The Morning After

Rocking with TFK in 2004.
This is what our concert crowd looks like.
(l-r) Kitten, friend Lindz, friend Kels, Robo

Surprisingly, I am doing much better this morning that I thought I would be. But I must confess that I don't think the PTA will be putting my picture up as model dad anytime soon. I took my kids to a rock concert on a school night, I kept them up till midnight--on a school night, and I had my wife call into school so they could sleep in to recover from being up late at a rock concert on a school night! I remember my parents shaking their heads at people that did things like this when I was a kid----and their very son grows up to be one.

But dude, it re-healy Rocked!

All that aside, I must say in my defense that this was a little bit different that just simply going to a rock concert. Oh, it was loud, don't doubt that. And it was packed with people jumping up and down and screaming and lights and it was rockin'---but all the bands that we go see can be classified as Christian bands. This distinction is important because we have a great time together at these things, but it's also an investment in my kids.

It works like this. When you go to these concerts, they have music that can go toe to toe with anything on the radio (some of their songs are even on the mainstream radio), but at these concerts I'm not worried about exposing my kids to any of the associated nastiness that typically accompanies rock and roll. But it goes beyond just cleaning up the scene. The bands are consistently singing about being positive, respecting yourself, reaching out to the people around you, having a hope and a purpose. They still sing about the teen angst things like relationships and fitting in, but through that different lens.

But even with mainstream music is more benign, I try to maintain a balance. I try to keep my kids from getting overly exposed to music (or TV or movies) that places a too much emphasis on things like falling in love and romance, even if there is no mention of any physical expression of these emotions. I wouldn't classify these subjects as detrimental by themselves, I just feel like over saturation in them can create a heightened expectation as to what should receive the most priority in their thoughts and days as they are growing up. We talk a lot about how emotions will be crazy enough over the next few years without that added pressure. I feel like the bands we enjoy give them a broader perspective as to how to approach life (and what makes up life for that matter).

So when I take them to these concerts we are enjoying something together which we enjoy, but I'm also giving them a gift of a sub-culture dressed up in a way that they find attractive, that at the same time is affirming for them. These concerts then, together with lots of other things my wife and I do with the kids, are as much an effort to build a framework on which all other successes can be built as anything else. I guess when I think about it like that, the time away from school is as well spent as a trip to a historic landmark.

Anyway, it went down like this:

I left work at about 3:00 so I could be home in time to pack everyone up and get on the road by 4. Only a couple of friends were with us this time; one friend of my daughter, one friend of my son. I did have a couple of extra tickets that I sold to the older teen girl next door and her friend---they had been planning to go but hadn't pre-purchased their tickets. I saved them $5 off the door prices, so they were quite pleased. She's older though, so they were driving themselves in.

We loaded up in the Roller-Skate (my Kia Rio) and drove off, then got two blocks and turned around and came back to the house. This happens every time. My daughter said it really isn't a concert unless Dad almost forgets the tickets at home. Why do I do that? Well, funny thing is, this time I didn't leave them at home---I just thought I did. They were just right there in the car. Oy.

We got off again with a quick side trip to Wal-Mart to pick up earplugs. I like to equip the kids I take to these concerts with earplugs in case the sound level starts to cause pain. They scoff at the beginning but about half of them end up wearing the things by the end of the night.

I've been made a little sensitive to hearing concerns since my Dad works in a plant where one of his duties is noise levels and hearing protection. He has this little instrument to measure the sound that he then cross references with a hearing health chart. He upset my mom when he threatened to take the glass-pack sport muffler off her Miata when he measured it and said that prolonged exposure to that sound could cause hearing damage. He must not have gotten very far though, because the muffler is still on there.

I also covered my 'No Blood' concert policy. Attendees under my charge are not allowed to engaged in concert activity that may result in bloodletting. These includes but is not limited to the following (parenthetical explanations provided for the uninitiated):

1. No Moshing (jumping so as to slam your body as hard as you can into those around you in a small confined area).

2. No Stage diving (getting up onto the edge of the stage and jumping off like diving into water, hoping the spectators will catch you).

3. No crowd surfing (I like to describe it as the Great Grope Along---this usually occurs following a stage dive where the audience then passes you around above their heads. I have witnessed where if your surf goes long enough, the crowd loses interest in you and down you go---most times head first).

Then, now that I have ruined every ones plans for fun, we progress on to the venue. We stop off at a Burger King for a quick bite before the show, and by now it is pouring rain. For the gang, this only increases the charge in the festivities as now they can fail all attempts to stay dry between the car and the restaurant. I want to just eat and get out, but we are delayed by the boys sudden uncanny ability to win food in these little fund raising games that say "free food if you can catch the coin you deposit". Of course I'm always telling them no one wins at these things--only to be proven wrong. Even this guys who offers to show them how to cheat the games can't actually show them the cheat because he inadvertently wins legit.

When we finally make it to the show, it's loud and hot and dark. Everything that makes it perfect. I took a minute to check out the gear back at sound and light control. I'm a geek, it's what I do. I counted 2 iPods, and 3 out of 4 laptops being used to run the show were Apple (12" Powerbook, 17" Powerbook, 14" iBook). I liked those odds.

I did end up out lasting the gang though. The teens went upstairs into a coffee shop the place has looking over the auditorium after the first two bands. You can't hear much through the floor to ceiling windows, but you have a nice view. They just stayed up there and talked for most of the rest of the night.

The two younger boys moved out to lobby where they found new vending machines. Yes, the Snack Effect had taken place again. I had to tell them to stop buying food or I think they would have eaten all night. And two sick boys throwing up in the back of my car on the way home is the last thing I needed. At one point they went out to the curb to wave traffic toward the curb so they could get splashed from the massive puddles in the street.

I was in the hall jammin' to the bitter end and loving any minute of it.

When the concert was over I did my standard scan of the mosh pit floor for change that falls out of people pockets when they are jumping up and down during the concert. I take that home and put it in the change jar we have where we save coins all year long to use at Christmas to buy presents for low income kids. Then we were ready for the hour drive home.

When we were almost home, Robo's friend asks me what time it was because he told his folks that he would probably be home around 9:30. I look at the clock. It's quarter to Midnight. His folks are going to freak. I called them today, though, and they were wise enough to figure that with the drive and the number of bands, he was probably underestimating.

It was a good time had by all, and today they were asking when the next concert is. There is one in May, but we'll have to see whether we're up for that one or not.