My Day at Darien Lake!
Friday, July 13, 2001

July 13th, 2001, was the BEST Friday the 13th of my life! Our tickets read "fourth row," but the way the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center is set up, with the seats in an arc, we really had FIRST row seats. We got to our seats, and I'm like, "We're sitting here? No, really, THESE are our seats? You're kidding?!?!" We were Steve side, too, (stage right) which was excellent!! My left boob (clothed) got up on the jumbo screen, too, during If I Had $1,000,000! :~) I have never been so close to the stage before in my LIFE at ANY concert, much less my beloved BNL. I'm actually pretty speechless and overwhelmed...which is not at all evident by the length of this page!

Our gigantic, Canadian-flag-clad granny panties missed the stage, which really stunk... And I didn't get the others signed, either... Instead, I am going to save them for the next show and see if we can do it next time... And there WILL be a next time (November 28, OnCenter, Syracuse...). :~D

I got to meet a WHOLE bunch of people from the barenaked.net bulletin board (including some lurkers who knew who I was because of my name on my shirt), which was truly excellent - it was great to put faces to screen names, and meet people I have been talking to for months. It seemed like the first six rows were mostly populated by people I knew! A bunch of us wore hockey masks for the first song, because it was Friday the 13th, and we got some recognition for it -- the guys welcomed "all the serial killers in the audience," and went on to talk about the high percentage of serial-killer fans they have. "Perhaps the FBI should pay more attention to our tour schedule for their unsolved cases..." (Ed). We even got keyboardist Kevin Hearn's dad in on the act (thanks to Nick and Jeska). It was such a cool experience because it was more than just John and I at the concert, it was also with tons of friends, too. I simply MUST do it again... And again... And again...

The show was amazing! They opened with 'Straw Hat & Old Dirty Hank," which, fittingly, is about a stalker. It was awesome that we were wearing the masks for that song. They also did a new song called "The Wizard of Magic Land," which, despite the retarded title, was an EXCELLENT song! It will most likely be on the Greatest Hits CD with one other new song this fall. I don't remember a whole lot of the show except moments that come back to me in snippets (Charlie Brown rap, the "ASS" cheer, the giant B-N-L letters resurfacing for the first encore, a short cover of Loverboy's "Turn Me Loose," seeing my forum friends and their signs on the giant screen -- "Balls" and "Get Lucky with BNL on Friday the 13th" -- the chicken-dance-ified One Week dance, etc.), and it went by so fast! Way faster than the February show. A major highlight for me was the fact that they did "Break Your Heart," which I have always wanted to see live. They also pulled "Everything Old is New Again" out of the vault, which is one of the few songs I actually cannot sing along with. I guess I have to get in practice!

I got to meet Tyler (drummer) and Ed (vocals, lead guitar) after the show. They were both visibly tired (only the second show of the tour after a few months off... I guess they have to get back into the groove...), and Tyler seemed a tad grumpy, but it was late, chilly, and I was just so grateful that they came out to see us at all. Naturally, I was speechless, and I have thought of a million quasi-intelligent things I could have said since that moment! I got them both to sign the front cover of their recently-published biography, Public Stunts and Private Stories (which I read IN FULL Saturday while I recovered on the couch). Ed's signature is the squiggle on the left, and Tyler's is on the right. I accidentally smeared it with my fingers before the ink dried! Poopie! I really wanted to meet Steve, though... maybe next time... And, again, there WILL be a next time! :~) We didn't get home until 3 AM! Of course, I still woke up at 8 the next morning...

We also saw Tyler in the park when he rode on the Superman: Ride of Steel coaster. John spotted him because he was literally STARING at my barenaked.net baseball jersey as he walked by with his security guys. So we walked down to the ride, and when he went by at the beginning of the ride, he waved and we got a picture. He saw my shirt again, and he did a TOTAL double take. I wanted to take some pics during the show, but the security guys were real jerks, and I didn't want my Tyler-on-Superman pic to be taken away. We bought some Kodak Funsavers instead of risking the digital. See my pics in the Photos section.

Now that I got a chance to read it, the book is pretty good -- not Pulitzer material, but readable. A lot of the stuff I knew about in bits and pieces, but it was nice to have it all collected in one place. It had a lot of typos and blatant errors (such as listing 1987 as the year Gordon was released -- the band hadn't even formed at that point!), and from what I hear, the band did not have a whole lot of input into it. My only content complaint is that it seemed to be lacking in biographical info about my favorite Ladie, Steven Page. Ah well. It was written by Mike Myers's brother, Paul, who is a friend of the band. I got to meet him at the Barenaked Bash in 2002, and had the cover page inside signed by him. The US edition of the book is now available on amazon.com. It has a new cover design, and is supposed to have updated information. I simply hope they fixed the most glaring errors.

Here is the totally excellent baseball jersey that I ordered just for the occasion. Many, MANY thanks to Shaun of barenaked.net for putting together these excellent garments and letting us pick our own numbers! All proceeds from the sales of the shirts went to The Jimmy Fund . Naturally, I plan to wear it to all the BNL concerts I attend from now on. You'll always be able to find me! ;~D I added my name afterward with some iron-on letters I bought.

What is the significance of 42, you ask? Actually, it's got three meanings, which makes it not only special, but almost mandatory that I chose the number... First, it's my birthday (April 2). Second, it's a reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, who, sadly, died this year. Finally, what BNL fan can forget the line, "forty-two stairs from the street" from "The Old Apartment?" As you can see, the number was fated for me.