kind of unmentionable, or depressing, or both, so I won't mention those. Let's see... what is there that is semi-interesting and suitable for public consumption?... I'm pretty boring, really....

1. Went to a different school every year for 6 years. (Most dramatic was going from living in the middle of the woods in Indiana and attending Catholic school to living in a tiny apartment 20 yards from the beach in Puerto Rico the next year. And going swimming pretty much every single day that year.)

2. Co-wrote, filmed, and edited a 10 minute student movie about zombies. (And a bunch of other silly amateur movies, but that was the best.)

3. Got a perfect score (800) on the verbal part of the SAT. I think I got a perfect score on the writing part of the PSAT, too; I got a National Merit Scholarship out of it.

4. Hung out backstage at music venues all over NYC--Irving Plaza was probably the biggest--and met lots of different bands (including the Genitorturers, Switchblade Symphony, Godhead...) all before age 20. And slept in Penn Station, multiple times, and went to school the next day.

5. Was in the front row of a Marilyn Manson concert in their heyday, against the barrier, getting purple bruises on my hip-bones and dodging body surfers. Met John 5 afterwards and got a photo.

6. Read thousands and thousands of Buffy fics, and archived about one thousand of them. (Well, probably most of you guys have read that many.)

7. Worked behind the scenes at a bunch of Buffy cons; probably the most amusing thing was Alexis Denisof running off in the middle of a photoshoot to go pee, and making an announcement about it to the line before he went.

8. Watched the three original Star Wars movies at least 500 times each, and can still recite entire scenes.

9. Was onstage for an hour in London in front of 800 people with a panel that included BtVS writer Jane Espenson. (paratti has also done this. ;)

10. Was on the front page of the local paper, in a photo and interview. (With 3 friends, after Columbine, trying to lessen the persecution of Goth kids.)

Comments

[rusty_halo.livejournal.com]

Ooh, neat. Someone else likes Raymond Watts!

I can't believe you read my nostalgia posts. Heh. I could go on about that stuff for ages.... *sigh*

LOL, how'd you get backstage for Ministry?

Unfortunately for me, all my "connections" were through one band. I was never good at the whole "social networking" thing. When they broke up, I lost most of my access. (And I was so disillusioned by the music industry at that point that I didn't care; I wanted to be away from it, so I got into something totally different: Buffy fandom. Ironically now I'm disillusioned by Buffy fandom, and getting back into music.)

[aea]

Guh- Raymond Watts. I'm not the kind of chick who goes nuts for singers, but there's something about that man. I remember this one KMFDM/Pig show at, I think it was Roseland. He was singing on the speakers and leaning over, and then kinda fell into the audience where he was dragged off into a sea of moshers. Security had to pull him back in. He looked wasted (at one point he was touching this girl's hair and she was all swoony-until he pulled out a few strands.)

I feel so old now. I'm going to see NIN and I'm pretty sure I'll be one of the oldest people there. I love to reminisce about old shows and hanging out and the early to mid 90s when I was in school. So yeah, I love it when anyone remembers those times, too.

Two of my friends were invited backstage (not me or Isaac-I guess we weren't pretty enough). However Isaac is a bouncer and he has bouncer friends, so we got backstage, too. We noticed that Al is really short and has tiny lips, and Paul is a total sweetheart. That whole backstage thing isn't for me, though. I'd rather hide in a corner.

I've always been on the outskirts of the Buffy fandom; I never had to witness a kerfuffle or a wank firsthand. I'm surprised I even know what a wank is. :)

Okay, I'm officially no longer lurking.

[rusty_halo.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, that sounds so cool. When was this show?

He seems like a complete fucking mess, in real life. Not someone I'd really want to know.

But... but... as an object of fantasy... oh my god.... *drools*

I have several resolutions. One is that I do not get involved with musicians. Another is that I never mistake an artist for his art. IE, the art/music/whatever can be the hottest and most brilliant thing ever, but the person behind it is still just a fucked up flawed human being, and you're going to be terribly disappointed if you fail to recognize that distinction.

That said... I would probably make an exception for Raymond Watts. 10-years-ago Raymond Watts, definitely. I haven't found anyone this hot in such a long time; he hits every single one of my kinks (tall, pale, British, fucked up, nice bone structure, nice hands, dark hair, lead singer of an industrial rock band, talented, smart, good with words, has a high vocabulary, I could go on but I'm making myself sick....)

OKAY, sorry for that tangent. *is embarrassed*

I think most of the NIN fans have grown up. I would expect this audience to be significantly older than their past audiences, because people have sort of grown with the band, y'know? I'm sure that a lot of this excitement is nostalgic.

I am so jealous that you were able to attend concerts in the early/mid 90s. I am always kicking myself for not going to concerts sooner. My first was Foo Fighters in 1997. But then I remind myself that I was 11 years old in 1994, and that is actually a pretty good excuse for not seeing these bands. Although I knew about most of them, and knew what I was missing.

I was first born in my family [no older sibling to pass on musical tastes], and didn't have friends who were into music, so I discovered everything on my own. Given that, I think I did pretty well overall; by 11 I was listening to "good" music (Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden) and by 12 I was into Nine Inch Nails.

I first saw NIN in 2000, supporting the Fragile. Philly one night and NYC the next--that was the night at MSG that Manson came out and they played "The Beautiful People" together. Those are the only two times I've seen NIN... Manson I've seen maybe seven times, and only the first few (1998/99) were worth it.

KMFDM I didn't seen until 2002 and then 2003. I'm kicking myself for that. Oh, and for the fact that I stood outside next to Raymond Watts for a good five minutes and didn't even care at the time.

I have this fantasy about going back in time, starting in the early 80s, seeing all the new wave bands like Depeche Mode, seeing early KMFDM, then going to Seattle and following Alice in Chains/Soundgarden/Pearl Jam/etc., then following early NIN and Manson and Pig and KMFDM and all the industrial stuff in its peak.... If I ever had three wishes, I think that would be one of them.

I'm generally not too fond of the backstage thing anymore. I am self-conscious now about bothering people. If I actually have something to say to someone, I will enjoy doing that, but to talk to someone solely because they are in a band? Pretty pointless, really. It's about enjoying their art, not trying to form a relationship with them as a person.

Thanks for not lurking; this stuff is really interesting to me.

Heee, kerfuffles are funny. Generally. Well, okay, not when you're in the middle of them. I started a few back in the day, but I'm pretty under the radar now, so I get to point and laugh without being involved. >:)

[aea]

I don't remember when the KMFDM/Pig show was. Have to look through my ticket stubs.

I agree with the you about lusting after an image. Artists are usually fucked up and/or full of themselves, sometimes lost in their own celebrity fantasy life, but when you hear that one song or read that one quote in a crap magazine you think maybe they are just like you. :/
Or you hear them sing Find It Fuck It Forget It (Forever) live and your guts turn to mush. And, I don't want to meet musicians or actors whom I respect because I don't want to be disappointed. I want to live in denial.

Don't mind your tangent. :)

I'm in a NIN community and noticed that a lot of the fans are in their teens or early 20s and have never seen them before. I wonder if the fans my age just don't feel like going to shows anymore; would rather remember the good old days. I hope you're right; I don't want to be the geriatric fan at 28. :P

I didn't go to shows until 1994 when I was 18. I had to live vicariously through my friend, Marie, who had all these hulking, metalhead friends to go to shows with. She got to see NIN at Roseland in 1992, where Green Jello was the opening act. Remember them? My first show, and not counting Debbie Gibson or NKOTB in junior high, was Depeche Mode and Stabbing Westward. Did you read that or are you laughing at me about Debbie Gibson? I started writing about the shows I went to when I first got a journal, but I'm such a lazy writer that I never continued. If you want to bore yourself, you can find the entry here. Just two shows listed.
My sister is 11 years older than me, and she introduced me to the stylings of Meat Loaf. Okay, and Billy Joel and the Go-gos and Pink Floyd. This was all back in the early 80s. She thinks my musical taste is weird. I guess I found metal and industrial and darkwave through college radio, alternative magazines, and online. Very rarely will I find something through my friends. Sometimes I'll buy a CD I've never heard because of online recs (The Dresden Dolls comes to mind).

I wanted to marry Eddie Vedder in high school. I watched the Even Flow video over and over, when his hair was all long and twisty. The "grunge" era was what saved me from musical mediocrity (to sorta paraphrase Spike in "Crush"). If I hear Chloe Dancer, or Black, or Layne Staley's gorgeous voice, I'm 16 again and everything is flannel and well-worn and the Docs are rampant and Kurt Cobain is alive again. You know what I mean?

I was at that NIN show at the Garden! That was the last time they were here.

You're so good at encapsulating what it was like at these shows. I remember the feelings but have a hard time getting it out here sometimes. I hope I'm making sense with all of this; it was fun to read and talk about. I could go on and on.

If you find the time machine, I am coming with you. I'll pay for the gas or the flux capacitor or whatever.