The magnitude to which some people, me somewhat included, really boggles the mind. Traveling tons, driving to Mass. for an IH show and staying in a random hotel with people who know cause you read their email and see them at shows, sharing nachos adn wondering if Cone's gonna write YOUR name on his glass...Falcon Ridge, getting really, really shitfaced and singing the best versions of the greatest band's songs. Nerissa, Katryna, David, David, David. I swear it'll never be the same but I'm listening to Train and I can hear them calling me back. Drive nine hours for two Iron Horse shows. Give April a hug and tell people you're on the back of Live From Northampton, their last great CD.
Crash at Andrianna's and (ahem. Sorry, had to redact this one. Those involved know what happened, and those who weren't probably heard about it anyway). Fall in love with a Nooker and share water. See her at shows, trade kisses over Last Kisses, bond over icy water at Bash Bish. Listen to Bruce somehow manage to link Nugehtfotra to Jungian philosophy and one of the million road maps on the bottom of his van.
Take a solar shower and wonder if he's really got a camera in there. They're small enough now...Drink Saranac and hug Bern. Wake up, rub the sleep out of your eyes, put on clean socks and make pancakes. Pet Paul's dog. Smoke somebody else's dope. Eat at least one potato pancake, buy too many Katryna-paintings. Pack the car perfectly before you leave and then end up trading emails to try figuring out where the hell your corn syrup is.
Request Mob Zombie Boogie Woogie. For the love of whatever g-d you believe in, request it. Trust me.
Trade a post, trade a flame. Keep it off-nook. get booted because you said "lesbian". lose a lover and call yourself yesterday's boy. Start a Nooker AIM name thread and make a new section on your buddy list. Go to Bartcop thanks to Don "no shell access" Semmons' posts and still find yourself going back every day two years later. CApitalize your name weird because you can. Help out, ask for rides, post setlists. Interpret songs even if you have no clue what they mean. Make a relatively good case that Nerissa has a Johnny Cash fetish thanks to IKWKOLTI. Post a random setlist you found and get Cone telling you that was the best version of The Trade he's ever heard.
Drive to Godfrey's and miss the first show, freeze outside, and see a pregnant Katryna tear it up. Watch the whole band leave slowly after Wanting. Realize you've got the song wrong but it's cool. Someone will catch it. Beg the rentals to let you crash at Shannon's and end up trying to read Heinlein on a long three hours home.
Hear that one perfect line that brings you to tears and builds you up again. Crash at a nooker's house. Make him want to burn his couch. Make a Tony Hawk level and name all the gaps after Nields, nookers, and songs. Make one impossible gap, give it max points and call it the Nields Apocrypha Gap. Drink Sobe that Matt scored from Donut Dip. Be driving past Chicopee for no apparent reason and stop at the Dip for a glazed twist and a hello to a dazed Fluffy.
Read Harry Potter. Because Nerissa does.
Secretly, have one Nields who you really, really wanna f***. It's okay. Most of us do. Some have more than one.
Look back at your history on this list. Realize you love this place and almost all the people.
I'm not going to leave any time soon.
© 2003