Monday, August 27, 2007

I went to my parents' old house in Baldwin, which contains the entire cafeteria/auditorium of Carroll Manor Elementary. Tons of people of all ages and colors are sitting around eating, including a real vivid elderly Italian gangster with huge glasses who I recognize from somewhere, but can't completely place. My parents are nowhere to be seen, though, but for some reason I don't feel any anxiety about the huge crowd that's assembled here.

Van Halen is there, and they play an amazing show, on a huge indoor stage that somehow fits inside the house. David Lee Roth sings and X-Pac is the bassist. After the show, I'm standing in the backyard when I look over my shoulder to see the sweaty dudes coming out of the house with white towels draped over their shoulders. I'm surprised by how humble and normal they are. People keep coming up to them to tell them how good the show was and they seem grateful for the compliments and totally willing to chat a bit with any of their fans. I feel awed that such a bunch of old school rockers could play such a good show. I think about saying something to them, too, but I end up just hovering nearby and eavesdropping on their conversations with the fans. I notice that X-pac looks a lot bigger in real life than on TV and I wonder how he hooked up with Van Halen.