if you’ve never heard of them, athenaeum is a 90s alternative rock band from greensboro. their songs have been on the radio since i was old enough to care about it. i never really fiddled with the radio until i was like 11. but they’ve been one of my favorite bands ever since then. i think it’s partly because their music reminds me of the 90s and being little, hanging out with my best friends all day every day without a care in the world. i put them in the same category as matchbox 20, wallflowers, semisonic, third eye blind, etc. you get the idea.
this was my 6th (i think?) time seeing them. it was the first time, however, i’ve been able to see them since being of a legal drinking age. beer makes concerts so much more fun.
i also love them because their music is flipping awesome and it just makes you feel good. i usually can’t listen to certain music when i’m in a certain mood. like sometimes i can only stand to listen to metal (rob zombie and i are close friends), or sometimes i only want to listen to country, and other times when i’m feeling gangster, i put “baby by me” on repeat. like i did yesterday for nearly half the drive to charlotte.
but athenaeum is that band that you can just pop in the CD player/iWhatever anytime and it won’t matter if you’re angry, sad, depressed, or ready to go clubbing. because after that you’ll just want to start singing. it’s like a curse. i tried so hard last night to just listen for once… and not chime in. i’m sure mark kano does not need me screaming the lyrics back in his face (i was right smack in front, like a foot from him, i know he heard me), but no such luck. the words just have to come out.
i took a few pictures with my phone. they look like crap, but, it is, after all, still a phone.
i also ran into rachel, a looong time friend of mine. she and i went to middle school and high school together, and girl scouts, and have been avid athenaeum fans together. i had a feeling she might be there last night, and i was right. i looked in front of me and there she was with her boyfriend, so, awesome surprise! the four of us had fun. until she got hot and nauseous and had to go sit elsewhere. that was not so fun.
and for my retard moment of the night–the girls at the tanning bed i go to make jewelry and sell it at the counter. i think they’re in high school but they raise it for some soccer thing and i was like, hmm, it’s really pretty, i will buy something. so last week i bought a reeeally cute black necklace for $8. i love it. seriously. it matches these earrings i have perfectly.
anyway, i was standing there last night, watching, listening to mark kano and mike garrigan serenade me, when i felt what seemed to be 3583297 bugs crawling down my shirt. it was not bugs–it was beads. the necklace randomly just broke. and started falling everywhere. little tiny beads were falling down my shirt, my bra, my jacket, and almost my pants. thank god the music was loud or it would’ve been an obnoxious 20 seconds listening to 52980532 beads rolling all over a cement floor.
so, goodbye, cute necklace. i only got to wear you twice. well, one and a half times. didn’t quite make it through last night. maybe i can convince the girls at the tanning bed to make me another one.