One afternoon in my freshman year of high school, I was home from school after rehearsal watching TV. One of the local channels was playing videos and they played this:
I'd never heard of the B52s before, and the video and the song had me transfixed. The soaring chorus, the beautiful harmonies, the strange but simple imagery: I was thinking "Who are these people?" and "Where can I hang out with them?" A few weeks later I heard Rock Lobster, and fell in love with every bizarre second of that song. But it took a couple more years before I would buy any of their music... and that's when Cosmic Thing was released. I bought the cassette from Coconuts Records, flew home, and started playing that out. I can remember bouncing around in my room listening to that album over and over on my little cassette player and on my Walkman. I remember watching an episode of Doogie Howser a couple of weeks later where Doogie was sad over his girlfriend dumping him and he played "their song" over and over again. Here was their song:
Yup, "Channel Z". Love that song. I love The B52s for so many reasons. The biggest one? They are a FUN BAND. They play fun, tuneful, party music. You can't tell me that if you hear the first couple notes to "Love Shack" that you don't have the song running through your head all day. They have a quirky sensibility that I love but they aren't pretentious. While they occasionally mix some messages into their songs, their main objective is for you to have a good time. And since they are completely enjoying themselves, you can't help but smile when you hear their songs. The subject matter of the songs may be strange (party crashers, planets named after women's names, offering a girl fish and candy to a rival to get her man back, et. al) but you can play a B52s song in any party setting in front of any kind of audience and someone will get up and dance. And also that they do have a rather distinct gay sensibility that's wrapped around a party vibe in such a particular way that they don't seem like "the other" to many people. And then throw in what talented musicians they are. Keith Strickland is a fantastic drummer AND guitarist (taking over the guitar when original guitarist Ricky Wilson died of AIDS in 1985), Fred Schnieder is a great showman, and then you have the ladies. Cindy Wilson (blonde) and Kate Pierson (redhead) have some of the best rock voices in the biz. And they harmonize beautifully. In my mind, the B52s is the ultimate party band.
Before this past weekend, I've only been to 5 concerts in my entire life. The first was They Might Be Giants and Squeeze and my second in 1992 with the Violent Femmes opening for, tra la!, the B52s. And it was a wonderfully fun concert. I went with some friends (including the marvelous Pam Turlow, who is the biggest B52s fan I know) and we were maybe 17th row or something, and down in the front was a group all dressed up in glitter and bouffant hairdos grinning from ear to ear and talking in stage whispers about how amazing it is to be there. Once The B52s went out on stage, they were dancing the whole time. The eldest of the bunch just stopped during "Private Idaho" and exclaimed "We're not worthy!", which totally made me smile. It was an amazing concert and it was the last time I saw them...
...until this past Friday. My birthday happened a few weeks ago, and Tom said that one last present that was coming. So I waited... and waited... and waited. And then, last weekend, he spilled the beans on the last gift. He was taking me to see the B52s in concert at an Indian Casino about 2 hours outside of LA. But wait, there's more! In addition to the concert, we were getting backstage passes beforehand for a meet and greet with the band. Let me repeat that: it's a MEET AND GREET WITH THE B52s! Gahhhhh! I was floored, excited, nervous, etc. I didn't tell Pam about it because I wanted it to be a surprise for her, but I did tell everybody else. Alex, one of my teachers at Steppenwolf, was very impressed and rather envious. I downloaded a bunch of their music from iTunes, and bought some CDs as well for them to sign.
After driving 3 hours Friday afternoon (the 91 is the purgatory of Southern California freeways), Tom and I finally made it to Temecula. We got dinner in the casino after scoring our tickets and credentials from the box office. During dinner, Tom and I split a bottle of champagne and that helped to calm my nerves. Slightly. After dinner, we gathered with the remainder of the fellow VIP ticket holders and were lead into the back of the theater. I was carrying a couple of their CDs and a couple signs, chatting with some of the other people in line.
Me: I brought a couple CD's for them to sign.
Fellow Fan: Oh. They're not signing anything tonight.
Me: They aren't? Oh, okay.
Fellow Fan: You could always ask. They are doing pictures. I did double check on that.
Me: Okay, cool.
I put aside the CDs and Tom and I held onto the signs. After a few minutes of waiting, the band's stereotypically British manager entered the room.
Manager: All ri'. 'ere's the deal. You get ONE photo wif the band PER GROUP. 'N I'll take the pitcha. Righ'?
All of the Fans: Righ'!
Tom [sotto voce]: We'll each hold one of the signs.
Me [sotto voce]: Cool.
And then, the band came out and waved to us. They were all pleased to see us but were ready to get this over with since they had to do a show in a few minutes. One by one, people ahead of us in line were lead up to the band where you'd shake hands with them, the manager would take their picture, you'd say thank you and take your camera and leave. That's it. Which is fine, honestly. They have a job to do, they've been doing this for a long time, I get it. Then finally, it was Tom's and my turn. We walked up with our signs and said hello. I shook Kate Pierson's hand (eeeeeee!) and Keith Strickland's (eeeee!). Tom was on the side with Fred and Cindy. They looked down at our sides.
Me: Oh, some friends of ours couldn't make it to the concert, so we thought it bring these signs in for them.
Kate then peered over at my sign and laughed a bit. Kate: "That's clever."
The manager ended up taking two pictures of us with the band, and this is the 2nd one:
This is exactly what I wanted. I do love how Kate is completely playing along, which just makes it all the better. I said thank you, shook Kate's hand (eeeeeeeee!) and then Tom and I walked off. Sorry, Tom walked off and I floated away.
The concert itself was amazing. We were 3rd row center. THIRD ROW CENTER! They played non-stop for 80-some minutes, and considering they are all in their late-50's to early 60's, they looked and sounded fantastic. They did some of their new stuff as well as all their classics. It was a fantastic time and an amazing evening. And that photo above really says it all.
Here are some of my favorite songs of theirs. Let's start with "Give Me Back My Man":
"Private Idaho"
"Party Out of Bounds"
And of course, "Rock Lobster"
I love The B52s.
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