Tuesday, February 17, 2009 (48)
When I was an underclassman in high school, my friend Jorge and I found ourselves hanging out with a upperclassman/lesbian/punk from a rival high school. For some reason she took to me and decided to make me her project. The three of us went down to Clark and Belmont for an afternoon. Our first stop was The Alley. I had never been there before, and my reaction was as that of a child entering Disney World for the first time. I was looking around at all of the shirts hanging on the walls, all of the jewelry in cases, and the odd looking people who worked there. She started pulling off of the racks for me to look at and try on. Eventually we came to an agreement on a jacket that I only purchased because it was fifty percent off (everything there was rather expensive). The garment was a black velvet-like felt fabric, and on the left side displayed a flaming skull that had a metal spear through its jaw.
From there we went to a used record store around the corner. She perused the punk collection and pulled out Anti-Flag’s “Die For The Government,” (I don’t think she spent too long browsing given that it was an “A” selection). After that we went to a shop that is no longer standing, (it was torn down as part of the Brown Line expansion project, (along with the original Bottom Lounge, which is appropriate the scene died in 2004)). She picked out a bottle of blue Manic Panic hair dye for me. At the check out counter the cashier looked at the hair dye, then looked me up and down. It was after a school day and I was still dressed in my dress code clothes from school consisting of khaki pants and a collared button-down shirt. The cashier then asked, “Do you listen to Blink-182?”
I haven’t worn the coat in years. I have five Anti-Flag albums on my iPod. The hair dye remains unopened in my bathroom (even after four moves). And Blink-182 has just reunited . . .
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