Coming of Age
When a child reaches a certain age, I believe that it is a father’s duty to embarrass him. Case in point, a visit to the shopping mall last night. While waiting for the Wife, the Kid & I stood milling about outside of the store “Hot Topic.” To kill some time, I thought I’d wander in and check out the T-shirts. The display of shirts ran from floor to ceiling, and I surveyed the bands.
Dead Milkmen. My first job in technology I worked with the lead singer of that band. I also saw them play with Mojo Nixon at my university.
Dead Kennedy’s. I saw the lead singer, Jello Biafra, perform solo at my uni.
The Ramones. I saw this band play one long, frenetic set with DeeDee Ramone shouting “1-2-3-4” between songs at “Mississippi Nights” in St. Louis.
The Misfits. I dated a girl who was once big into this band.
The Clash. I listened to “London Calling” on a boombox in my garage/darkroom while teaching myself how to develop and print black & white photographs.
Red Hot Chili Peppers. My memories of seeing this band are clouded from drinking tequila with a friend before the show. Too bad given that it was early in their career.
The Vandals. I saw them at an under-21 club with 45 Grave. The lead singer of the Vandals came on stage with a rigged up phonograph that he had strapped to himself and used to scratch along to the music. The lead signer of 45 Grave seemed strung out on heroin and could barely stand up.
The Kid stood outside of the store ignoring me. When I came out to see if he would come in and look around, he shook his head quickly. No cajoling would get him to come into the store with me, not even a Green Day shirt.
So I left the store and waited outside for the Wife to return. When she did, I told her what happened.
“I’d be embarrassed to go into that store with you too,” she said, agreeing with the Kid. “You’re too old and besides, you don’t want to give money to those anti-American weasels now do you?”
She was right, of course. The Wife always is. Still, it didn’t seem right to me. I wasn’t going to wear those t-shirts, just look at them the same way one would look at photographs. But it was time to move on, and besides, I wanted to get the hell out of that mall at the first chance.
Leave a comment