A Notice, A Mistake and A Band.

It has come to my attention that at some points in my writings, certain things are missing. Specifically, more information about bands. So, with that in mind, I will begin to give more information about each band that is included in my rants and raves. Instead of me telling you what each band is like, and whether or not YOU would like them, I will be linking to each band’s article on Wikipedia. This way, if you are so inclined, you can hop on over to their article and decide for yourself if you would be interested in learning more about the band. I will continue to put in my interjections, so think of this as a supplement to my writing.

Sunday night was the second night of Drive-By Truckers at the Fox. I will get to the band in a moment. First I have to tell you about someone who made a pretty monumental mistake.
At the Fox, we don’t “enforce” too many rules. However, the ones we do enforce are done so vigorously. Most of these vigorously enforced rules involve alcohol. Two such alcohol related rules are that outside drinks can’t be brought in and drinks bought in the venue can not be brought outside.
Towards the beginning of the Drive-By Truckers’ set I was working the front door. This job includes, but is not limited to: checking IDs, taking tickets, making sure people have been stamped and keeping my eyes out for alcohol being brought in. Someone else was watching the exit door to make sure no alcohol was brought outside. A guy walks in, on his cell phone, and sticks his hand under the black light to show he has been stamped. As he’s walking away my manager Ben says, “hey, what’s he got in his back pocket?”
Long story short, the guy had bought a beer, put it in his back pocket, walked out of the venue without being stopped, did his thing outside and then attempted to come back in with the beer.
I, for one, can not say if this was done intentionally or with malicious thoughts in mind. I do not know if he drank the beer outside, let alone if he was even aware that he had the beer in his back pocket. When I grabbed the beer and asked him about it he said he had forgotten it was there. That is all well and good, but it isn’t going to get him back in the show. The rules are clear: anyone caught bringing alcohol into the venue is denied admission and anyone caught taking alcohol outside the venue is denied re-admission. This guy broke two unbendable rules.

“You gotta go man.”
“But I didn’t know it was there.”
“Doesn’t matter, the sign says no alcohol outside and your ticket says no outside alcohol. You can’t come back in here.”
“I paid for three tickets man, and my girlfriend is still in there.”
“There is no discussion here. You can not come back in.”

I threw away the beer and escorted him outside. He didn’t fight me, probably because I had six inches and fifty pounds on him. When he got outside he tried to “reason” with me.

“Come on man, you gotta let me back in.”
“No. My boss caught you and my other boss is right there. At this point, if you come back in this venue, it will be my mistake.”
“At least let me go get my girlfriend.”
“Can’t do that man. You are not coming back in here. I will try to find her for you though.”

I found his girlfriend, informed her of his stupidity and escorted her to the door. She was nice enough to go back inside, close his bar tab and leave with him, thus avoiding any further altercation.
Here is the question I pose to you: am I the asshole for not giving him a second chance, or is he the asshole for breaking the rules and asking for a second chance? I’ll let you think it through.

On to more (or less) pressing issues.
As I said before, the Drive-By Truckers played at the Fox on Sunday. This was the last show of their current tour, and they had played the previous night at the Fox as well. Working the door I saw a good portion of the crowd come through with the stamp from the night before. This means that there were at least 150 people at Sunday’s show that were also at Saturday’s show.
I can definitely appreciate a band whose fans are willing to shell out money to see them two nights in a row. On top of that, the set was really good. I got to catch the last part of it from the stage and I must admit I kind of enjoyed it. Don’t tell anyone.

Appreciation.

Sunday was a strange night. The band was Kingspade, two guys who are a part of the Kottonmouth Kings, a stoner rap band. The music wasn’t great; just rap covered with lyrics about pot, “bitches,” drinking and weed. None of this came as a surprise for me, even the drunken/strung out crowd wasn’t to bad.
The crowd was on par with other rap shows; very angry, very high and overall very caustic. As usual I had to say over and over that drinks couldn’t be brought into the pit. It’s a simple idea. Since, there are kids under 21 down in the pit, no alcoholic beverages can be brought down.

“But I’m over 21. See I have a wristband.”
“Yeah, I see that. The fact is that kid right there is something like 16 years old. That means when he steals the drink out of your hand, the venue is liable.”
“You suck man, I can’t believe you won’t let me take this down there. I paid for a ticket so I should be able to do what I want.”
“OK, I’ll make you a deal. I’ll throw out the drink and you can go wherever you want. Then, when you get thirsty, you get to think about how much money you wasted just to get ten feet closer to the stage.”

I don’t want to be a dick to these people, I really don’t. It just seems that the only thing they understand is empty threats.
Back to the performers. Most of the time bands have a rock star complex where they only talk to people who work at the venue if they happen to be in their way. Otherwise, us lowly employees are just there to have someone to talk down to when their bottled water is to warm. The cool thing about Sunday night’s bands was that these guys were very polite to the stage crew and security guards. Don’t get me wrong, they were walking stereotypes with tattoos EVERYWHERE, (a special thanks goes out to Big B for taking off his shirt and showing everyone the canvas that is his gut) and saying things like “yo dawg, where the women at?” But I have a feeling this was just a façade that they put on to sell little kids rap albums.
We can all agree, being appreciated at your job is a wonderful feeling. Working as a bouncer you don’t always get on people’s good sides, so when a band thanks you for your help at “keeping the peace” it is a good thing.
Another cool thing about Kingspade: when a fight broke out in the pit, the guys stopped the music long enough to tell everyone in the crowd to calm down. “Come on guys, this is a pot party. There’s no need to fight.” Ahhh, stoner logic, nothing tops it.