scooter's spot v. 2.0

Space age percussionist Futureman (of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones fame) and the Drumitar, an instrument of his own design.

The Drumitar, a percussion instrument designed and played by Futureman of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.

Now, back to Thursday. Another day like any other day, until the rain started. Now, we're in the midst of the dry season here in South Florida, but that doesn't mean that it is always dry. A brief shower here, a torrential downpour there: we have to do something to keep the damn tourists and spring breakers on their toes!

And boy, did it rain! But then it stopped, and the sky was gray, and the clock struck five o'clock, and I was off the show.

I knew to come prepared with a rain jacket; after all, I was a professional. So I brought the jacket, and I even had the sense of mind to bring an extra for my lovely lady friend.

Too bad they didn't even help once the rains came.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, just slightly. We had actually made plans for dinner, but upon arriving at the restaurant, discovered it closed. We headed to a second choice, only to find a ridiculous wait before us. So we picked the first place we could find that had no line and sat down to some pizza and beer.

After shoveling dinner down our gullets, we headed around the corner to the amphitheater and handed out tickets over. First stop (as always), the bar for some quick and easy (though certainly not painless: $7 for a single, $13 for a double) lubrication. There were two bar tenders working the bar: the first was a dude, and he seemed pretty busy pushing Hypnotiq, the blue cognac-based liquor that I am afraid to drink.

The second was a talkative lady who knew how to hook it up. I ordered a double Jack-and-Coke (hey, if I was gonna spend thirteen bucks on a drink, I'm starting with the hard stuff!), and made a joke to her about wanting a standing twelve count on the pour.

She actually gave it to me before splashing a drop of Coke (in this case, Pepsi) on top. Needless-to-say, the drink was quite stiff, and was putting me well on my way to loud and obnoxious.

We walked up the stairs into the concert area, and there were, quite literally, no more than 100 people there. Perhaps the days rain was scaring potential patrons away. Or perhaps South Florida' recent saturation of good music was hitting some people hard in the wallet. I knew that was the case with me (though I still managed to be there).

We made our way to our sweet seventh row seats and starting conversing with the people sitting behind us: a fifteen-year old high school kid and his dad. I thought that it was pretty cool for the dad to be taking his kid to the show; my pops never took me to a concert, though we have been to a zillion sporting events around the country.

Anyway, the show was delayed due to technical difficulties associated with the puddles of water dotting the stage. Eventually the show started, and the seats started filling up, though venue capacity was never reached. Having already finished Jack-and-Pepsi number 2, I was feeling loose and getting my groove on. Unfortunately, security man didn't like me dancing in the aisles all that much, and came over to tell me so. I looked behind me and realized that I was--quite literally--the only person standing up in the entire venue. So I apologized to the nice folks behind me for dancing in front of them and continued to bust my white boy dance moves.

About three songs in it happened. We knew it was coming, we just didn't know when.

The skies opened up and let loose their liquid fury. By the time I was able to get into my bag to grab my jacket, I was soaked. The entire crowd rushed the stage to take advantage of the two feet of head cover that was there. I just danced in the rain, jumping up and down and the concrete steps like an adolescent, splashing my neighbors with the puddles.

Once you're wet, you're wet, right?

It was a crazy storm for about 10 minutes. And then it completely stopped.

Remember the security guard who reprimanded me for dancing in the aisles? Once the rain started the show became a free-for-all, a situation that remained throughout the remainder of the performance. Mr. Security Guard had disappeared, and all the rules were thrown out the window.

Unfortunately, the mass exodus of people out of our row caused the unfortunate spillage of two $7 cocktails on the ground. Luckily, the bartender (heavy pour female, not wussy pour dude) made up for it when she gave my lady friend a free Jack-and-Pepsi.

The show was fun. Wet, drunken and fun. The music was good. Not earth-moving, but good none-the-less. I had a great time

posted by Unknown @ 8:13 AM