I guess after we traveled to Sacramento to see a concert, shows in the Bay Area didn’t really seem that far out of reach. Most of us had cars and enough disposable income from part-time jobs and parental units that making a trip once in a while to see a band seemed like just something you had to do in order to ever get to see bands you like – I guess it was kind of a tax we paid to be cool living in Reno.
I met my roommate, CE, through my friend DA, who dated her as a senior in high school. Cara was crazy for Siouxsie and the Banshees, she had all their albums and she even at times wore the heavy duty black eyeliner just like Siouxsie did. I think DA liked that. Anyhow, CE was crazy for Siouxsie and November 18 was her birthday, so in a sense this was like a birthday gift for her for all of us to go to the show in Berkeley together.
We had originally planned to stay on CA's mom and stepdad’s boat in South San Francisco, but I guess his stepdad wasn’t really that into it, so CA's mom actually got us all a hotel room to share instead. It was pretty nice of her to do that for a bunch of silly teenagers, but she’s a pretty nice person in general. If I remember correctly, we stayed at a Travelodge, a holiday inn or some such place.
The concert hall itself was pretty neat as I remember, and the Berkeley campus is just a beautiful place in general anyway. Lots of neat restaurants, bookstores, cafes, street vendors, political movements – all kinds of things we didn’t have in Reno. I seem to think we ate dinner at an Indian restaurant – or was it an I-Hop J Maybe we had meals at both. I certainly have memories of CE at both, and I think that was one of the only times we really traveled together.
I only remember a couple of things about the concert – one, that Siouxsie had really large thighs in her skimpy teddy/garters. It might have just been that they were so gothicly white that they looked larger from the audience. The other was that they kept shining these really bright headlights on us throughout the show. For the first couple of times, it was kind of a neat effect; however, after 20 or so times of getting blinded, it got downright annoying.
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Darlene and I saw Siouxsie in August (2004) at 4th & B in San Diego. She slimmed down and was looking pretty svelte and sexy for a 72-year-old. Put on (what I thought, at least) a pretty good show. Half the songs were Siouxsie, half were The Creatures. The first few songs were from her Japanese-themed CD "Hai," incl. "Godzilla." You'd think I'd jizz over a Creatures song called "Godzilla" but it's pretty campy and weak. Wished she played "Exterminating Angel" (from "Anima Animus") live. =:^(
www.thecreatures.com is a very well-designed site. I've been there often and have seen it evolve over the years.
A belated thanks to Cara for turning me on to Siouxsie. Paying it forward, Darlene now has a few Creatures mp3s on her iPod.
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