Roadtrip: MCR

Loaded up the SpongeBobMobile at about 10:00 a.m. and headed in the wrong direction. East toward Beaufort to pick up some birthday money from BabyMomma.

Went West through Bamburg County, Aiken, then picked up I-20 through Georgia. Stopped at the Alabama Welcome Center. Alabama welcome? Rather an oxymoronic term, particularly given their motto: We Dare Defend Our Rights. Hmmm. Who is "our"?

Maybe we can get a clue from the Alabama governor whose administration bankrolled the Welcome Center. Ahh, famed segregationist George Wallace. He doesn't look happy. Too busy defending Alabaman's rights to smile, I guess. 'Course, with my State's track record, I ought not to be tossing rocks, I suppose.

Here's something you don't see every day: a Port-a-potty farm. Actually, this is the Super Motor Speedway at Talladega, a coupla weeks after a big NASCAR race. The thought of that many NASCAR fans depositing that much processed nachos, pork rinds and Budweiser... Erg. I'll be right back...

We stayed at a boutique hotel in the trendy Five-Points area of Birmingham.

Wonder what Goat-Man is reading?

Grabbed some sammiches before the show. The Lads made sport of the waiters and waitresses by casting reflections off their knives into their eyes. If I've learned anything from my travels, it's "don't upset the people that bring you your food". Sadly, I had not, up to that time, taught this to the Lads. We all left feeling slightly queesy. Next time I gotta remember to pack some Tums...

The show was held at the Sloss Furnace, er, area? Museum? Well, whatever it is called, its an old furnace-making industrial site. The tickets just said "Sloss Furnace"- fortunately, a misnomer.

I wasn't allowed to bring my camera into the show. I tried, without much success, to take a couple with my phone camera. The warm-up groups were Drive-By, whose main qualification to be there seemed to be the lead singer's ability to remind the audience that we were all in Birmingham, Alabama, and that, eventually, they'd be leaving and we'd all be able to watch My Chemical Romance. The second group, Billy Talent- who must not have been around in the eighties when a similarly named preformer had a coupla tunes on the airwaves- at least brought some decent energy to the show. They didn't make many friends in the land that dares to defend itself when they said mockingly, "This is the very, very, very, very, very first time we've been to Alabama. We're from a place called Canada". Some people actually booed when the lead singer said that. He recovered okay, but never completely understood that, if you're going to tease people from Alabama, you should wait until you are safely out of Alabama to do it. Least that's my strategy. You've already seen some MCR videos.

There was an awful lot of black in the crowd. You get the feeling that even Johnny Cash woulda said, "Whoa, dudes, cheer up".
I'd like to tell you they all looked like:
Or this:

Some of them did. But it is a sad fact that many Emo kids are not pretty and not everyone wears black with equal aplomb; Some were gravitationally impaired, and, clad in all that black, bore uncanny resemblances to bowling balls. The crowd tended toward about 15 years of age, but, to my amazement, there were really quite a lot of parents there. A mix of devoted parents taking their kids to their first concert, and I guess a few of them musta got lost on the way to "The Eagles, Hell Freezes Over Yet Again Tour". Some of them dressed for the show. Big mistake. They just managed to look a few months early or a few months late for Halloween.

Me? I got a black suit and a tux, but didn't opt for black.

Dad, in his Emo outfit...

The trip back was looong, and made longer by the fact that the boys had frequent gas attacks. Fortunately, I control the windows. I also had a little gas late in the game. Hee Hee Hee.

We did see a tank around Blackville, SC. I opted to leave out the Lads favorite pictures. What, you can't guess? C'mon, it's a bunch of immature boys!