Porch sittin'

Over the 20 or so years that I have been listening to rock, I've mostly listened to bands that were well-established by the time I found out about them. I found the Stones in '89, a good 25 years after they started. I found the Ramones in the early 90's, 15 years too late. This trend goes on for most of the music I listen to.
I've been lucky enough to see the Stones and the Ramones 3 times each.
Another favorite band of mine, Black Crowes I was able to discover when they first came out, in 1990-ish. I caught them once at Horde Fest at Waterloo village in NJ, once at Dickinson College, and a week after that in NYC. After they got Yoko'ed a few years ago, I figured I was all done with them, until this past September. I happened to hear on the radio that they were coming to town the following month to the 9:30 Club. Somehow we were able to get tickets. I was surprised because they have a huge following and hadn't toured in years. It wass a pretty good show, at least the first set was. I missed the second set because some nameless person apparently is a lot older than me and wanted to go home. So I did.
I'm still happy that I was able to see them one last time (probably) because in the future I'll probably deem myself too old to go.
Back in 1994 (or so) the fantastic movie Clueless with Alicia Silverstone came out. featured on the soundtrack was this never heard of band called the Smoking Popes. i loved their rock sound and crooner-esque singing. all of their songs are about having a girlfriend, wanting one, or losing one; very apro pos for me at the time. They were always a fairly local band from Chicago and in those pre-internet days, it was nearly impossible to learn anything about them. They broke up several years ago so the singer could join a Christian rock band...or something like that. I never thought they would reunite, only bands guaranteed a huge payday do that.
Until a few months ago when I was convalescing (sp?) from strep, my better half saw in the paper that they were playing in DC later that week! In fact, it was at the same club where I saw the Ramones play about 10 years ago (I think it was the show where I came home with a footprint on my face)
We got the tix for like $15 (nearly doubled with service charges) The show was awesome. It was very not-crowded and a good portion of the crowd apparently was following the band from one town to another. I also learned that the guitar player, Eli looked just like a hobo version of Food Network's Alton Brown.
After the show, we picked up a t-shirt and their new cd/dvd of their reunion show in Chicago that was recorded in the fall. After that, we were able to talk with Eli and the singer, Josh. We missed out on the bass player, leather pants and all.
Thanks to seeing that show, I've been able to now see all of the bands that I've been a big fan of: Rolling Stones, Ramones, Styx, Weird Al, Donnas, Living Things, Black Crowes, Smoking Popes...even parliament Funkadelic, Bloodhound Gang, and Joan Osbourn before I knew how much she rocked (One of Us notwithstanding) all bands who I kinda like.
I still can't believe that 2 bands who i've liked for a nearly a combined 30 years who hadn't been heard from in years came out of nowhere to play right here in DC and I was able to go see them!
If it came down to it, I could happily retire from my concert going career and be completely satisfied. Now, if I could figure out a way to make some home-made Kahlua, that might change.

out.