Couple of Old Pharts

This post is a little out of place, but sadly, your Phartbloggers have been too busy for arts and culture lately. The closest we got was this past Friday's My Chemical Romance concert at the Nassau Coliseum. I know what you're thinking--emo death cult?? Yes, friends. The Phartbloggers are so sophisticated in all other forms of culture that their taste in pop music is a tad lame. It was Phartblogger #1's birthday, and he wanted nothing more than to bop around and pump his fist to the harmonious tunes of every 13-year-old rocker's dream band.

We got there and didn't think it would be that bad. We were surrounded by kids but also adults, and not just moms and dads. We felt really cool when we saw thirty-somethings in black makeup and tattered clothes. We might have been straight-laced, but we were representin' our lameness.

But then something interesting happened...we weren't the only lame ones there. First off, the music, not that loud. We could hear each other when we screamed in each other's ears. Not right. Secondly, no one got up out of their seats until the very end. Thirdly, Gerard Way (the most tragic lamo and closet gay man ever, but Phartblogger #2 is strangely obsessed with him) STOPPED A SONG to "save" a mosh-pitter who was apparently in peril. Then he gave us a speech about proper pit behavior. Um, I recall almost dying a horrific death in a Rancid pit (THAT'S THE NAME OF THAT BAND, PHARTY #1! Finally remembered/looked it up.) at Lollapalooza 1996. That's how you become a tough concert-goer. Don't stop the death. They chose to buy that general admission ticket. They want that in their obit. Boo.

They did their whole new concept album in perfect sequence. That was kinda cool. I wish SP had done a Mellon Collie concert like that, but I digress. Then they did a 6 song encore--hello? It was like a whole nother concert. They did the crowd faves (trust me) and made everyone dance around. The Phartbloggers were getting tired, but we bopped along with the mom in our row.

As we were leaving, Pharty #2 remembered her first trip to the Nassau Coliseum in 1996 to see Smashing Pumpkins. Billy Corgan was the love of her life, and she cried during their encore of "Drown." There was something sad about this memory, but nice at the same time. She also remembered her ears ringing, unlike this evening.

As we tried to leave, our true oldness came through. A Long-Guyland teenager was trying to cut in front of the Phartbloggers' sensible Camry, and he decided to side-swipe us when we didn't let him in. Genius. Pharty #2 was instantly out of the car and announcing his license plate to the 911 operator. When will they learn--don't mess with an NY talian girl's temper, especially not in a vehicle!? Then the punks (yeah, I said it. I decided against "hooligans," but that was a close second) drove off!! We decided to just let them think that the cops were after them all night rather than wait there to file a report about a smudge on the Camry.

Ten minutes later, Phartblogger #1 turned 27. How fitting.