Tales from the Big O
I'm pretty sure I'm phasing out of DMB. I still enjoy them and have a good time, but I don't walk out of the show griping about a song being/not being played. Instead, I gripe about other things, and here they are in no particular order-
1. 18-19 year old girls who dress like they belong at a Heidi and Spencer show. Not only did these girls want to make me upchuck but as soon as they sat down I turned to Shayna and said "THAT is why we're not having a girl. EVER." The older lady sitting on our left remarked "She doesn't even know how to wear that outfit." p.s. This is strictly an observation and an opinion - the last week or so the Kelsey Smith trial has been going on and these girls reminded me of her. Because if I'm not mistaken she was wearing those shorts that have something written on the back, like juicy or something and a tank top or something. Girls and Dads that read this - there are sick f$%^& up people out there and they prey on that stuff. People sit there and scratch their heads and wonder why someone would do what he did. It's my opinion that the way kids, specifically girls, and we as a society are to blame for putting sex, sex, sex everywhere (hip-hop guys with the bikini car-wash company in your video, I'm looking at you), dress today are just inviting these sickos to do those things. I don't have a girl but if I did they wouldn't wear anything that goes more than halfway up the thigh.
2. This lady also agreed with my sentiment that we pour our sweat and tears - and $30 a year for 10 years now, not to mention the $50+ per ticket per show we've seen over the years - I'm pretty sure the last time I paid less than $50 to a DMB show was for a lawn ticket, which was a *very* long time ago - and then those cheap floozies get front row (we were in the 3rd). That whole thing made me wonder just how many people on the floor, or at least in the first 10 rows, were actually Warehouse members.
3. She didn't bother me nearly as much as those slutty 18 year old blondes in the front row but she still got on my nerves slightly. The chick on our right, she said she paid $750 for her seat, and then as I was leaving during Out of My Hands to get a brew she made it very clear to me she had a beer on the floor and not to spill it. Lady, if you paid $750 for your seat how on Earth do you have any money left for a beer, let alone two at the same time?
4. Security. These guys are the biggest &#%^&# tools in the world. Shayna wants to bring in the camera which I'm always paranoid of but our friend, who lives/works in Japan now, was there and telling her before the show that in Atlanta they were totally cool with cameras as long as the flash was off. Fine. So we bring it in no problem at all. We get to the floor and Shayna goes to work on getting the flash turned off. There was a security guard sitting directly behind us and I hear him say "They can tape, they can't take pictures." OK, let me stop right there and say that is the dumbest, most f'ing, absurdly ridiculously thing I've heard. *Everyone* has a camera on their phone now. And it's not like these digital cameras are photojournalistic Canons or Nikons. So to say "We're going to enforce digital cameras but help yourself to camera phones," is a total and utter contradiction. It's even more of a contradiction when she's told, I'm not sure when but I assume it was a few songs in, to put her camera away...while our little tramps in the front, as I'm told, were taking pictures all night. When called out at the end of the show, the security guard had the audacity to tell us "They changed the rule halfway through the show." Damn it, John! You forgot to take Shayna's stupid sign off before you left the hotel. My bad. So Shayna was unleashed at the end of the show (and for once I wasn't on the receiving end) and chewed out anyone and everyone who gets a check from the Qwest Center or its affiliates. She left a voice mail for the Head of Security yesterday and still hasn't heard back.
5. I'm not sure if it's the city of Omaha or the Qwest Center, but smokers are/were treated like they belonged in Leavenworth or the Bazaar Cattle Pens (that's in Kansas on I-35 for the uninformed). I like to have a smoke with my beer so when I left during OOMH I figured I'd have a quick one. I walk out of the arena and it's like an outdoor airport smoking lounge. Ever seen one of those? I know St. Louis and Atlanta have them. They are very disgusting and make me want to vomit when I walk by. Anyway, there were probably 250-300 people crammed into this small area and it was crazy. I was standing about 20-30 feet away from the doors and the security kept walking up to us saying "Move back and all the way to the left." I said to him "Are you serious? These people are already moved back as far as they can go. Any more and they'll be on top of each other." All he said was "Just doing my job." I threw down my cigarette and said "This isn't worth it." I'm ok with having to go outside, or wherever (as long as it isn't one of those indoor lounges), but I hate - HATE - being treated like a 3rd rate citizen because of my vice. You're already making me walk a ridiculous distance and you don't even have a tv screen or a speaker outside so I can see/hear what's going on inside. If I'm paying $70 a ticket I'd like to at the very least hear the song that's being played inside. If there's a Creighton basketball game going on I'm sure those smokers would like to hear play-by-play.
Aside from all of those complaints, it was fun. It really is nice to be able to go across a skywalk from your room to the arena and vice versa. Also the show was really good. Here's another sign I'm kind of out of DMB - they closed with Stay. I liked it. Naturally all of the monkeys on AM.org were like "Oh no, Stay is back as a closer. Wah wah wah." Whatever, I liked it. I think it's because it was the only show we were going to, and it's been a while since I've seen a Stay closer. Oh, and we got to see Alethea, whom we hadn't seen since 2002 or 2003. It's always fun to see our old friends and talk with them. So yeah, that was the Big O in a nutshell. Next trip - Laguna Beach in September. That should be fun to write about!
1. 18-19 year old girls who dress like they belong at a Heidi and Spencer show. Not only did these girls want to make me upchuck but as soon as they sat down I turned to Shayna and said "THAT is why we're not having a girl. EVER." The older lady sitting on our left remarked "She doesn't even know how to wear that outfit." p.s. This is strictly an observation and an opinion - the last week or so the Kelsey Smith trial has been going on and these girls reminded me of her. Because if I'm not mistaken she was wearing those shorts that have something written on the back, like juicy or something and a tank top or something. Girls and Dads that read this - there are sick f$%^& up people out there and they prey on that stuff. People sit there and scratch their heads and wonder why someone would do what he did. It's my opinion that the way kids, specifically girls, and we as a society are to blame for putting sex, sex, sex everywhere (hip-hop guys with the bikini car-wash company in your video, I'm looking at you), dress today are just inviting these sickos to do those things. I don't have a girl but if I did they wouldn't wear anything that goes more than halfway up the thigh.
2. This lady also agreed with my sentiment that we pour our sweat and tears - and $30 a year for 10 years now, not to mention the $50+ per ticket per show we've seen over the years - I'm pretty sure the last time I paid less than $50 to a DMB show was for a lawn ticket, which was a *very* long time ago - and then those cheap floozies get front row (we were in the 3rd). That whole thing made me wonder just how many people on the floor, or at least in the first 10 rows, were actually Warehouse members.
3. She didn't bother me nearly as much as those slutty 18 year old blondes in the front row but she still got on my nerves slightly. The chick on our right, she said she paid $750 for her seat, and then as I was leaving during Out of My Hands to get a brew she made it very clear to me she had a beer on the floor and not to spill it. Lady, if you paid $750 for your seat how on Earth do you have any money left for a beer, let alone two at the same time?
4. Security. These guys are the biggest &#%^&# tools in the world. Shayna wants to bring in the camera which I'm always paranoid of but our friend, who lives/works in Japan now, was there and telling her before the show that in Atlanta they were totally cool with cameras as long as the flash was off. Fine. So we bring it in no problem at all. We get to the floor and Shayna goes to work on getting the flash turned off. There was a security guard sitting directly behind us and I hear him say "They can tape, they can't take pictures." OK, let me stop right there and say that is the dumbest, most f'ing, absurdly ridiculously thing I've heard. *Everyone* has a camera on their phone now. And it's not like these digital cameras are photojournalistic Canons or Nikons. So to say "We're going to enforce digital cameras but help yourself to camera phones," is a total and utter contradiction. It's even more of a contradiction when she's told, I'm not sure when but I assume it was a few songs in, to put her camera away...while our little tramps in the front, as I'm told, were taking pictures all night. When called out at the end of the show, the security guard had the audacity to tell us "They changed the rule halfway through the show." Damn it, John! You forgot to take Shayna's stupid sign off before you left the hotel. My bad. So Shayna was unleashed at the end of the show (and for once I wasn't on the receiving end) and chewed out anyone and everyone who gets a check from the Qwest Center or its affiliates. She left a voice mail for the Head of Security yesterday and still hasn't heard back.
5. I'm not sure if it's the city of Omaha or the Qwest Center, but smokers are/were treated like they belonged in Leavenworth or the Bazaar Cattle Pens (that's in Kansas on I-35 for the uninformed). I like to have a smoke with my beer so when I left during OOMH I figured I'd have a quick one. I walk out of the arena and it's like an outdoor airport smoking lounge. Ever seen one of those? I know St. Louis and Atlanta have them. They are very disgusting and make me want to vomit when I walk by. Anyway, there were probably 250-300 people crammed into this small area and it was crazy. I was standing about 20-30 feet away from the doors and the security kept walking up to us saying "Move back and all the way to the left." I said to him "Are you serious? These people are already moved back as far as they can go. Any more and they'll be on top of each other." All he said was "Just doing my job." I threw down my cigarette and said "This isn't worth it." I'm ok with having to go outside, or wherever (as long as it isn't one of those indoor lounges), but I hate - HATE - being treated like a 3rd rate citizen because of my vice. You're already making me walk a ridiculous distance and you don't even have a tv screen or a speaker outside so I can see/hear what's going on inside. If I'm paying $70 a ticket I'd like to at the very least hear the song that's being played inside. If there's a Creighton basketball game going on I'm sure those smokers would like to hear play-by-play.
Aside from all of those complaints, it was fun. It really is nice to be able to go across a skywalk from your room to the arena and vice versa. Also the show was really good. Here's another sign I'm kind of out of DMB - they closed with Stay. I liked it. Naturally all of the monkeys on AM.org were like "Oh no, Stay is back as a closer. Wah wah wah." Whatever, I liked it. I think it's because it was the only show we were going to, and it's been a while since I've seen a Stay closer. Oh, and we got to see Alethea, whom we hadn't seen since 2002 or 2003. It's always fun to see our old friends and talk with them. So yeah, that was the Big O in a nutshell. Next trip - Laguna Beach in September. That should be fun to write about!
