[candymoan]

when SY came to istanbul a year ago, one day before the gig the promoters held a warming up party at a sleazy, yet expensive bar .. the buzz was SY was going to attend..

now i've been a fan for 15 years, and this was going to be my first ever sonic youth concert.. my wife was kind enough to buy me tickets - she earns more money than i do - and she also took me to the party..

no one actually believed they'd show up.. we were the first people in there, and i drank a lot of beer while chanting "play some sonic youth" (they didn't).. about 2 hours passed, the place filled up with semi-fans, pretentitous art types, trendy yuppies, professional drunks and about 15 real fans.. shentov was there, we had pm'ed later on on the old board..

then suddenly, i turned to a 16 year old girl at a beatles concert circa 1966..

not really..
but, man was i excited..
i started shouting out to lee, then for thurston.. my wife later commented that i had an aggressive aura, and i probably was a little intimidating..

the guys didn't know what to do at that stage..
thurston headed for the bar, got a beer and instantly found himself overwhelmed by groupies.. (for the lack of a better word..)
lee just sort of walked by my way, and stood in front of me..

i tried to collect myself as much as i can..
i shook his hand.. told him i'd been waiting for that day for a very long time.. some babble about my youth.. lee was kind and cool, and listened to me with genuine interest..
afterall, this was the first time for SY to come to istanbul as well..
lee then asked of my wife, who was silently standing next to me, holding my hand.. i'd neglected her, and introduced the two.. a lot "my hero" et cetera were pronounced by then..
i gave a copy of the magazine that i produce - self-published xerox culture thingy called PORNAViDA, and lee thanked me gently..
we saw him later with the magazine tucked in his back pocket.. wow!

kim was cold, and my wife asked her about coco.. kim replied dryly, "coco has school.."
how anti-rock 'n roll is that..
how cool is that..?

steve had gone into the dj booth, looking for some decent music - he failed.. jim was hanging arund kim most of the timei and everyone wanted their photos taken with them, so i moved away..

and thurston..
as i've said, he was at the bar with a beer in his hand, people flooding him.. i have mild agoraphobia, so i wasn't too keen on diving in there.. my wife took me by my hand, and dragged me right in..
she started talking to thurston, and she intoduced me..
"and thurston, by the way, this is my husband..!"

thurston was cool.. i said the same things - not quite intelligent, half drunk and too excited guy babbling - and he was pretty cool about the whole affair..

overall impression of sonic youth from a long time fan..

thurston --> the indie superstar
lee --> the cool guy
steve --> sorry, but kind of geeky, and very polite
kim --> scary, cold, but definitely not rude

i kinda overlooked jim..
i got all their autographs on the gig poster..

the following day, we were the first in line for the concert.. as we were goofing around killing time, a car stopped in front of us and steve got out.. he recognized us from the night before, and chatted with us for a while..
"are you guys the first in line?"
yeah, man..
always...