I keep getting emails to remind me I'm seeing Seether tonight. How well they don't know me. I've been anticipating this ever since I bought the tickets August 12th. Like there is any way I'd forget to go. We have tickets, fast lane and parking. So, I was looking at tickets for The Hue and saw they were GA, General Admission standing only, and I though, hmm, weren't the Ace of Spades tickets GA? Well, yes they are. I emailed the venue essentially saying we are somewhat old and somewhat chubby and needed seats. A very nice man named Michael set us up and now we can rest our older bones, sore knees and fat buts on the chairs. All this is new to me, since before this year the last concert I went to was Sting in 1996. We were late, because I mistook the start time, and the venue was down a winding mountain highway that took forever to get to because everyone else was driving there too. Heard the last song and were trapped for four hours in the parking lot.
So my daughter has been helping me and the Seether facebook fans have been helping as well. She went to the West Valley concert with me, answering my questions and giving me instructions as only a twenty-something can. When did I become stupid and when will my intelligence return? "No, Mom, if the concert starts at 8:00 and Seether is opening, they will start at 8:00 and Three Doors Down will start at 9:00." "No, Mom, the express line is over there. Do you have the tickets up on your phone yet? Do you need me to do that?" "No, you don't need wristbands for the concert, those are to get alcohol." Oh, boy.
My husband and I went scouting yesterday to make sure we could find the Ace of Spades and the parking. Partly an excuse to wander around Sacramento. Both are on R Street, which is one way, and despite what the little yellow guy on Google Maps shows, you can't drive past Ace of Spades. There are now barriers on the corner of R Street and 15th. Which really was a smart idea. The parking on the street in front of the venue would have been epically horrendous. This is the Google view. But it's bigger than it looks from overhead.
What really went through my mind, driving a Ford 150 around, was where the heck are the truckers going to park so the crew can unload the gear. Seether had four semi's and a tour bus in Idaho. They had a whole field behind the stage to park the trucks. Not to mention maneuvering those narrow one way streets in downtown Sacramento. I know, they do this several times a week all over the country. I can imagine the stories they could tell. "We drove one-way streets in the snow, uphill both ways!" I am truly amazed and impressed with the drivers.
I forgot a few things about California. We arrived at night and when I looked out the hotel window in the morning, I saw palm trees. How could I forget about the palm trees? I had to remember my LA driving persona from when I worked there in 1985. Don't use turn signals, they just mean, "Speed up and close the gap." If you're going to switch lanes, you can't be timid about it. The one person I saw letting someone in ahead of them was from Idaho. The Mexican food is stellar. We went to Cantina Azteca for dinner. Brookfields for lunch. Or really an 11 a.m. breakfast. Barbeque the night before at Back 40 Texas Bbq. I can certainly recommend all three if anyone is looking to eat in Sacramento.
There are people coming in from all over the country to go to Aftershock. So far I've seen license plates from Utah, Idaho, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico. Washington State. California, of course. What is it about driving in another state? Gee, they all have out of state license plates. Yeah, cause you are not in Your State, dumbass. You are in their state. It's like people who go to other countries and complain because the people don't speak English. Well, of course, a lot of them do. They are gracious enough to learn another language. Or it's required in their educational system. Or it's a "common denominator" language to communicate with others who speak another language. We have so many different kinds of accents in the United States, speaking just English, that we can't always understand each other. The United Kingdom has the same problem, however and their country is a lot smaller than American is.
So, be safe, drive carefully and don't piss off the truckers. I wonder how many semis Metallica has?
EM
P.S. We are off to Brookfields for another lunch. One thing I forgot to mention that is common to all three restaurants is they all serve Mimosas. What is the thing about Sacramento and Mimosas? I must do some investigating. I'll get back to you.
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