It is almost unbelievable. I never imagined that I would be so lucky, but I am, and so, in the words of a great German man I never met, if it is so, "then I must believe."
I don't know what the rest of the world is up to, but in my neck of the woods, all talk is of the Smashing Pumpkins. It's all Pumpkins, all the goddamn time. Behold:
one little story, two little story, three little story, four little story, ...
If you bothered to read any of those, you may have noticed a few things. For one, the Smashing Pumpkins chose Asheville, NC to being their tour for the latest attempt, Zeitgeist. For another, they are doing two residencies, two US locales; one here in Asheville at the Orange Peel, and one in San Fran, and that's it. For a third, tickets for the Asheville residency shows sold out in like 30 seconds. All nine shows. For one more, very few Asheville locals were able to acquire tickets.
There are many repercussions to such goings ons, and one being that locals are pissed that tickets weren't made available just to locals. To that, I say, boo-fucking-hoo. That's is the price for only 2 US tour locations. I mean, come on, the Pumpkins are alt rock legends. Yes, I said it, legends. You may not like all of their music; hell, you may not like any of it, but you can't deny that the Pumpkins ruled supreme for a little over a decade. And like so many members of my generation, we hold them on a pedestal and pray for a reunion. But, as usual, I digress.
Ok, so big deal being: few locals got tickets. I, however, was able to get tickets to not one, but TWO shows. Can you fucking believe it? Well, you must, because it is.
Seeing two shows (and actually, I'm seeing the last two shows of their Asheville residency–woot!) is preeeetty much hitting the jackpot; finding the end of the rainbow; rubbing that goddamn lamp and having the genie puff out and gimme what I want. I have been lucky from the start.
And then, THEN, there's just divine intervention.
Saturday was the first show of the residency. Early Saturday evening, I decide to grab my camera and walk around our quaint little downtown for some high-energy street shooting. It was great; I love going out on my own. I stopped and had a beer at Ed's, chatted up the barkeep for a bit, and then commenced walking. I walked toward the Orange Peel to see what was happening, because there's been local talk of protests (!), guerilla parking tactics, and more. (Let me tell you, I love Asheville. And that includes all the local theatrics from the post-hippie, post-punk, anti-Bush, pro-free lovers. And there are a lot of those shenanigans going on.) So I'm walking up to the Orange Peel, and they have barriers around the entrance (not normal) and Peel employees posted everywhere. I spotted a familiar face, this guy that I know from around town. He works at the Peel, as well as this great thrift shop called Hip Replacements (I'm tellin ya, it's just that kind of town), and he's good buddies with the tattoo artist doing my backpiece. So I walk over to say hello and ask whether there has been any ruckus, and before I can get a word out, he asks me:
Him: Hey, do want to go to the show?
Me: The show? Here?!? Tonight?? The PUMPKINS SHOW?!?
Him: Yeah.
Me: Um, OKAY.
And without further ado, he led through the barriers, put a bracelet on my wrist, and pushed me through the door. The opening night of the Pumpkins residency, the first live performance in years, a show that sold out in about 3.4 seconds. And I got in. And not only that, I got in for free.
In conclusion, I'm am a lucky betch. Not only did I get tickets for the two final shows, but I got in for the opening show. Fo' free! THREE PUMPKINS SHOWS in a town where most can't even see ONE. Whoa. I have to wonder what the fallout from this will be. Here is my present to you all, on a not-so-ordinary Monday.
Oh yeah, and by the way, the show: Rocked.
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Spit it, betch!