WWVVD? (What Would Vincent Vega Do?)

Good grief am I tired. That’s usually a sign of a good night, and last night was no exception.

One of the first people I met out here was Toby. He wandered by while I was at one of my local pubs (The Mucky Duck) watching the Vikings on the HD Flatscreen. He asked if I was from MN, I responded in the affirmative, then he asked, “Do you know this shi**y band called Dillinger Four?” Now, those that know me would know that I could consider them Fightin’ Words. He was obviously joking, however, and we got to talking. It turns out he runs his own record label (Red Scare Records) and I owned a couple of albums off of his label (The Falcon, which has members of The Lawrence Arms and Alkaline Trio). He had started the label less than a couple of years ago and had earlier in the year had quit his job at Fat Wreck Chords. Fat Wreck (run by Fat Mike of NOFX) supplied numerous albums that were, and still are, a cornerstone of the music that I enjoy to this day. Toby and I instantly hit it off, to say the least.

Last night Toby was able to get me in to the second of three NOFX shows playing at Slim’s. The three night extravaganza is their homecoming from their mini-tour that they’ve been on, and I was very grateful that Toby was able to pull some strings and get me into a sold-out, small-size venue. Toby, however, fully exceeded anything that I expected when he produced not only tickets, but all-access wrist bands to go back stage and see the show from a less dense roped off area. Plus they had a couple of kegs of Pabst in the back alley that was gratis to anyone wearing the wrist band, I owe Toby a couple of drinks, don’t you think?

We arrived a bit late so we missed the first band, but the second band was Strike Anywhere, an anthemic, melodic hardcore band from Richmond, VA that is on Fat Wreck’s roster. They were really good, so good, in fact that I picked up two of their albums after the show.

The whole time we are in the all-access area, Toby is introducing me to various friends of his from Fat Wreck, local musicians, etc. I received a tap on the shoulder after Strike Anywhere’s set and figured Toby wanted me to meet another one of his ex-coworkers. Turning around, I realized that it was not one of his ex-coworkers, but his ex-boss. Toby introduces me to Fat Mike and we make some non-committal small talk while Mike signs a couple of kid’s shirts. Then Mike tells me a story of what had happened to him earlier that morning.

Turns out that Mike had met a super-fan from MPLS the night before and had accepted this fan’s offer to go golfing at a super exclusive golf course in the city. The guy stressed that he needed Mike and his partner to be on their best behavior (dressing nicely, [no plaid pants], easy on the drink, no ditching the carts in sand traps, etc.). Mike shows up at the course and meets up with the fan at about 8 AM. The fan appeared to be a little shaky and twitchy, Mike wrote it off as an all-night bender and was excited to go hit the links. Then, on the second hole, the fan collapses. Turns out the guy OD’d on liquid Valium and went down right in the tee box. Ambulances and fire trucks show up, and they plunge the big needle of adrenaline right into the guy’s chest, right there on the course.

After the guy had been taken to the hospital, Mike and his playing partner did what any self-respected golfer would do when on a golf course Mecca. They played out the rest of their round.

After the story I wished Mike well on his show coming up as he went backstage to prepare, I totally forgot to tell him “Hi” from Diana, whoops. Toby and I headed out to the alley to get a Pabst and talk with some other locals in “the scene”, we even chatted up Matt Smith, the guitarist from Strike Anywhere, for a little bit. One of the best parts of having the wrist band, however, is the clean, no-line bathroom. Can’t beat that with a stick.

NOFX came on and played for a little over an hour, mixing in older and newer songs quite well and had the usual hilarious stage banter. The sound was great, the show was great, and they were done a little bit before 12:30 AM.

After the show Toby, Chris from The Nothingtons and I went over to a bar a little over a block away. The Eagle is a motorcycle, bear, leather-daddy bar that a lot of the bands that play at Slim’s go to. I can see why as the place was really cool. It had a huge outdoor area with trees and fire pits and just a really cool look about it. The bartender even gave us some killer Boston Crème Cake that was leftover from an earlier party. I had a Beck’s with the kids and then hailed a cab, getting home at 2 AM. I got up for work this morning at 5. Good grief am I tired.

Take care.

jeremy