My first sonic moment was in 1998. I was in school, and my homegirl simply adored sonic youth, and I was still hooked solid on Nirvana, and so we cliqued. Of course, she was the promiscuous girl from the school, a hot chick with bit tits who knew how to use em. One day in class she brings me a VHS and says, "You like Nirvana right? Check this out." She handed me 1991:The Year That Punk Broke and had a coy little smile. She said I would love Sonic Youth too.. I was so enraptured with the idea of seeing that video that I hardly noticed how strong she was coming onto me! So I took it home (by myself) to watch. When that drum intro came on for Schizophrenia I was captivated, I knew I would always love this band, perhaps more than many others I had love. I had owned dirty and washing machine before, I and dug em, and I was familiar with Sonic Youth, but it wasn't until that moment, that live version, that point in my life, that it all synced. The chick remained my homegirl, and strictly platonic, exactly for why I keep platonic homegirls, because she hooked me up with several of her homegirls over the years after..
In 1999 we were at This Aint No Picnic. Sleater-Kinney rocked it up.. Sunny Day Real Estate was so terrible I wanted to throw up. Sonic Youth came on. They had just been jacked for twenty years worth of rare, modified equipment. That sucks. We all had a moment together as Thurston, visibly drunk from Heinekins, gave a tirade from the mic for what seemed like twenty minutes before they played a kick ass set on borrowed guitars (which looked like from both Sunny Day and S-K!!) I'll never forget how
hurt Thurston clearly was..
2004 I was having a Sonic Youth revival just in time for Sonic Nurse. So I went to get tickets at Aomeba for free cuz the Troubadour album release show was sold out before I had a chance. I should have camped out, but I didn't think it would be that big. Plus, it said strictly limit 1 ticket per person with purchase of Sonic Nurse the morning it came out. I got there at 5AM and was number 93 in line (just in time!) so we post up for a few hours. Around 8:45 the line is getting pretty long (at least 200 people) and so the manager comes out. He is a dick. Like Henry Rollins pissed off kind of dick. He says, "two per customer" and passes out 100 wristbands to the first 50 people. Tells everyone to bounce. A few minutes later some Geffen promoters come by with autographed sleeves from the album as a kind of consolation prize. I took mine, and promptly stayed in line when a 150 other folks left. I'm not number 61. I hit up literally EVERYBODY in front of me offering to pay for their album/ticket if they would use their extra to get mine. Nobody offers. Assholes. So I still go inside, after all, wtf else did I come to Aomeba for but to buy the album? So I wander around for about a half an hour. I buy two other albums, but got with my gut and skip Sonic Nurse. On my way sadly down a side street, two people come running up and tap my shoulder saying, "Bro, did you still need a ticket?" THESE PEOPLE WERE SAINTS!! WERE ANGELS!! WERE DIVINE!! I gave them a hug, gave them the 30 bucks they asked for, and took my ticket and copy of the album!! Fucking miracle y'all! I put on the disc... I will never forget the bliss when at both 6:35 into Dripping Dream that the bridge went sublime, and I realized just how blessed I just was to be going to see Sonic Youth.
At the Troubadour show it was like a Divine Liturgy of sonic youth. I had a religious experience on the floor there.. It seems like everybody else was too. I met Lee. Enjoyed myself thoroughly. Another great sonic moment.
2006, the Filter Party. I camped out proper to get the tix, I was the first one there at 1030PM the nite before. As they were closing the manager came out tripping (I think it was even that same dick from last time) and I told him, "Y'all aint giving out sonic youth tickets in the morning?" He said, "No, we don't sell tickets." He tries to argue with me telling me to leave, I tell him folks are coming. He checks it out. An hour later he reluctantly tells me its cool. I camp out. Sunset is cool to camp out, no drama. Hollywood blvd I've camped out for tickets, and even though it is literally just one block over, that shit is wild yo! Pimps. Hookers! Addicts! Gangsters! Cops! Weirdos! It's still hollyweird out there y'all, regardless of what the Hollywood/Vine or Babylon Mall plastic renovations want to fool folks with. So I get the tickets no problem in the morning. Its a secret show remember? That shit felt so VIP. We had a great SY community vibe on Sunset blvd all night, such good times. When I was at the show, I chatted it up with Steve for twenty minutes about tunes and life. I thanked him so much for the show, and the vibe, and for giving us an SY community with events and shows like that. I said it truly felt community oriented like a Dead show at the Fillmore in 1970. Then we chatted up about the Dead and he suggested I talk with Lee. He said, "Lee is the resident Sonic Youth deadhead." So he introduced me to Lee, and me and Lee chatted about tunes and life and the Dead for about 15 minutes even though he was so busy helping at the booth with his really cool son. We talked about his son's band too.. When I asked Lee if he was a deadhead he gave me confessing grin, "Well, I have been known to be from time to time." Fuck yeah!
In 2006 we went to see sonic at Jimmy Kimmel. Not only did they play an entire set, but got to fuck with the cameras who kept going over our head to play with the dreadlock Rastas who were flagrantly smoking pot. If you watch that show on YouTube, you will find that not a single crowd shot finished the pan, they all cut quickly to close ups. That is because me and my folks purposely sabotaged EACH pan by the over-crowd camera by flagrantly blazing it and waving. Such a great gig. Such a surprise that they played for an entire hour, outdoors, friday night, on the backside of Hollywood Blvd. It was magic.
In 2007 we tried to sneek into the Urban Outfitters show. We almost got the front, but the dude was a dick. So we went to the back. We were posted up for a while. Then Thurston came out. We didn't want to seem like weirdo stalkers just standing around, so after like 10 minutes we figured we should go at least say whats up. After all, I'm Rastafari, at reggae shows its all equality. The band is as open as the commmunity, there is no star shock. However Thurston was clearly into a burrito, and was not feeling us bother him. He was actually kind of a dick about it but whatever.. We ran into Steve. He remembered me (well Rastafari dreadlocked sonic youth fans who are deadheads tend to stand out in memory) and surprisingly we picked up our conversation from the previous year about tunes and life. We asked him to sneak us in, he said I would like to, but he didn't want to be a dick to the promoters on the list already. But he told us good luck sneaking in on our own! So fucking cool! Thanks Steve, for being who you are! So we flirted with the chick running the back door, convinced her we were on the list, and got in. We were in for two songs until the dickhead from the front door saw us (again, the conspicuous Rasta thing) and dragged us out. It was all good, cuz we had a blast! We just hung out by the back door enjoying the gig, it sounded good all the same! At the end, the band came out. We said "what up" to Lee and ran into Steve again. He was all cool and asked us, "Did y'all get in?" We said, "Fuck yeah!!" and with a HUGE smile he gave us daps!!
Thats it for now.. share yours! I want to have vicarous nostalgia
