OK, I have to share this one -- true story. It was 1985, and I played bass in a band based in Chapel Hill, NC. At this time, REM was turning the entire music scene upside down, college radio was taking off, and the Athens and Chapel Hill areas seemed like they were going to both go national, with lots of bands, record company attention, crowds at shows, etc.
Somehow, we'd wrangled a Friday night opening slot at the legendary 40-Watt Club in Athens, but weren't sure who the other two bands were. Skipped classes, drove the six-plus hours down, and got there just in time to do soundcheck. Soundman says to use the bass rig on stage, the owner will be fine with that. So we practice this opening number where the drummer comes out, starts a beat, I come out and begin the bass line, then guitarist comes out and plays and sings... works fine, so we go eat.
Get back about 10:00 and the place is PACKED to the rafters. Turns out the headlining band is Oh-OK, which is fronted by Linda Stipe (Michael's sister) and it's their last show, so every music geek and scenester in Athens is there. Along with her brother and the other guys in REM. Middle band (who's bass rig I'm borrowing) is Buzz of Delight, fronted by Matthew Sweet.
We start to panic, realizing we were out of our depth, but began our set. Drummer goes up, starts playing. I wait a few measures, go up, and... no sound thru the bass amp. Drummer is shooting deathrays at me. I'm sweating bullets, seems like forever before Matthew Sweet jumps up on stage and turns on the power switch to the amp. Then leans over and mutters "dumbass" in my ear.
The entire time, this hot girl is right in front of me, staring at me and laughing. I don't remember the rest of the set, other than being horribly embarrassed and wanting to die. She keeps staring the entire way thru our ten or so songs.
Long story short, we were OK, enough that the local radio station asked us to come in the next morning for an interview on air and drop off records. We played a few more times in Athens, which was perfect for me. 'Cause after our set, I figured it couldn't get any worse, and asked the girl who'd been staring if I could buy her a beer. We got to talking, hit it off, stayed in touch, and... well, we're celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary on June 25, less than a week away.
And that, kids, is how I met your mother.
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