This had been a long time coming. I feel like I have missed so much with live music experiences. I hope that I can continue to go to future shows.
My heart is still full after going down to Swan Dive in Austin, Texas. It was personal. It was VERY personal.
It was a night of reuniting so to speak, because I had not seen Britny Lobas perform on stage since the 27th of February 2020. For those of you who are calculating at home, that is over one THOUSAND days since I had seen her last. Nearly three full years!!
That show in February 2020 was right in the pocket in between the time that I was in the hospital and the beginning of a global pandemic. Live shows after that were non-existent.
This was the best opportunity to find her once again. It was a risk that I felt that I needed to take.
I did rest for most of the day because I knew that it was going to be grueling on the body for sitting up in the wheelchair for several hours. I prepared the best that I could and then I got up, got changed, and went out the door to get on the city bus.
I wanna say: slick pants plus bus rides... equal adventure. I kept feeling like I was about to slide right off the wheelchair every time the bus driver pressed on the break. Thankfully I did not.
The moment I showed up at Swan Dive, staff members at the door looked at me as if they thought that I was lost. But I approached the door, and they realized that I was coming in. It was the first time that venue security had used a handheld wand to make sure everything about me was legit.
The door person seemed to be either stoned or drunk or both. It took her forever to take the entrance fee and give change, then stamp the inside of the wrist to show that I had paid.
Somehow, she swindled me to giving her some of the change back as "tip" as I gave her $2.
The first person I saw was Britny's husband, Andrew. I greeted him and he called out for Britny's attention.
When she turned to look, our gazes caught one another. Britny came running over like a speeding bullet and knowing how long it had been since we had seen each other, we embraced one another and this long time without seeing each other had come to a glorious end.
1,052 Days. And then suddenly we were looking at each other again with our own eyes.
It was emotional. That is all I want to say about that.
At the time that I arrived at the venue there was a musician by the name of Peter Feliciano. He performed a rocking version of "Creep" by Radiohead. I did enjoy his performance and I am going to be following him in the future.
Britny was selling new merchandise and I just could not let that go by. I wanted both t-shirts she had but could not afford it. I hope to snag the other t-shirt that I don't have the next time that I see her perform.
When it was time for Britny to get up on stage, I took my usual place right up front and just waited.
The stage lights were burning, the music was rocking, and there I watched Britny in her element. And I started to feel like she had a little earlier in the evening when I arrived. I watched her perform, and I kept thinking, "This is real. This is actually happening, and I am here in person to see it."
Tears started to fall down my face. I sat there moving and grooving but the realization of where I was at that time was overwhelming and a positive feeling. I felt like I was on top of the world again.
Britny Lobas is basically FIRE. She is so animated on stage, and I love it. She is not the kind of musician that is going to stand there in front of a microphone, but rather she moves around all sides of the stage. And she even took off down the stairs from the stage and mingled and danced with the crowd that I had not realized had grown so big. It was amazing how many people were there and really paying attention to what was happening. That had to be a great feeling for her and for the rest of the musicians on stage.
Around the time the song "Hollow" was performed, my body decided to remind me of why I haven't gotten out very much over the last year. There were a few more songs that Britny would perform before it was over, so I endured as best that I could.
After the set, I grabbed a set list as it is custom for me to do so that if I wanted, I could have the artist autograph it. Those of you who know me personally know how I feel about collecting autographs.
I went outside towards the back of the venue and in the alley was a makeshift dance floor and a tent covering the DJ. Things were just going bonkers out there. I took a Tylenol that I had stashed in my wallet and hoped for the best. Somebody came up to me, asking if I would "share the wealth" because they thought I was taking recreational medicine.
Quickly I moved back inside to get away from that. But I was pleasantly surprised to see so many people enjoying themselves just by dancing in an alley.
The venue though had cleared out. I do not know what had happened. Britny was finished and it seemed like a majority of the people who were just having a blast had left. It was so strange. There was one more act to follow. A musician who had said she had come to Austin from Canada several years ago. I felt bad for her, but my body felt worse.
I grabbed my set list and tossed a Sharpie to Britney. She knew what was coming from that point. After she signed the set list, she and I took a selfie together. We both made a promise to not let it get over 1,000 days until the next time we saw each other again. I personally do not want it to go over 200 days, which is just over six months. It will depend on scheduling and where she is going to be playing again and if I can make it there. Things just get limited when I have to rely on a city bus to get from A to B. But some way, somehow, I have made it work innumerable times since 2014. Even though I have missed quite a lot in the past.
As I said farewell to Britny, I turned away and went for the door so she couldn't see the tears that were welling up in my eyes.
I took off down the middle of Sixth Street as per usual. Nearly ran through some horse manure in the street. I guess the horse mounted police officers were there at some point.
I kept going and I heard some woman yelling in my general direction. But since this is Sixth Street, I keep my head straight ahead but low. She apparently followed me for one block before she caught up to me and dangled my keys in my face. Apparently, I dropped them but do not know how. I was thankful she persisted to return them.
Two blocks away from the block where I needed to be to get on the city bus, I saw the very bus that I needed to get on board start driving away. There was nothing that I could do about it since I was so far away. I knew that another one was coming so I slowed down my pace to reach the bus stop, trying to waste time as I figured that I had about thirty minutes of waiting for the next bus to arrive.
My body decided to go on full revolt. My back was so sore, and I couldn't figure out a position to sit in while waiting for the next bus to arrive. I remember lifting up from the chair and that was a bit of relief, then I felt like two or three vertebrae pop from out of nowhere. It was enough relief for the bus to arrive. From the time that I arrived at the bus stop to the time the bus pulled up, it was about twenty minutes. I didn't think it was too bad.
But all hell broke loose, and it was out of my control. I rolled up to the bus and the driver opened the door. I was waiting for her to let down the ramp so that I could get on board but she said asked for me to wait because someone was coming off. An elderly woman who moved extremely slow, clinging on to all the different parts of the bus for stability. I wondered how she was going to handle things once the bus took off and she couldn't hang on to anything.
After the woman cleared the ramp, the bus driver again denied me access on board the bus saying, "Bus is broken." I do not know what happened.
It was after 2:00 AM at this point and I had to wait for ANOTHER bus to come. That bus did not show up until 2:30 AM.
I arrived at home around a few minutes after 3:00 AM. It was a very long night sitting up in the wheelchair. Thanks to a global pandemic, I am out of practice of hanging and chilling for a night out of live music and staying until the very end.
I am just happy that I got out and that I got to be around Britny Lobas once again. Check out songs "Be The One" and "Hollow" wherever you listen to music.
