A Cross Cultural Experience ~ of the head-banging variety

Having grown weary of the same ole same ole selection for evening out activities, I decided to try something a bit different last night. I had heard that our local Ethiopian restaurant, The Blue Nile, hosts concerts in the evenings; so, ever~desiring to try new things, I decided to meet my friend Mare at this downtown joint.

The concerts are held in the basement of The Blue Nile, so we parked just west of Main St. and headed towards the back entrance, paid $5, and showed IDs. We hopped up at the bar and I order my go~to drink on nights out: a Shirley Temple! {Yes, I know, I'm such a good girl. Believe it.}

I recognized the bartender as a former fellow student from our combined middle and high school. "Hey, did you graduate from _____?" Mare inquired.
"Yeah..did you all?"
"Yes."
*puzzled look* "When?"
"Ohh~seven," we said in unison.
"Aww, you all were mere babies when I graduated!"

Hmph...just for that, no tip. {Just kidding.}

We then moseyed over towards the stage and found spots near~ish to the stage so we'd have a semi good view. Then the music began.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH....WWHAAAAAAAAAA"
"*Bleep* the *bleep* and bleeeeeeeeep*"

Now, I'm a hip~hop and R&B girl myself. But last night I had no such hopes of hearing music from my favorite genres. I figured we'd be hearing maybe Alternative Rock, which would have been fine with me because, we were trying new things, right!?

But there was no getting around this. We were at a Heavy Metal concert. HAVE MERCY.

The headbangers were lined up along the edge of the stage, banging their heads in time to the {music?} like bobbleheads jolted on caffeine. The guitarists were jumping, flinging hair, going crazy in general, and the lead screamer was a tiny, skinny dude with curly dark hair who I immediately recognized as the guy who recently quit working at one of the local coffeeshops that I frequent.

I wanted to march up to him after his band played and demand, "You mean to tell me that you quit making my Mocha Crunch Coffees so you could tour with your Screamo band?"
I would have, but he positioned himself directly in front of the stage before the next band began, and I didn't want to venture into a potential mosh.

Mare and I plan to return to a Blue Nile concert again soon, but I think we'll be doing more research on the scheduled bands next time. ;-) Nevertheless, I can appreciate last night as a "cross cultural" experience.

We'll be back ~ once my auditory hair cells recover.