Mogwai and the Boas: Live in Cleveland, 10.04.03
Published October 06, 2003
Mogwai got on stage, finally. I am not a huge Mogwai fan. I came to the show mostly because of my love for the Boas and to hang out with friends. We were warned by some of Bob's friends that Mogwai puts on one of the loudest shows around. At first, we thought he was lying. Mogwai started with the atmospheric stuff that is very dominant on the most recent release. Then midway through the song, the one guitar player turned on the distortion and then we understood loud.
I stood and appreciated Mogwai's talent, but was generally unimpressed with the sound in. James left during the first song and we never saw him again. Suddenly, during the third song, I started feeling sick. Between standing for several hours and the lack of oxygen in the room I felt woozy. Rather than risk fainting or anything I elbowed my way through the crowd and into the back foyer where I could sit against a wall and breathe fresh air. That's where I stayed during the rest of the set. I could still hear and the visuals weren't all that exciting in the first place, so I wasn't missing much.
After the long set Bob and Sarah came out to find me. They were quite happy to see that I was ok. They had not noticed when James left, so only noticed both of us were missing at the same time. Bob said, "Man, we thought you were out getting raped or something."
We got out to Bob's car and started the sucker up. Just as we were pulling out of our parking space a black man came running at us, waving his arms and shouting. It was either run him over or stop, so we pulled to a halt. He ran around to Bob's door and tapped on the window, motioning for him to roll it down.
"My car ran out of gas around the corner and I need some money to get home, can you help me out?" he rasped.
Bob said, "Yeah yeah" and pulled a bill from his wallet. "Here you go."
The man scampered off and we breathed a sigh of relief. Sure, he was probably going off to his drug dealer, but we were alive and still had our car, and that's all that mattered. Or maybe he had run out of gas, in which case we helped a dude in need. Either way, we were quite afriad he was going to pull a gun on us or something.
We were glad we we to the show and glad we came away unraped and unkilled. The chances of us going back to that part of Cleveland, however, are small.
- Mogwai and the Boas: Live in Cleveland, 10.04.03
- Published: October 06, 2003
- Type:
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Indie Rock
- Writer: The Theory
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I honestly didn't know it was in cleveland. I knew it was in Ohio somewhere, but I met my friend in Pittsburg and she drove from there. haha.
And yeah, I was only in the area for a few hours for the show. Would have been fun to stay a bit longer, but due to the insanely long drive time that could not be arranged. haha.
heh, I just read that story on "Bob"'s xanga page.
Nice, I would love to see Mogwai live.
I was basically just giving you a hard time - we could have said hi on the phone or something. We're about 35 miles from where the concerts are, so it isn't just around the corner, and some of us are pregnant and stuff - we haven't been going out a lot lately.
Also, whenever someone comes running at my car waving their arms at me and telling me to stop - I run them over.
...You're pregnant, eric!?
You learn something new every day...
a biological anomaly
God bless "biological anomalies"
Beam- Don't be an idiot. I said he was black. I did not say he was scary because he was black. I said he was scary because we're fuckin in the middle of Cleveland, on some dirty side road and he, a stranger, jumps out at us.
If that doesn't scare you, white, black, or purple, then you're a goddamn fool.
I do not believe you, and I don't think Beam is the goddamn fool. If his being "black," as you described him, is meaningless in terms of his alleged scariness, what in hell made his skin color worthy of mention if you don't care whether a fellow human is white, black, or purple? No, I don't believe you one bit.
Ok, if mentioning that a black man held up a a car of teens makes me a racist, then I am a racist.
I am not going to put myself on trial on a website.
And if I should not have mentioned it, I am sorry. However, i will not appologize for the experience being terrifying.
Oh, you shouldn't. I, for one, do believe that you were terrified.
No need to apologize. If the threat of violence is a measure of scariness, then his being black is very meaningful. Statistically like 7 or 8 times as meaningful.
If he forced your car to a halt, as you seem to imply, you should never roll down your window. Unless he was visibly bleeding or something like that, You should have sped off at the first opportunity.
The thing I would not worry about is someone calling me "wimp", or whatever other word came to mind, from the safety of their internet connection.
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First, I can't believe you came to Cleveland and didn't tell us you were coming!
The Beachland isn't in that bad an area - just look mean and don't make eye contact - no, I'm kidding, it really isn't bad. But great story!
I can't stand smoke anymore myself - I am likely to go out a lot more when smoking is stopped in public places like in California.