Monday, February 9, 2004

A night with Metallica

With Valentine's Day being five days away, I thought I could use that as my theme for the week.  I shall begin with the best and most memorable dates I have been on.

I met this guy Steve in the early '90's.  It was nothing serious,  just some fun. 

I made mention that I liked Metallica.  Their album with Enter Sandman had crossed over.  Now Steve is not Metallica material.  I think I told him that just to scare him off.  But to win me over, he called 1800BESTTIX and got us fifth row seats.  I could not believe he had done this.  He is very mild mannered and his idea of a rocking time would be to go to the Gospel-Country Jubilee in Mt. Vernon, KY.

So we went.  I wore this loosely knit pink sweater thing over a black turtleneck.  The reason I remember what I wore so vividly is because I was the only one in the audience not in black. And I was in the 5th row, directly in front of the stage, glowing pinkly right under the watchful eye of "F***YOU" James Hetfield, the  singer for Metallica. The reason I call him this is because when he was not singing, he was yelling that at us!  And we would yell it back. He would flip us the bird, and we would flip it right back.  He did all this with a grin from ear to ear. He had the most beautiful smile, such white teeth! He was so endearing, really.  Who would have thought. He would take a cup of beer and gulp some of it then toss/throw the cup into the audience...right at me.  Every single time!  Pink advantage.

He'd say, "We're going to sing "Fill-in-the-blank," do you all know it?" We'd all yell back, "Yeeeeeaaaaaaa".  "Okay, sing along", he'd demand.  It seemed he'd keep his eye on me to make sure I was singing along and had not lied about knowing the lyrics.  I did a lot of mouthing....having no idea what I was singing but I was intent not to disappoint James. Steve was standing on chairs with me, head banging with me, yelling "F***YOU" with everyone, and yes even faking he knew the words to Whiplash right along with me.

It was the greatest time.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thise were good times. And crazy times also. john

Anonymous said...

That's a great story. Seems you converted Steve! I'm not a rocker myself, but my bf D. brought me to a Rush concert a year ago. I had a headache afterwards but it was fun!

http://journals.aol.com/musenla/Amused/

Anonymous said...

You headbanger you!!! I knew there was a reason I liked you. I luv Metallica. I've been listening to them on my way to work. And, what a nice guy for doing that for you. I look forward to reading your other entries. :-) ----Robbie

Anonymous said...

How cool is this story?! What a good guy that Steve must be! Jae

Anonymous said...

Oh you wild woman you! Hugs Lanny

Anonymous said...

It's fun to remember those days as a wild child when I'm looking oh-so-proper and feeling oh-so-old. It's time to break out some metal cds.

Anonymous said...

Hee. From The Beatles to Metallica in one weekend!

Anonymous said...

Very nice memories, you wild woman. you! I could never get into hard rock. Hmmm, I used to believe that Mister Rogers would keep his eyes on me to make sure I was singing along to "Won't you be my neighbor..." He threw his sneaker at me once, but it missed me. Hit my baby brother who was behind me wearing pink :::smile:::

Anonymous said...

Sounds like someone else is a secret wild woman....

Anonymous said...

Wow! Another party girl. I have to let her out to play every once in awhile!!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like he was after you!! lol
vince

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for pointing me to this entry!

I went to their concert in Freedom Hall in early '92...it remains one of the high points of my life!  I did (and still do!) know all the words, and the friend I was with really didn't, she just came along to keep me company, and gamely tried to keep up.

I've always thought that I had good seats...until now...not with you being in such close proximity to James!

You should go see the movie, it's really great.  Metallica still just makes me so happy.