Categories > Celebrities > Fall Out Boy > The Bass Files
"Bad scene and basement show"
6 reviewsChapter 19 stimulates your inner child with a reference to ´Sesame Street´ and your compassion with Sheena with Andy giving her a score beyond Pete´s rude rating scale.
3Funny
19. "Bad scene and a basement show"
By the time Patrick had scored us our first gig we were well into mid-December. Over the past weeks all of us had grown closer musically and things were running smoothly during practices. (In case you wondered, yes, Joe had brought up Patrick´s sleep-over at my place at various times but Andy had ignored his immature remarks and had even told him to drop it at one point.) However, there was still one thing concerning the show that we hadn´t agreed on yet. Our band name.
Before I had joined the guys they were known - ha, ha! - by the name of ´Borderline Trio´. Anyone who had passed kindergarten would probably be confused, disturbed or tempted to
report us to Count Von Count if we stuck to that name. And I for once did not wish to mess with a purple vampire whose relatives probably included fruit bats with a chip on their shoulder.
"How about ´Patrick´s Amazing Hat Band´?"
"How about ´Joe´s Amazingly Twisted Sense of Humor Band´?" Patrick retorted.
"That´s probably a bit too long," I mumbled.
"You know what would be really amazing, people? If you took this serious," Andy sighed.
"Ok, ok, Dad," Joe appeased and mocked him at the same time. (It ´s a gift.)
"How about..." Patrick took off his cap and scratched his head.
"Something that sticks, something that means something," Andy thought aloud.
"How about ´Something that sticks´ then?" We didn´t know if Joe was joking or not.
"Eh, I dunno," I commented.
"Any new words you taught your class lately?" Patrick looked at me.
"Ha, ha. What?" I chuckled.
"Yeah, hit us with something, Sheena," Andy agreed.
"Ok, let me think... Lately we had ´gravity´, ´virus´, ´mayonnaise´... What else?" After a short pause I continued rambling off a list of words that I could remember having written on the blackboard during the last week.
"I think you can talk until you´re blue in the face and nothing´s gonna be good enough for Andy," Joe muttered.
"I like that one," Andy said.
"What? ´Pot roast´?" I repeated the last word that I had uttered.
"No, ´Blue in the face´," Andy smiled.
"Well, I´m fine with that." Patrick nodded.
"I´m a genius," Joe patted his own shoulder.
The three looked at me in expectation and I nodded. As long as nobody expected me to teach that expression to my class of 7 to 8-year-olds I could live with it.
_ _ _ _ _
Two days before Christmas was the day of our first gig in the basement of one of Patrick´s friends who was throwing a party. I showed up at the Hurley´s door step earlier than planned and when Andy opened the door I asked him if Joyce was around. He yelled for her to come downstairs, then he went back to the garage to pack up his drum set for transport.
"Hey, Sheena! Are you excited yet?" Joyce, coming downstairs, greeted me.
"Not really, I´m good. Look, I was wondering if you could maybe help me a little in the make-up department?"
Her face lit up. I guess I had just given her an early Christmas present. A life-sized doll.
She hooked her arm into mine and led me into her room, "Don´t you worry. I have exactly what you need." Self-esteem? Or a half-decent excuse I could present my Mom why I´m not married with children yet? Or at least have a steady boyfriend, blah?
Half an hour later I was marveling at myself in the mirror when the door bell rang. We heard Andy shuffling to the door and greeting Patrick and Joe.
"So, what do you think?" Joyce wanted to know.
"I look... good," I said. "Awesome job. Thank you!"
"You´re welcome, Sheena. Anytime again. Also you can keep the eyeshadow, green is definitely your color."
"Cool, thanks," I smiled at her. Wow, I had a color.
"Come on! Let´s show the guys!"
Yeah. Let´s. We went downstairs and met them by the door.
"Hey, everyone," Joyce got the men´s attention.
"Hey - WHOA!" Patrick yelped when he saw me.
"What happened to you?" Joe smirked. Patrick pushed him. "I mean you look really good." he added.
"Thanks. I thought I would try something new given the occasion of our very first show." I was still waiting for Andy´s comment. Wasn´t he going to say something?
"What do you think, Andy?" Joyce asked. Did she know that I liked him?
"I´m thinking Pete doesn´t know shit. You´re like an 11 with make-up, Sheena."
I couldn´t help but smile as widely as my facial anatomy allowed.
"Speaking of Pete, he´s gonna pick me up in a while so I gotta get ready. I´ll see you guys at the show. Bye!" Joyce hurried up the stairs.
"I´m sorry, dude," Andy placed his hand on Patrick´s shoulder.
He shrugged it off, "It´ll pass."
I hoped so. The two of them had been dating for two weeks now. Fortunately Pete had ceased coming to our practices. My guess was that Joyce had asked him to meet her somewhere else because she didn´t want to hurt Patrick even more. Once I had talked to her about him and she had told me that she felt so bad that he liked her so much but she didn´t want to refuse when other men asked her out because of him all the time. That did make sense. Still, I was more one of Patrick´s friends so naturally I felt bad for him.
_ _ _ _ _
The place was packed with people but since it was a rather small basement that only amounted to about 50 people, 60 tops. Andy was still fixing his drum set when the host Adam came over to us and asked if we were ready to play yet.
"Give me a few more minutes to set up my drums, dude, then we´re set."
Patrick, Joe and I had already soundchecked our instruments and were standing next to Andy, drinking punch and going through the set list. Patrick had changed it every other day during the last ten days, worrying that the songs we had picked at first weren´t good enough or didn´t show the spectrum of our musical ambition. I had no idea why he started double-guessing his own work all of a sudden. After all this was just some basement show with half-drunken kids and some 30-year-olds that were still in college, probably more than just half-drunken.
We played for about half an hour and it was great. People around us were moshing and whatnot and at times I worried that someone might crash into my bass but nothing of the kind happened. Patrick was full of energy and sung like I´ve never heard him before. It was breath-taking. Well, that and the fact that the basement was unventilated.
I checked out how Andy was doing from time to time but didn´t allow my eyes to linger on him for a longer period. Oh, and of course, Joe was there too. And that´s all you can expect to hear from me regarding him.
During our last song my eyes caught Pete surrounded by three girls, flirting like there was no tomorrow. Well, if Joyce saw this there probably would be no tomorrow for him. And she did. Next thing I knew I saw her running up the stairs, Pete on her heels. I shook my head when I noticed that Patrick had witnessed the scene as well.
For his sake I wished that he wasn´t getting his hopes too high.
By the time Patrick had scored us our first gig we were well into mid-December. Over the past weeks all of us had grown closer musically and things were running smoothly during practices. (In case you wondered, yes, Joe had brought up Patrick´s sleep-over at my place at various times but Andy had ignored his immature remarks and had even told him to drop it at one point.) However, there was still one thing concerning the show that we hadn´t agreed on yet. Our band name.
Before I had joined the guys they were known - ha, ha! - by the name of ´Borderline Trio´. Anyone who had passed kindergarten would probably be confused, disturbed or tempted to
report us to Count Von Count if we stuck to that name. And I for once did not wish to mess with a purple vampire whose relatives probably included fruit bats with a chip on their shoulder.
"How about ´Patrick´s Amazing Hat Band´?"
"How about ´Joe´s Amazingly Twisted Sense of Humor Band´?" Patrick retorted.
"That´s probably a bit too long," I mumbled.
"You know what would be really amazing, people? If you took this serious," Andy sighed.
"Ok, ok, Dad," Joe appeased and mocked him at the same time. (It ´s a gift.)
"How about..." Patrick took off his cap and scratched his head.
"Something that sticks, something that means something," Andy thought aloud.
"How about ´Something that sticks´ then?" We didn´t know if Joe was joking or not.
"Eh, I dunno," I commented.
"Any new words you taught your class lately?" Patrick looked at me.
"Ha, ha. What?" I chuckled.
"Yeah, hit us with something, Sheena," Andy agreed.
"Ok, let me think... Lately we had ´gravity´, ´virus´, ´mayonnaise´... What else?" After a short pause I continued rambling off a list of words that I could remember having written on the blackboard during the last week.
"I think you can talk until you´re blue in the face and nothing´s gonna be good enough for Andy," Joe muttered.
"I like that one," Andy said.
"What? ´Pot roast´?" I repeated the last word that I had uttered.
"No, ´Blue in the face´," Andy smiled.
"Well, I´m fine with that." Patrick nodded.
"I´m a genius," Joe patted his own shoulder.
The three looked at me in expectation and I nodded. As long as nobody expected me to teach that expression to my class of 7 to 8-year-olds I could live with it.
_ _ _ _ _
Two days before Christmas was the day of our first gig in the basement of one of Patrick´s friends who was throwing a party. I showed up at the Hurley´s door step earlier than planned and when Andy opened the door I asked him if Joyce was around. He yelled for her to come downstairs, then he went back to the garage to pack up his drum set for transport.
"Hey, Sheena! Are you excited yet?" Joyce, coming downstairs, greeted me.
"Not really, I´m good. Look, I was wondering if you could maybe help me a little in the make-up department?"
Her face lit up. I guess I had just given her an early Christmas present. A life-sized doll.
She hooked her arm into mine and led me into her room, "Don´t you worry. I have exactly what you need." Self-esteem? Or a half-decent excuse I could present my Mom why I´m not married with children yet? Or at least have a steady boyfriend, blah?
Half an hour later I was marveling at myself in the mirror when the door bell rang. We heard Andy shuffling to the door and greeting Patrick and Joe.
"So, what do you think?" Joyce wanted to know.
"I look... good," I said. "Awesome job. Thank you!"
"You´re welcome, Sheena. Anytime again. Also you can keep the eyeshadow, green is definitely your color."
"Cool, thanks," I smiled at her. Wow, I had a color.
"Come on! Let´s show the guys!"
Yeah. Let´s. We went downstairs and met them by the door.
"Hey, everyone," Joyce got the men´s attention.
"Hey - WHOA!" Patrick yelped when he saw me.
"What happened to you?" Joe smirked. Patrick pushed him. "I mean you look really good." he added.
"Thanks. I thought I would try something new given the occasion of our very first show." I was still waiting for Andy´s comment. Wasn´t he going to say something?
"What do you think, Andy?" Joyce asked. Did she know that I liked him?
"I´m thinking Pete doesn´t know shit. You´re like an 11 with make-up, Sheena."
I couldn´t help but smile as widely as my facial anatomy allowed.
"Speaking of Pete, he´s gonna pick me up in a while so I gotta get ready. I´ll see you guys at the show. Bye!" Joyce hurried up the stairs.
"I´m sorry, dude," Andy placed his hand on Patrick´s shoulder.
He shrugged it off, "It´ll pass."
I hoped so. The two of them had been dating for two weeks now. Fortunately Pete had ceased coming to our practices. My guess was that Joyce had asked him to meet her somewhere else because she didn´t want to hurt Patrick even more. Once I had talked to her about him and she had told me that she felt so bad that he liked her so much but she didn´t want to refuse when other men asked her out because of him all the time. That did make sense. Still, I was more one of Patrick´s friends so naturally I felt bad for him.
_ _ _ _ _
The place was packed with people but since it was a rather small basement that only amounted to about 50 people, 60 tops. Andy was still fixing his drum set when the host Adam came over to us and asked if we were ready to play yet.
"Give me a few more minutes to set up my drums, dude, then we´re set."
Patrick, Joe and I had already soundchecked our instruments and were standing next to Andy, drinking punch and going through the set list. Patrick had changed it every other day during the last ten days, worrying that the songs we had picked at first weren´t good enough or didn´t show the spectrum of our musical ambition. I had no idea why he started double-guessing his own work all of a sudden. After all this was just some basement show with half-drunken kids and some 30-year-olds that were still in college, probably more than just half-drunken.
We played for about half an hour and it was great. People around us were moshing and whatnot and at times I worried that someone might crash into my bass but nothing of the kind happened. Patrick was full of energy and sung like I´ve never heard him before. It was breath-taking. Well, that and the fact that the basement was unventilated.
I checked out how Andy was doing from time to time but didn´t allow my eyes to linger on him for a longer period. Oh, and of course, Joe was there too. And that´s all you can expect to hear from me regarding him.
During our last song my eyes caught Pete surrounded by three girls, flirting like there was no tomorrow. Well, if Joyce saw this there probably would be no tomorrow for him. And she did. Next thing I knew I saw her running up the stairs, Pete on her heels. I shook my head when I noticed that Patrick had witnessed the scene as well.
For his sake I wished that he wasn´t getting his hopes too high.
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