Sunday, May 10, 2015

Who The Fuck Are You?

I went a little overboard yesterday but I think it will be worth it.

My Brother's Girl Friend's father passed away back in 2001 from Alzheimers and she has been waging a one women war on that shit ever since.

She doesn't fuck around either.
She has been the driving force behind an annual charity auction every year for the past 13 years raising money for research into finding a cure for this most hideous disease.
My Brother and her spend months getting this put together with a group of volunteers and bust their asses all day long while this is going on, it's pretty much a twenty hour day for them.

There is a local tavern I used to hang out in where the owners basically turn the place over to her to do this once a year and this was the twelfth year there.

Mind you, this is a tavern, in a smallish town that pretty much caters to the locals and has for many, many years.

Businesses and individuals donate goods and services, they have food and things like Jello Shots, pledge drives and raffle items that all get added in to the final tally.

This year was a banner year and it went from about 4:30 in the afternoon to Midnight.

There was a ton of stuff this year and as usual, every once in a while something would come up that everybody wanted and the bidding wars would take off.


The people of this town have known each other going back generations in some cases and in others they have been friends and neighbors their whole lives, it's a pretty tight knit little community and I miss not living there anymore even though I was one of the most persistent Town Drunks and still have quite the bad reputation for being a crazy asshole.

Anyways, now that I have been sober a few years they have pretty much let bygones be bygones and it's all good.


That little tavern and those local people raised almost THIRTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS in one day at this auction.

That is beyond impressive, it's astounding for a working class area.

To date, including yesterday, this woman has raised almost $180,000 for this research.

My wife tends to get pretty enthusiastic and we always end up spending way more money than I am comfortable with and I have to admit I am right there next to her but we both have a good time and it's for a good cause.

Now, what can this story possibly have to do with the title of this post you ask?

One of the items that went on the auction block was a pair of concert ticket that were donated by a radio station, to go see these guys.



Me, my brother and a bunch of friends got to see The Who way the hell back in the early 80's on their "Final Tour"
Of course that wasn't their last tour obviously but I will guarantee you that this one will be.

I was talking to him about that one a bit and he remembers a whole lot more of it than I do.
We had awesome seats just right of the end of the stage and right next to the speaker stack where Pete Townsend spent most of the night.

My brother told me that we were so close that he could smell the joint that Pete sparked up at one point.

One reason he remembers it better is that he is four years younger than I am and I was about 22 or 23 at the time.

I was also way fucked up that night, drunk, stoned and fried on Acid.

The other reason he remembers more of it is because I also spent a good portion of the concert arguing and fighting with the punk assed Security force motherfuckers because I started getting rowdy and I was on the end of the aisle and three rows up, right next to where the tunnel went back to the lobby and right where all the cocksuckers were hanging out trying to catch people smoking dope all night. That was their big thing back in the day, even then, the smoke was so thick you could cut it with a knife anyway.

It actually got so bad at one point the fuckers were going to drag me out by force and put me in lock up until the cops could take over.

The Acid finally kicked in hard enough that I mellowed out and just started enjoying the show in a big way but they left four of their biggest players right below to me to keep my silly ass in line. Of course me being me, I still fucked with them most of the night off and on anyway.

It was quite the night.


I have mellowed considerably in my old age , don't do drugs or drink anymore so this one should be one I remember hopefully.

Daltry's voice isn't what it used to be and Entwhistle is dead now but I'm sure it will still be worth going to.

One thing is for damn sure, the concert T shirt I get this time is going to be a keeper because this will indeed, be their Final Tour.

3 comments:

Ken said...

...you lucky bustedbastard...saw them twice during my detroit days...final tour and "reunion" tour(i think...lol) the mid/late eighties were a blur 'cuz of the aforementioned items but damn the concerts we saw up there were legendary...still got all my ticket stubs in a foto album, from my first "real" one J Giles in 79 love stinks tour...i was almost 12, being babysat by my older sisters...lol

...anyway,enjoy it brother...the greats are all but gone, those of us lucky enuff to say we saw them when are also gettin pretty thin...lol

Anonymous said...

That is quite a prize. The Who were a pretty awesome live music band back then, I really enjoy listening to 'Live At Leeds'. You are lucky you lived in a place where big name bands played - my location in rural Texas was much less music oriented.

I think Seth Rogan is a dick, but I was surprised to find out he and his wife run an Alzheimer's cure foundation. Still think he is a dick - but has a streak of awesome in him as well. Who'd a thunk ?

http://www.alz.org/news_and_events_upcoming_events.asp

Enjoy the show - maybe the same roadies will show up and you can talk of old times, lol.

idahobob said...

I'm jealous!

Bob
III

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