Angela Pham
8/23/03
I’m know by now you are all familiar with the AWK cast. You probably think that this LA show was
like all the others. You’re wrong! Ok, I’m sure you don’t care at all. But here’s how it went down. (I
can no longer lie, now that I know the band reads this stuff.. not that… I ever did..) We got there an
hour late, but the opening bands were still playing and the AWK band was nowhere to be seen. They
were probably hanging out with their cooler friends. Since Frank only reserved 2 passes, we had to
ask for help from Mountain Man. Thanks again Big Daddeh! We killed time by annoying the band
crew with our confused loitering and our “oh… opps. um.. sorry..”. We got out of their hair and hung
out on the roof of the theatre. The view was beautiful. We saw Hollywood lights and two homeless
men fighting over a hot dog. Once we heard the band was in their tour bus, we exited the venue. We
walked across the street to the parking lot. For about 5 minutes we casually lingered within a 30 foot
radius of the bus. Nobody came out, and we were very embarrassed. We imagined them watching us
through the blinds of the bus and laughing at us. Haha! But the jokes on them, we were just walking
around outside for some fresh air. Shutup, everyone does it. Having nothing to do, we returned to
the backstage area. In the basement, we found the band’s dressing rooms. We stole some of the
band’s food, but I don’t think anyone minded. Surrounding us were either band mates or the band’s
friends. We felt so out of place, so we just sat on a sofa eating sugar packets. One by one, the
members of AWK came down to the dressing rooms and said hi, including Ken. They were all busy
getting ready, so there was no time to chit chat (good excuse). The fun started when the show
started. The crowd was as crazy as warped tour and I was glad I was watching from backstage.
Shaudee and I, the fragile bodies, stayed put, while Rosemary and Lori got right in front of the stage.
They played some unfamiliar songs from their new album. During almost every song, about 10
people jumped onstage and started dancing. It’s cool how the band not only allows it, but
encourages it, too! Shaudee and I had easy access to the stage so we jumped on at the last few songs.
I really wanted to go ride on Andrew’s back, but someone already was. Shaudee knocked over the
microphone and Big Daddeh had to fix it. It was getting a little rough and sweaty so we climbed off
the stage. When Rosemary and Lori came back, their fingers were all pruned up from the sweat.
Ultimate gross. But then we saw Gregg’s sweat-drenched pants… You sure do work up a sweat,
dancing like him. We hung around backstage while all the bands were mingling now. We had to
leave because Shaudee’s mom was waiting. Andrew told us that he wore the Sheep Mafia shirt to an
AOL interview. We told him that during his next interview he HAD to mention sheepmafia.com. We
already feel lucky though, having our adventure up at his site. Frank looked the same from warped
tour… no wild hair surprises! We thanked him for the passes and the great show. Ken, Frank, and
Rich (drum techie!) said they actually read the warped tour story which left us in an awkward
position. We hoped they didn’t catch the lies. Ken apologized for not having the poster Rosemary
wanted signed at warped tour ready, but it’s ok… we’ll see them next time. We all said bye to the
band and on the way out, we finally recognized this guy who worked for Island Records and we saw
him interviewing AWK at warped tour. He basically told us to back off when we wanted to talk to
Andrew (warped tour). He apologized though. Hopefully one day we will get to work at either Island
or Capitol.
|
