Pearl Jam October 2004
As promised many moons ago, here is my Pearl Jam story from last October...
October last year, we were in the midst of the presidential election campaign. Pearl Jam, and other noteworthy bands, were playing on the "Vote for Change" tour in swing states around the country. Without getting into politics, you can imagine what the goal of the tour was - bring election awareness to young voters, specifically regarding John Kerry's platform. NJ is not considered a swing state (nor were any states in this area at the time) so there were no show dates around. I did notice, however, that a show was scheduled for St Louis in early October. At the time, I was working for another firm and my sales territory covered Missouri. I did some mental math, and decided that I could plan a business trip around the show date and get out there "all expenses paid" - so I bought a ticket and booked my trip.
A few weeks later, my boss called and asked if I could cover a meeting for him in L.A. During this time, I had been doing a lot of traveling for the company covering sales meetings in several territories to make up for staff shortages, and went with it because I was told I was on the fast track to having my own territory. When I wasn't in Texas, I was in CA or Missouri or Colorado. I like seeing new places, but the travel was beginning to be too much. But because it was October and I love Cali, I said sure, no problem...when? THE SAME WEEK AS MY ST LOUIS TRIP! THE SAME DAY AS THE PJ SHOW! Shit!...what were the chances of me getting around this request? (that was rhetorical - the chances were poor) I informed him of my previously scheduled business commitment in St Louis, but he felt that L.A. was more important - so much so that he was willing to take the $1,800 financial hit that would come with my cancelling the originally planned trip. I tried my best to dance around, make excuses, and avoid commitment - but at the same time, I couldn't tell him that I couldn't cover an important meeting because I was planning to see Pearl Jam on the company's dime. Bosses don't like to hear crap like that! So in the immediate term, I committed to the L.A. trip. In the meantime, I would have to try to figure out how to get from California to Missouri and still make the show. This would be a true test of my ingenuity - and my Pearl Jam fanship!
In a nutshell, the problem became this... I had to present at a 12 noon PST meeting in Dana Point, CA and then get to St. Louis, MO for a 8:30 CST Peral Jam show. No problem!?! Here's how it went...
In order to get to St Louis in time to catch the show, I needed to leave L.A. by 3:30 (3 hour flight and 2 hour time difference). Dana Point is over an hour south of LAX, so when the meeting let out at 2:00pm, I had just under 90 minutes to drive 90 minutes back north on the 405, return a rental car, go through security, and board the plane on time. Through the creative interpretation of traffic laws, I turned the hour plus drive into a fifty minute one and returned the car relatively quickly, so I figured I had time to spare. WRONG! By the time I got from the rental lot to the terminal (slow west coast people are the worst in crunches like these, and they always spot east coasters, so they move even slower to dick you around) I had twenty eight minutes until the plane departed. FAA rules say you must check in at least thirty minutes prior to departure. And the computerized system left no room for forgiveness. F@#*! I was about to cry, seriously - a grown man crying at the airport like a little girl who lost her parents. Earlier, I didn't even think I was going to get anywhere near the airport in decent time (any of you who have ever been on the 405 know why I would think that) and here I was getting screwed for a measly 2-minute margin. I pleaded with the desk clerk, but bureauacracy was at its finest that day and two minutes was two minutes. The clerk offered me a ticket on the next flight, which would get me in to St. Louis around 10pm. No dice, I need this flight. I prayed...hard. God must have heard me, because the desk clerk suddenly thought of a solution. She would re-issue my ticket so that I could get a fresh clock, check in with an e-ticket, and board. Allelujia! I grabbed the ticket, nearly kissed the desk clerk, and bee-lined for security. As I was running through the terminal like OJ Simpson, I could hear the boarding agent calling my name over the PA for final boarding. With seconds to spare, I made it and boarded! For the first time in my life, I was the late guy that everyone looked at as he boarded and thought "wow, buddy. thanks for making it".
DING - 7&7 and a bag of peanuts please!
The hardest part was over - I made the flight. Barring some random weather system or flight diversion, I would at least make it to St. Louis at a time that gave me a chance at seeing the show. The flight was 3 hours long, so by initial calculations I'd be landing around 6:30pm? - 'DOH - two hour time difference! No problem - I realized this when I was looking at flights weeks before, but no airlines run regular routes between L.A. and St. Louis (go figure) so it was this or nothing. I'd land around 8:30pm CST. But most of the 10+ Pearl Jam shows I've been to have started late, so why would this one be any different? The show was slated for a 7:30 start, Sleater-Kinney and Death Cab for Cutie were opening, and Eddie has to get at least a half bottle of wine down before he can take the stage. So PJ probably wouldn't come out till 9 or so, right? If I miss a song or two, no problem. Big picture here!
Alas, we landed around 8:30 as predicted. I now had to haul ass to Avis to get my rental car and then loop 3/4 of the way around St Louis to the other side of the city to get to the Fox Theatre. This would make two states in which traffic laws were tested today. Plus, I was relying on Mapquest, which as fellow travelers will tell you is like playing Russian roulette. Here's an example of the loaded gun being held to my head: Remember the scene in National Lampoon's Vacation when they get lost in that shady neighborhood in St Louis? Yeah, I was in that neighborhood. It really does exist, and it really is that shady. Nobody ever pulled the trigger though - white kid in the rental car made it through to the other end of town and across the street, the sign was glowing - The Fox Theatre.
Amazingly, there was an open parking spot directly across the street from the entrance. I remember thinking that, after all that had gone right for me so far, this was such an unbelievable continuation of good fortune that part of me expected the car to be towed while I was inside. See, I suffer from the opposite of "not me" syndrome whereby when I run into good fortune, I fully expect the other shoe to drop and the bottom of my luck to fall out. But who cared at this point? Four hours ago I was half way across the country wondering what kind of misguided expectations I had put myself under, on the verge of assaulting a Continental Airlines desk clerk. I was speeding up the 405 in a Pontiac, whipping through side streets of L.A., maneuvering around a billion dollar flight security system, and asking God to control weather patterns specifically for me. And it all worked out! So why ask questions now?
As I walked in, I heard the familiar chords of "Jeremy" and took a deep breath. I made it! I approached my seat, and someone was already in it. I grabbed the usher, who upon inspection of our tickets told me that apparently two tickets had been printed for the same seat. He then said he had a better seat for me if I didn't mind being moved. Better? No, I don't mind. For the next two hours, I stood IN THE FRONT ROW, stage left, and rocked out. I was literally a stone's throw from Eddie and Stone the entire night. Whenever I tell this story, people ask, "you went all by yourself?" and I respond "by myself? I was with 12,000 of my closest friends." It was amazing! And it was that much better because I could fully appreciate all that I went through to get there!
So that's My Pearl Jam story - definietly a wild adventure for me and it was all FREE! I hope you enjoyed it...I know I did.
October last year, we were in the midst of the presidential election campaign. Pearl Jam, and other noteworthy bands, were playing on the "Vote for Change" tour in swing states around the country. Without getting into politics, you can imagine what the goal of the tour was - bring election awareness to young voters, specifically regarding John Kerry's platform. NJ is not considered a swing state (nor were any states in this area at the time) so there were no show dates around. I did notice, however, that a show was scheduled for St Louis in early October. At the time, I was working for another firm and my sales territory covered Missouri. I did some mental math, and decided that I could plan a business trip around the show date and get out there "all expenses paid" - so I bought a ticket and booked my trip.
A few weeks later, my boss called and asked if I could cover a meeting for him in L.A. During this time, I had been doing a lot of traveling for the company covering sales meetings in several territories to make up for staff shortages, and went with it because I was told I was on the fast track to having my own territory. When I wasn't in Texas, I was in CA or Missouri or Colorado. I like seeing new places, but the travel was beginning to be too much. But because it was October and I love Cali, I said sure, no problem...when? THE SAME WEEK AS MY ST LOUIS TRIP! THE SAME DAY AS THE PJ SHOW! Shit!...what were the chances of me getting around this request? (that was rhetorical - the chances were poor) I informed him of my previously scheduled business commitment in St Louis, but he felt that L.A. was more important - so much so that he was willing to take the $1,800 financial hit that would come with my cancelling the originally planned trip. I tried my best to dance around, make excuses, and avoid commitment - but at the same time, I couldn't tell him that I couldn't cover an important meeting because I was planning to see Pearl Jam on the company's dime. Bosses don't like to hear crap like that! So in the immediate term, I committed to the L.A. trip. In the meantime, I would have to try to figure out how to get from California to Missouri and still make the show. This would be a true test of my ingenuity - and my Pearl Jam fanship!
In a nutshell, the problem became this... I had to present at a 12 noon PST meeting in Dana Point, CA and then get to St. Louis, MO for a 8:30 CST Peral Jam show. No problem!?! Here's how it went...
In order to get to St Louis in time to catch the show, I needed to leave L.A. by 3:30 (3 hour flight and 2 hour time difference). Dana Point is over an hour south of LAX, so when the meeting let out at 2:00pm, I had just under 90 minutes to drive 90 minutes back north on the 405, return a rental car, go through security, and board the plane on time. Through the creative interpretation of traffic laws, I turned the hour plus drive into a fifty minute one and returned the car relatively quickly, so I figured I had time to spare. WRONG! By the time I got from the rental lot to the terminal (slow west coast people are the worst in crunches like these, and they always spot east coasters, so they move even slower to dick you around) I had twenty eight minutes until the plane departed. FAA rules say you must check in at least thirty minutes prior to departure. And the computerized system left no room for forgiveness. F@#*! I was about to cry, seriously - a grown man crying at the airport like a little girl who lost her parents. Earlier, I didn't even think I was going to get anywhere near the airport in decent time (any of you who have ever been on the 405 know why I would think that) and here I was getting screwed for a measly 2-minute margin. I pleaded with the desk clerk, but bureauacracy was at its finest that day and two minutes was two minutes. The clerk offered me a ticket on the next flight, which would get me in to St. Louis around 10pm. No dice, I need this flight. I prayed...hard. God must have heard me, because the desk clerk suddenly thought of a solution. She would re-issue my ticket so that I could get a fresh clock, check in with an e-ticket, and board. Allelujia! I grabbed the ticket, nearly kissed the desk clerk, and bee-lined for security. As I was running through the terminal like OJ Simpson, I could hear the boarding agent calling my name over the PA for final boarding. With seconds to spare, I made it and boarded! For the first time in my life, I was the late guy that everyone looked at as he boarded and thought "wow, buddy. thanks for making it".
DING - 7&7 and a bag of peanuts please!
The hardest part was over - I made the flight. Barring some random weather system or flight diversion, I would at least make it to St. Louis at a time that gave me a chance at seeing the show. The flight was 3 hours long, so by initial calculations I'd be landing around 6:30pm? - 'DOH - two hour time difference! No problem - I realized this when I was looking at flights weeks before, but no airlines run regular routes between L.A. and St. Louis (go figure) so it was this or nothing. I'd land around 8:30pm CST. But most of the 10+ Pearl Jam shows I've been to have started late, so why would this one be any different? The show was slated for a 7:30 start, Sleater-Kinney and Death Cab for Cutie were opening, and Eddie has to get at least a half bottle of wine down before he can take the stage. So PJ probably wouldn't come out till 9 or so, right? If I miss a song or two, no problem. Big picture here!
Alas, we landed around 8:30 as predicted. I now had to haul ass to Avis to get my rental car and then loop 3/4 of the way around St Louis to the other side of the city to get to the Fox Theatre. This would make two states in which traffic laws were tested today. Plus, I was relying on Mapquest, which as fellow travelers will tell you is like playing Russian roulette. Here's an example of the loaded gun being held to my head: Remember the scene in National Lampoon's Vacation when they get lost in that shady neighborhood in St Louis? Yeah, I was in that neighborhood. It really does exist, and it really is that shady. Nobody ever pulled the trigger though - white kid in the rental car made it through to the other end of town and across the street, the sign was glowing - The Fox Theatre.
Amazingly, there was an open parking spot directly across the street from the entrance. I remember thinking that, after all that had gone right for me so far, this was such an unbelievable continuation of good fortune that part of me expected the car to be towed while I was inside. See, I suffer from the opposite of "not me" syndrome whereby when I run into good fortune, I fully expect the other shoe to drop and the bottom of my luck to fall out. But who cared at this point? Four hours ago I was half way across the country wondering what kind of misguided expectations I had put myself under, on the verge of assaulting a Continental Airlines desk clerk. I was speeding up the 405 in a Pontiac, whipping through side streets of L.A., maneuvering around a billion dollar flight security system, and asking God to control weather patterns specifically for me. And it all worked out! So why ask questions now?
As I walked in, I heard the familiar chords of "Jeremy" and took a deep breath. I made it! I approached my seat, and someone was already in it. I grabbed the usher, who upon inspection of our tickets told me that apparently two tickets had been printed for the same seat. He then said he had a better seat for me if I didn't mind being moved. Better? No, I don't mind. For the next two hours, I stood IN THE FRONT ROW, stage left, and rocked out. I was literally a stone's throw from Eddie and Stone the entire night. Whenever I tell this story, people ask, "you went all by yourself?" and I respond "by myself? I was with 12,000 of my closest friends." It was amazing! And it was that much better because I could fully appreciate all that I went through to get there!
So that's My Pearl Jam story - definietly a wild adventure for me and it was all FREE! I hope you enjoyed it...I know I did.
posted by bdonin at
8:24 PM
1 Comments:
why did i never hear that story. that was brilliance! more stories, more stories, less work!!!
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