Sometimes The Lights Are Shining On Me

The following account is not sensationalized for the @papa-pepper travel story entry, but is a true account of the events that happened on this brief, but life defining journey.

The year was 1988, and it was during the summer between my junior and senior year of high school when the journey occurred. I had just gotten my driver’s license the previous summer, and had only owned my first car for less than a year. What prompted this started back around Christmas of 1986, when we had a gift exchange at my place of employment. Because I’ve had a distinct appreciation for music all of my life up to that point, I requested a cassette tape when asked what I wanted. But in this case, it was from a specific band that I had seen bumper stickers and t-shirts about on various occasions, but had never heard any of their music on the radio or MTV.

So this person gave me a tape called Skeletons From The Closet which was the name of a greatest hits selection from this band. Mind you, during this time, my tastes were accustomed to “heavy metal” music from groups like Metallica, Megadeath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Ozzy, and Kiss. But when I put this tape in my box, and pressed play, the first few seconds literally changed my whole outlook on the role music can play in the life of the listener. It was like falling in love with a principle instead of a person.

That fall, after telling some of the other kids in school that were fans of this group about this new found discovery, they insisted that I needed to see them in concert to really appreciate their talent, as their studio efforts simply didn’t give you the full import. My first opportunity to see them in concert was in April at the Brendan Byrne Arena in New Jersey. And while that journey could be an interesting document by itself, the fact that I didn’t have a ticket, and didn’t get in, would make for a rather non-climactic story.

Fortunately, when word came around that they were going to be playing at the Silver Stadium in Rochester, New York on June 30th, I was able to get two tickets at the local Ticketron in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. At first, my best-friend at the time wasn’t available to go with me, but another person I became friends with through him was willing to go for the experience despite not being a big fan of the group.

Rochester was about a seven hour drive from my home town of Phoenixville, and my parents (who had no reservations about this, as they found this music less threatening than my previous likings) were concerned that my 1967 Plymouth Belvedere with no power steering wasn’t going to make the trip. Since there was no turning back at this point, my dad decided to let me take their newer car that my uncle had recently acquired for them from an auction.

Since this car was a station wagon, we left the day before with the intent of spending the night in the car in the parking lot, which was common back then. But when we arrived, there was no parking lot to my knowledge, as the Silver Stadium was located in a residential area. Instead, we found a parking spot about a block away amongst the numerous other vehicles that had descended on this neighborhood.

After spending the day mingling with the various personalities also attending this event, we procured some tiny pieces of paper called radio waves that were laced with a psychoactive substance that was well known among this band, and their audience. At first, I was reticent to ingest this substance, despite the fact that I had used it at least once before. And while my friend didn’t pressure me into taking it, he did tell me that if I didn’t do it on this one and only occasion, I would regret it the rest of my life.

It got surprisingly chilly that evening, and neither one of us brought anything with sleeves, so we grabbed a blanket out of the car, and shared it. When we got to the gate, a bunch of us got a kick out of the doorman calling us salt and pepper since my friend is of a darker complexion. The entire concert was general admission, so you went anywhere you wanted. I was content to keep some distance, but my friend insisted on getting as close to the stage as possible. We ended up in what would have been the first ten rows if there were chairs.

The backdrop of the stage was an open frame, so as the sun set, you could see it through the center, which gave a natural ambiance to the scene. While talking with some of the people in the crowd, one man asked me what songs I wanted to hear. Each time I mentioned one, he would say, that they had just played that at another venue. After feeling somewhat let down, I finally said Box of Rain with the inflexion that I didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

When the band came out, a bunch of people began to laugh hysterically as the rhythm guitarist came out with a pink guitar, and a matching pink shirt. The guy next to me screamed out, “nice shirt Bob,” and I started losing it with laughter. After tuning up, they opened with Box of Rain, and it was as if everyone else was as jubilant as I was to hear that.

That song was sung by the bass player, so I payed particular attention to his part of the stage during it. Among his equipment was a wooden box that had a partially opened face, and two discs inside of it. One rotated on its z axis while the other on the y axis. Those discs would rotate at different speeds at different times throughout the show. With each passing minute, my attention kept being taken back to that box despite how much I tried to focus on other things. It was as if I were hypnotized, and couldn’t do anything about it.

With each passing song, this was becoming an increasing dilemma. People began to notice the expression on my face, and were expressing concern about my well being. It was if I were experiencing information overload, and was helpless to do anything about it. At the time, I couldn’t even describe it. Fortunately, my friend understood. He looked at me calmly and told me to squat down on my knees, close my eyes, slowly count to ten, slowly stand up, and slowly open my eyes. After doing all that, I was instantly free to enjoy the intended effects of the radio waves we had taken earlier, and the box lost its grip on me.

The concert turned out to have a whole host of songs that I wanted to hear. The songs Far From Me, and Don’t Ease Me In were an especial treat as I was rather fond of the keyboard player’s voice, and solos on his Hammond organ. But what really topped the bill was that the second set opened with a cover of the song Green Onions from Booker T and the MG’s. This was the only time the band had played this song in their entire career. Sad thing is, I thought it was just an intro for the second set until my friend told me what it was about half way through the song.

From there, they went into a medley of two songs that have been one of my favorite second set openers ever since. In the middle of their second set, it was customary for the band to go into a percussion and instrumental interlude that would lead into an array of songs that would finish the set. In this case, they started with a song called The Other One that was like an audio and visual assault that I didn’t want to end. From there, they played a song called Wharf Rat that has an inspiring element of redemption to it.

After the show, we retired to the station wagon for the night. Because neither of us had a watch, I had no idea what time it was when I woke up apart from the fact that it was dawn. As it turned out, I had only an hour or two of sleep when I commenced driving home. Driving along interstates isn’t necessarily the most engaging routes to travel as my sleeping friend could concur. Not long after crossing the border of Pennsylvania along Interstate 81, I fell asleep behind the wheel just long enough to drift off the right side of the road. Upon awaking, we were about to hit a section of guard rail head on. Because we had already left the road, the car was pulled to the right, and we went down an embankment. Needless to say, it freaked my friend out.

Because there was other traffic on the road, the person behind us saw what happened, and called for help. When the police arrived, I was shocked at how friendly and courteous he was. He fully understood that these things happen often on these roads, and didn’t continuously harass me about whether I was drinking and driving (which I wasn’t). After a tow truck took the car to a shop, I needed to call my dad because I didn’t have the money to get it fixed.

Much to my surprise, he wasn’t as angry as I expected. Granted, he made it my responsibility to get home, and wasn’t going to come get us in my car. At first I panicked because we had no money on us. But my friend was willing to call his neighbor, and they were willing to wire us their rent money so we could buy bus tickets on nothing more then my word that I would repay them when I got home since I did have money in the bank.

We managed to get a bus ride to the station in King of Prussia, but that was still almost ten miles from home. At the time, the bus station was in a complex that had a movie theater. After leaving the station, my friend walked around the parking lot, and recognized a car of someone he knew, and asked those people for a ride. They offered to do so after watching the movie The Great Outdoors, that they were there to see. Since we had the money, we saw it with them.

After getting home, and facing my parents the next morning, I had to tell them what happened. While growing up, I got spanked a lot, and I was expecting to get the living daylights beat out of me. But since I was older, and more responsible, they only required that I pay my uncle the balance my dad owed him on the car, and that we would go from there. Needless to say, I readily agreed.

In conclusion to this story there is a link to the recording of the concert I attended. After listening to it almost thirty years later while typing this out, I have to say that my friend was right...I don’t have any regrets.

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