Wackiness in Waco

I took the summer of 2003 to design, design makes it sound way more snooty and highfalutin than it really was, and work a light show for one of my favorite bands, Dirt Bike Annie.  They had just released their second album and had asked me to come up with a light show for their record release party.  The light show went over pretty well and more importantly they had liked it, so there was I in a white, extended van for 7 seven weeks.  There was a worth while story to tell on a daily basis but for some reason this one has been on my mind more recently.

An early stop, that the band was excited for was in Waco, Texas. We were playing a birthday show that a friend/fan of the band’s named Andrew had put together for his girlfriend at the time’s (Melanie) birthday. It was an all day affair and for a punk show, no expense was spared.  Andrew had booked all of Melanie’s favorite local bands, obviously Dirt Bike Annie and her favorite band The Bobbyteens.  The Bobbyteens live in San Francisco.  To fly a band out, cover their hotels and meals for a one off show with no cover is equivalent to taking all of your money out of the bank and lighting it on fire.  The fire idea might serve you better actually. 

I met Andrew who was the nicest, sweetest guy you could dream of.  He radiated happiness that day over everything coming together so perfectly.  The bands were all there.  There was a ton of food, with the grills being helmed by his mom and his brothers.  There were cases upon cases of beer.  The weather was idyllic.  There were hundreds of people there celebrating his girlfriend. Melanie seemed on cloud nine.  The entire day was going along perfectly.  Andrew’s family was also celebrating one of his brothers coming home from prison. 

The venue was a clubhouse of sorts in the middle of a park in Waco. It must have been used in a similar manner to that of an Elk Lodge, for meetings or small conventions.  It was far enough removed from any other building that you didn’t have to worry about noise, which made it perfect for music.  There were 6-8 local bands who were scheduled to play before Dirt Bike Annie and then it was one more local band followed by The Bobbyteens.  We got to spend some time with the Bobbyteens, who some of us were a little star struck by, as the music got started.  We spent the next several hours drinking Lone Star, eating hot dogs, enjoying the company and the weather.  By DIY tour standards you really can’t ask for anything more.

The Dirt Bike Annie set was one of the best of tour.  The entire clubhouse was packed and crowd was going nuts.  Easily two hundred and fifty people became incredibly sweaty and shouted for encore after encore.  If the day had ended after their last song, Waco wouldn’t have been anywhere nearly as memorable. 

We started breaking down the gear and the lights so the next band could get on.  At this point it was probably 8pm and people had shown up to the party around 1pm.  Which means they had been comfortably drinking for easily 6-7 hours.  As the next band started setting up, there was a large commotion outside.  Apparently someone had hit someone else over the head with a beer bottle.  That first someone was Andrew’s brother who had just been released from prison.  The cops were immediately called.  Andrew’s mother was in tears and she kept repeating that she knew that his brother would ruin Andrew’s big day.  In retrospect, that’s a lot more heartbreaking than I realized it to be at time.  In my defense, we were all busy trying to figure out what to do about the show.  It had turned into a full on crisis zone.  The local band didn’t get to play so the Bobbyteens could play.  We swamped out gear and got them set up as quickly as humanly possible.  Everything seemed like it was going to work out; well, except for the guy who got hit in the head and for Andrew’s brother. 

The Bobbyteens hit the stage and started their set.  Their songs aren’t very long, maybe a minute and half to a two and a half minutes.  They got through three songs before the cops pulled up with multiple cruisers.  The cops quickly arrested the brother and told everyone that they had to leave.  Everyone and everything had to be outside of the venue in the next twenty minutes because after 20 minutes they were locking up and anything left inside would be kept as evidence.  There was a mad dash of bodies making out the door.  We were like a slow salmon trying to make it upstream carrying amplifiers and drums through the horde of Wacoians, Wacoers?

After the dust settled, Andrew and Melanie decided that the show must go on and it was moved to her apartment. About ten or so die hard fans piled into cars as we all caravanned it over to Melanie’s place; remember it’s 2003 and GPS wasn’t prevalent.  DBA set up all of their equipment and the Bobbyteens took the stage, by stage I mean moved the coffee table to the side of the room and began playing.  I don’t remember how long the set was but I do remember thinking how something so incredible can come from something so horrible.  Here was a room full of people all embracing this completely spontaneous moment, that no one could have dreamed would be the nightcap to their day; and at the same time here was a band that was flown in to play in front of hundreds of people to end their night playing to 12-15 people in an apartment building.  It was truly beautiful. 

I’ve run into Andrew several times since then.  He and Melanie broke up shortly after her birthday show, which I always felt was sad.  I never got his take on how the whole day played out or what happened to his brother.   I know he was excited about how the show was salvaged and that those who stuck it out got to experience a once in a lifetime thing, but I was always curious if he could, would have changed how it went?