Saturday, April 22, 2006
Cut too short
by Irena the Croatian
Current mood: sad
I've been pretty damn sick this whole week. The Expendables stopped into town, stayed, hung out and played three Colorado shows. Thursday 420 with P-Nuckle @ 3 Kings Tavern - close and convenient. Yesterday - Friday @ Zippers in Pueblo, and they're playing at Sherpa & Yeti's in Breckenridge tonight.
They have to be some of the nicest, coolest guys I've ever met in my life. I spend a lot of time studying them every time they stop in, the way they behave around each other, how organized they are and how much fun they have anyway. They are more like a family then any other band that I've ever met and known. These guys are each others best friends, brothers, fathers, and everything in between. A perfect balance between hard work and hard play - that's my definition of The Expendables. And they're always so goddamn nice to me. Even Ryan when he's drunk, and that's a big deal. Thank you, Expendables. Hats off to you, my dears and dearests.
Well... on with the whole 'cut too short' thing. Were you at the Pueblo show? I went. Kathryn and I drove down there last night. Left Denver at 8pm, made it just when they had started playing. The venue was called Zippers. It's a fairly large bar/grill with a pretty nice stage, two bars, some pool tables and other miscellaneous bar entertainment items. The ceiling on one side was covered in this weird foil-like material. The front of the venue was all glass from floor-to-ceiling, and inside the walls were composed of painted concrete brick. Kevin did sound for them, and did damn well, I was really impressed. They sounded great. The crowd was into it, everyone was grooving; there wasn't a single person in the entire place that wasn't feeling it. It was a great atmosphere, it really truly was.
Cut too short. Horribly while at it. This was just way too close, it really was. You know, I drive past drunk driving victim memorials pretty frequently. I never let the entire heaviness of it hit me. But last night was just too close. Way too close. At about 1am, a drunk driver flew over the curb with his car and landed inside the venue sideways. Moments later the entire street was blocked off, you couldn't count the number of police cars and ambulances, the fire truck, you name it... Blood, body bags, people screaming, crying... The venue was cleared out in a matter of minutes. Kathryn and I stayed a bit after, we sold merchandise last night, so we tore that down, packed up, counted the money and walked out a short while later. Left behind us was the band and the staff.
Nobody smiled. Kathryn and I tried to laugh about things that we'd normally laugh at, but it burned beneath the surface. Way too hard. We were both shaking, the entire way back. Drunk driving... a horribly poor judgement call. I really don't want to say anything more about last night. But I will say one more thing; it etched something I already know even deeper into my brain. About 10,000 times deeper than I had ever thought it could.
Please don't drive drunk. Not only for yourself, but for everyone else too. Because every person in this world means the world to someone else. They may have a 2-year-old child at home, they are somebody's child, somebody's best friend, somebody's everything. And we aren't the ones to take that away.
Posted at 1:33 PM
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