Reno didn’t get a whole lot of shows in those days, at least shows for your average discriminating new waver. So I had to wait over a year before one I wanted to see came to town again. This time I was at a new high school with a new group of friends, most with cars.
When my friend KR and I went to buy our tickets for the show, they only had upper level seats left so we were ready to sit upstairs. Then the clerk told us he had a solo seat on the floor. Without even asking Kim if she wanted it, I said, “I’ll take it!” and thus I had to sit down there in a seat by myself. A bunch of us went together, and KR sat with the rest of our friends upstairs.
I’m generally pretty shy, and I suppose much more shy then at 15. So I was a bit uncomfortable for a while, sitting in my seat all by myself. Marshall Crenshaw was kind of boring, mostly acoustic guitar and him singing, so for a while I found myself questioning my decision. Everyone just sat in their seats looking bored, no dancing or anything.
But when Howard Jones came on everything changed, I knew all of the songs and most everyone left their seats and moved up front to start dancing.
While I was up there I actually ran into someone I knew, BGA, who had graduated with JS and I had met a few times the previous year at various parties. My most vivid memory of BGA at the time was his yearbook picture that had him proudly sporting a republican tie. This time, however, he was tieless and dancing, having a great time. The girl he was with didn’t look all that happy to be there. I found out many years later that she was K, whom he later married, and it was one of their first dates.
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