Life in a Northern Town

Helen, Marshall, Skylar, and Adam

I’m not sure of the spelling, but these are the four cool kids who sat near us at Flogging Molly on Thursday. They came all the way from Billings—140 miles! They are all 13, all in middle school ("we go to different schools but we’re all good friends”) and all just so cute and decent. Or so it seemed. Ellen, the only girl, had this moony, angelic face with her hair all braided back. She looked so cute and so young, she caught my attention first--she and Marshall, that is. Marshall had shaggy black hair and a white collared shirt under a Guns-N-Roses T-Shirt. Was he born when Appetite for Destruction came out? (Oh, man—I just remembered they were born in the 90’s!) Would he appreciate my classic karaoke rendition of “Patience?” Skyler (Schuylar? Skeilar?) was wearing a Flogging Molly T-Shirt and if I am not mistaken, Chuck Taylor high tops. Old school converse. Let's do the time warp again. Adam, a stocky guy with fair, spiky hair and groovy square-ish glasses, sat on the end of the row and sort of nodded, as I talked to them. They all sat on their bench, tapping their feet and clapping, politely enjoying the show. It was just amazing for so many reasons.

First, because the rest of the rink was packed with smelly, loud, ostentatious kids, most being plain ol’ teenage punks, many being flat out vulgar. Then there were these four cool kids, quiet and sometimes gawky, but obviously ready to blossom into full-on hipsters with real talents and sensibilities and stuff. A glimmer of hope for the future in a room full of …um…stinky black clouds.

Secondly, I felt some sort of kinship to them. They obviously love Flogging Molly, and yet seemed a little out of place at the show. And that’s not a bad thing. I always felt that way at shows. I passionately loved bands that attracted some scary fans (and then there’s just the whole mob mentality, the smoking and drinking and trying to show off that accompanies almost any concert), but always longed for my own private show without the sweaty masses. [Aside: this is why you should date promoters or sound technicians—you get to go to lots of great shows for free and sometimes you get to sit in the light/sound booth, sipping your diet coke and snuggling your techie boyfriend, away from the crowd]. It’s hard to be so cool and so young (they did have chaperones, by the way, lest you think they hijacked a farm vehicle or jumped a train or hitchhiked). They made me feel all time-warpy and teenage-angst-ridden. Oh, thirteen. Twenty long years ago, but some of the memories are so potent.

So Helen, Marshall, Skylar, and Adam, if you ever read this…there is an old INXS song playing in my head…"don’t change for you, don’t change a thing." Don’t become scary and rebellious. Stay decent and nice and so very cool.