A Clumsy Shy Girl's Dream Come True

12 years ago the one and only leisure activity I was interested in was going to rock shows. I went to a few a week. Ah, the good old days. All those places are gone now - Brownies, Coney Island High, Trammps, the Cooler. Coney Island High was pretty much my favorite place to see shows at that time, because I really enjoyed the pop punk. It was there that I fell for Weston. They embodied everything I loved: nerds, painful crushes, silly lyrics, rock-star posturing, fun. I could sing along with them at the top of my lungs and rock out and not feel stupid for once. It wasn't about being cool at a Weston show, it was about being yourself and having fun. Well, that's what it was about for me. I went to a lot of other indie rock shows at the time, ultra-cool bands like Blonde Redhead and Magnetic Fields, and that was all about fashion and standing there with your arms crossed.
I was the only person I knew who appreciated Weston's brilliance, and I usually had to go to their shows alone. Sometimes, I could bribe a friend to accompany me. I didn't mind going by myself though, because once they took the stage it was just me and them. I would stay safely on the edge of any mosh pit that happened to form, and jump up and down and bop my head back and forth. I can't believe I just typed the words "mosh pit". Do people even say that anymore? I was going to just say "the pit", but I thought there was a slight chance that a few people might not know what that meant.

Weston made me so happy. Then somewhere along the way I got it into my head that I needed to grow up, act my age, or something. I stopped going to shows, I stopped wearing my uniform of T-shirt, jeans and Converse, and I stopped having fun. I sort of forgot about Weston!
Luckily, 3 years ago I met an amazing, nerdy, shy guy named Matt. In the course of getting to know each other, we talked about music, of course. Turns out he loved Weston too! It was fate. We broke out our old CD's and I remembered every word. I remembered how awesome I felt after a Weston show. We dreamed of their reunion. Little did we know they had already reunited. Did they ever break up?
I reluctantly joined Myspace.com for the 2nd time partly so I could keep tabs on my all-time favorite bands and not miss their shows anymore. Being a part of the Leisure Society affords me much more time to listen to music, as well as obsessively search the internet. So even though I hated it at first, I have to thank Myspace for getting me back "in touch" with Weston. For it was there that I learned that they were playing at Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ Friday night. Yeah. And they were going to be recording the show for a live album. It was gonna be a sing-along. And this time, I wouldn't have to go alone. I could go with my sweetheart!

I was super-nervous for them. I always got nervous before shows. I knew they would open with "Retarded" just as they used to. I was standing on the bleachers on the side of the room at Maxwell's, and as they played the intro I was overcome with the physical memory of just exploding on that first crash of the cymbals. I almost fell off the bleachers. It was like no time had passed. They played all the hits, Dave Weston did his famous strum-and-point move that I had forgotten about, and we all sang our hearts out. The silly jokes were flowing, my favorite being "Who's D to P?" as in the abbreviation of "Who's dying to party?" I think they had as much fun as we did.
We got home at 3am, which is the latest we've stayed out in years. We couldn't hear a thing for 2 days, and my neck was sore from rockin'. All true signs of a good rock show. Thanks Weston!!