Street Fighting in Charlotte

So I met up with the Steinster in Charlotte yesterday. 

She said, “Why ya in my town, beeotch?”

I said, “Wahlberg.  Donnie Wahlberg.”

She said, “He’s a wuss.”

The Steinster  was frozen to the core by the icy stare I gave her as I said through clenched teeth, “You did not just disrespect a Wahlberg in front of me.”

And then it was on, street fighting right there on Trade Street.

I went all ninja on the Steinster for talking smack about my favorite New Kid.  I flew through the air sideways and kicked her in the head with both feet.  She recovered quickly and brought a roundhouse kick to my spleen.   I barfed my peanut M&Ms on her suede boots and hurled throwing stars at her in rapid-fire succession.  The Steinster was swift and cat-like, dodging the stars, catching the last one in her teeth and spitting it back at me…I ducked, rolled and kicked her feet out from under her just as the throwing star hit my Donnie Wahlberg in the rattail, killing him not quite instantly…he did have time to whisper to me as I cradled him in my arms right there in front of Baskin Robbins, “Kat, I’ll be lovin’ you forever, ’cause you got the right stuff, love the way you turn me on, cover girl” before he went to join the great boy band in the sky, disappearing into the ether in a cloud of bubble gum scented smoke, leaving behind only a black jelly bracelet on the sidewalk.

I slipped on the bracelet, then wiped a tear from my cheek.  I turned to the Steinster and said, “The world has lost a cultural icon and I have lost my reason to stay on the right side of the law.  I’ll be back for you when you least expect it.”

As I strode off into the sunset, I knew that Step By Step, I had to keep Hangin’ Tough.

 

 

(ok, so that’s not really what happened exactly and precisely.  no wahlbergs were harmed, thank goodness!  chiquita and i did see the steinster and her man friend in charlotte and we had some very very small food and it was fun!  i was there to see donnie wahlberg, that much was true, i came to see him shake his moneymaker and indeed he did, oh yes he did,  and all is right in the world.  but i could go ninja on you at any time, so keep your anti-wahlberg talk to yourselves, folks)

followup on the stp show

Here’s a video snippet from this weekend’s show—NOT MY VIDEO!! Can’t take credit for it, but the photos in the post from Monday morning are mine.  Since all I posted in my 3 AM haze were a few photos…here’s the scoop…

The show was in Charlotte on Sunday: Stone Temple Pilots with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club opening.  I took my brother with me to the show and we were in such a great spot!  There was a small pit (ok, it’s not really a pit as far as I’m concerned if there’s no moshing allowed, so it boils down to be a small area of concrete where a few people stood) in front of the seats, and then we were in the very front row of seats.  We had a great view of everything! Fan club pre-sale seats are the bomb!

I wasn’t too familiar with BRMC, so I looked up some of their tunes on Napster before the show.  Honestly, the tunes online didn’t dazzle me.  They weren’t bad, but it didn’t grab me.  Live, though, they were really good, rougher around the edges than the polished studio stuff.  I liked their sound live, so I’d see them again if I had the opportunity.

When it came down to STP, they were late taking the stage…almost an hour late!  Talk about an angry crowd—-in our seats, since we were in the very front, we had plenty of leg room to stretch out and relax and wait it out, but everyone else was not quite so comfy.  As we rolled around to the 45 minute mark in waiting, the crowd was starting to boo and yell not very nice things about how the band needed to put down the smack and get on the stage.  Yeah, it was tense…

…But all the tension evaporated the moment they hit the stage and placated us all with Big Empty:slow, powerful and amazing.  Wow!  They visited songs from all their albums as Scott Weiland removed his layers, starting with his hat, then leather jacket, then vest and working his way through what seemed like a million scarves until he was down to being open-shirted at the last song.  Scott Weiland has a scarf guy: a roadie whose primary duty is to help untie knots and remove the layers as they come off…oh, the scarf guy also grabs maracas when they are discarded so the famous rock stars don’t trip over them.  I want a scarf guy.

It was awesome, there’s just no other way to put it!  They did a whole lot more songs from their first album then I would’ve guessed—oftentimes, a band neglects its beginnings when they become famous, but they did 3 or 4 tunes from their first recording.  Worth the price of admission and then some!

 Big thanks to my little bro for the AWESOME (overpriced!) long sleeved tshirt.  Hope your Mrs. digs the shirt I picked for her, and if not, wrap it up and give it to me for my birthday. 

 

 

stp, a few pix from Charlotte show

so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have a ton of photos, but a lot of them are kinda blurry because I was bouncing around like I do.  My bro took some pix, too…

 

Scott Weiland during opening song Big Empty:

Scott, STP

 

Me and my baby bro—baby bro’s first ever photo appearance in the Kat Box; I’m the cute one:

me and my bro

 

STP, all but the drummer

STP in Charlotte

 

I was close enough to Scott Weiland to carry him off and make him a housepet, but I unselfishly left him onstage to share with all…

scott white shirt

 

and moi, a little tired after midnight, in a rare kat box appearance of my own, because i rock hardcore…

moi

 

it’s sunday & that means STP!

Stone Temple Pilots in Charlotte tonight!! Thank you Scott Weiland for not being in rehab or jail today!!

I’m psyched.  I’m driving baby bro down, and our seats are EXCELLENTLY excellent pre-sale seats.

It’s not time to go yet, but I’m kinda getting things organized.  It’s funny how differently I prepare to go see a show as compared to the olden days.  For example, I’ll go ahead and get some clothes out for work in the morning since I’ll be getting in kinda late tonight…back in the day, I would’ve instead been formulating reasons to call in sick tomorrow.  I would’ve selected my sturdiest badass footwear based on anticipated moshpit time, and now, I’m picking something that’s comfy to stand in for hours.  Of course, big venues like the one today won’t allow moshpits; they’ll throw you out because of the liability…oh but back in my youth, no one cared if we landed face first on the concrete or fell over chairs or whatever.

I’m excited!  When I bought the tickets, summer hadn’t even really kicked in yet, and the concert seemed a million years away, but it’s today!  I haven’t seen STP in about twelve years.  Last show I saw was when I was living in Virginia–wow, that was a long time ago, because I went with Minime’s dad, Mr. Kat 1.0, as one of the last things we ever did as a married couple.  Yeah, that’s been a lifetime ago…

I will not be wearing an STP shirt to the concert.  Scootster and I were discussing the dorkiness of wearing the band’s shirt to their show…it’s kind of a DUH! thing to do, because you’re obviously a fan or you wouldn’t be there in the first place.  Wearing their shirt is just overkill, trying too hard.  I do like concert shirts, though, but why the hell are they so damn pricey?  I’m not paying $40 for a tshirt, hell no…especially when I can get it off eBay for less some other day.

Happy Sunday, all!