Soaked in sweat, standing outside Warsaw, (Greenpoint’s Polish community center that houses rock shows) after Wunderhorse crushed their 75 minute set last night, high-fiving other revelers one-third my age in the breezy night, a thought came to me.
It’s that line from Lester Burnham from American Beauty; the middle-aged married man in crisis, after he pitches his old life into the dumpster and tries to remake a cooler version of himself:
“It’s a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself. Makes you wonder what else you can do that you’ve forgotten about.”
At one point during the general admission only show, while hopping up and down mere steps from the vibrating mosh pit to my right, I locked arms with three drunk college dudes from Philadelphia and swayed back and forth while we all belted out the chorus to The Rope, the band’s standalone single from 2025.
I did that. Me. Yes. People who know me and know of my life these days right now are reading this and shaking their heads - no fucking way…
Yes - the guy who had a big public life and has had quite enough of crowds and people in general - the guy who lives a very slow, quiet, and solitary life alone in the desert - the guy who says no to almost every invitation - the guy who has had more than enough travel and big events in his life - went all in on all of it last night.
It wasn’t planned. I was nervous going over there, and did my usual scanning of the joint for uncrowded spots to hide near a bathroom once I arrived, and I finally just said fuck it.
I can be ok with it - or I can be miserable… I said to myself as I grabbed my daughters arm and plunged us both deeper into the morass of the drunk and lively Wunderhorse Stans, and elbowed and shouldered our way within about ten rows of the stage when the warmup act Been Stellar (also very good) finished their set.
I became more than ok with it.
The thing is - it was my daughter, Savannah with me. My buddy. My concert and event going partner over the years. We have this energy between us where fun shit always happens. We go through doors we probably shouldn’t. We wait in lines I’d never consider getting within a hundred yards of. We try things.
We push each other to say yes - which admittedly I don’t do as much as I used to.
And last night she helped wake me the fuck up - again.
C’mon - I’ll tell you more about it, and how music and shows stay an important part of both our lives and journeys, and connects us on deep levels.
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