Reunions

This Saturday is my 30th high school reunion in Richardson. I might consider going if it wasn't going to be such a busy weekend at the bar. It's fine with me, I wasn't sure how I felt about it anyway. I went 10 years ago, and while it was interesting seeing people, I left disappointed that my two closest friends from high school weren't there. In the past six months or so there has been a growing facebook presence for the class of '82, but it really only reminds me of how isolated I felt during those years. My graduating class was huge, and there are few people who would even remember me. I felt like the main character in Freaks and Geeks, not really fitting into any of the cliques. Like Lindsay Weir, I gravitated towards the freaks, but wasn't really one of them. What was the appeal? Rebellion? Personally, I didn't care about the drinking and drugs, and definitely didn't want to get into trouble. I guess the music had a lot to do with it. Life for me didn't really begin until after high school, and it's those first years in Austin that I prefer to reminisce about. 

I felt a reunion of sorts this past weekend when a band from my early college days, Joe King Carrasco & the Crowns, performed at Padre's. Before the band came out, David Beebe spoke of seeing them at Steamboat in Austin 'back in the day', when Joe jumped from the balcony onto the stage. There were enough people working behind the bar, so when they started playing and David immediately cut loose on the dance floor, I had to join him. The Crowns sounded as great as ever, and I was moved to dance quite vigorously for most of their set. Us old-timers pulled out the 80's moves, and everyone joined in the fun. David turned to me at one point and asked, 'Ski Shores or Steamboat?' I've got a few years on him...Ski Shores. I talked with the band about that show at Fiesta Gardens afterwards, remembering the day and those times. 

In the past week, other musical intersections have surfaced organically. Paul's friend Miles Zuniga is in town for a few days, and our conversations usually lean towards music and interesting stories from Miles' past (I told him he should write a book). In speaking of the band The Replacements, we found that we were all at their show at Liberty Lunch in the late 80's. This isn't really that unusual, knowing us, and Paul and I have found that we were actually at a lot of the same places at the same time. Somehow our circles didn't intersect until all these years later, but having a lot of music and memories in common has made us feel like old friends. Our memories of that show were very different, however. I thought it was a difficult one to get through while they thought it was the best one ever!

I was at a party two nights ago, and someone had on a t-shirt from the Texas Union in Austin. There were two performance spaces in this building on the UT campus; one was the Ballroom (where I saw The Replacements for the second time), the other was a room whose main function was a cafeteria - the Texas Tavern. One of the guys said that he had a friend who saw Jane's Addiction there. 'I was at that show!' I exclaimed. I explained that there were only about 10 of us there that night, it was right before their first album hit big. I've told a few people about this legendary show, and even filled it in on a Jane's Addiction website which contains all of their past tour dates; the specific location of the show was actually missing! In all my years in Austin, I've never run into anyone who was there. This one-degree-of-separation encounter was the closest. 

The most coincidental of these reunions happened last Friday with a woman who was visiting Marfa from Brooklyn. Lisa came on the trip alone to do research for a screenplay she's writing, so ended up spending some time sitting at the bar at Padre's. Seeing her there the second time, I struck up a conversation, and we discovered that we were actually the same age even though we each had thought we were older than the other (compliments all around!). She mentioned wanting to go to the Ballroom Marfa opening down the street, but not wanting to go alone and having to have those introductory conversations with everyone she talked to. It was slow enough that I wasn't needed at the bar for the moment, so we walked to the gallery together. On the way it came up in conversation that she had a wild youth and had actually dated the drummer from INXS. Lisa said she met him at their show with Adam Ant at the Bronco Bowl. "I was there!!" We screamed like 18 year olds, but didn't care. The bond was instant. 

Having these experiences way out here in Marfa makes me feel that I am on the right track. I'm not missing anything from my past, it is somehow following me out here. Being in an isolated place, but having more connections with people than ever makes the world feel like a much smaller place. Smaller even than my big high school felt to me 30 years ago.