by Lifeguard of Love
Sleater-Kinney opening for Patti Smith at The Pier in
Seattle, July 2001.
I was there with this girl, Janet. She was a woman; she was
31. I was 18.
She showed up in Olympia for YoYo a GoGo wearing a leather
jacket and hanging out with some privileged teenage queers from Portland. She was
blonde and kind of short and kind of butch; not boyish butch but tomboy butch. We
figured they were all friends like we were all friends, but then we found out that
Janet wasn’t from Portland, she was from back east, she’d lived in New York
recently, she’d graduated from college recently, she was 31 and just traveling,
living out of her car, with her guinea pig, Louise.
We were just out of high school (some of us were still in
high school; my ex-girlfriend was, those kids from Portland were), and we loved
Janet and wanted to take care of her because, was this what our futures held?
Right now my best friend and I had our own apartment that we’d moved into 3
weeks before high school graduation, so that we could smoke pot and fuck girls
on our own terms. We had this now and couldn’t imagine a less-settled life 13
years into the future, being 31 without a plan.
Janet had tickets for the Patti Smith and Sleater-Kinney
show. During YoYo a GoGo I gave my ex-girlfriend her ticket from the pair that we’d gotten together. We’d broken up but we spent one night together right before YoYo.
I don’t remember if we fucked. The next morning she invited me to shower with
her and I declined. All of our friends fucked their exes. I thought I was badass
for doing something different. We didn’t really speak again for years.
I rode with Janet driving to Seattle. She left her guinea pig, Louise, with my BFF and
her new girlfriend. Janet had been staying with us, parking her car in our
apartment building parking lot. Sleeping on the floor? I don’t remember. I
asked my BFF last week, how long did Janet stay with us? Who the fuck knows!
Slept on our floor…a few days? Weeks? she answered. Once during that time period, days or weeks, Janet fell asleep in a chair, reading a biography of Keith Moon. While she was asleep we ate mushrooms. When she woke up she didn’t think she’d been asleep. We kept talking about mushrooms and she was like, “Are you guys going to take mushrooms?” We were like, “We already did!!!!!!” and she sighed and went out to sleep in her car. She had quit smoking weed and gave us a tiny New York bud she’d been carrying around with her. It was in a little drug bag printed with marijuana leaves, and we’d never seen anything like that little bag before. All of our weed came in regular sandwich baggies with the edges sealed with a lighter. We were really impressed by that little, sealable, printed bag.
Janet played a surf music tape all the way up to the pier. She told
me about the biography of Keith Moon she was reading. She was a drummer. She
was thinking about what to do next in life, and thought about joining the
Army to play in drums in the Army band. She said, hypothetically, When I got
out in 10 years, you’d be…28…
We got to Seattle and I guess we went to that arcade that’s by
the pier. I guess we just wandered around. We ran into my friends Pinkos and Saundra
playing games in the arcade; it never would have occurred to me to actually play the games. When Janet wasn’t
looking, Pinkos gave me wide eyes and thumbs up. I smirked and raised my
eyebrows. I wasn’t even sure if I was on a date with Janet or not.
We could hear the Patti Smith Group doing a soundcheck; it sounded
really good. We got in to the outdoor venue and ran into my friends and my
ex-girlfriend. “Janet!” my ex-girlfriend exclaimed and hugged her – we all
loved Janet and wanted to take care of her. My ex-girlfriend was
16. She didn’t look at me.
I think Janet said something about me and my ex-girlfriend,
I don’t remember what. But pretty quickly she split and spent the whole show in
the bar.
It was Sleater-Kinney opening for Patti Smith in 2001. They
were my two favorite bands at the time. I’m sure it was a great show. Maybe
there is more detail in one of my journal somewhere. I’ll look it up and see if
I can tell you some songs they played.
Janet and I met up after the show, I don’t know how or
where, maybe I just waited outside of the roped-off bar. We went to a fish and
chips place that was about to close. Janet was wasted and tried to pick up a
chair; I was extremely apologetic to the staff. I remember the fish sandwich I
ate being amazing; I squeezed lemon all over it.
I drove Janet’s car back to Olympia. It was totally full of
her, you know, life, since she was traveling and living out of it. I couldn’t
check the blind spot, so I stayed in the right-hand lane the whole 60 mile drive
home.
Janet drummed with drumsticks on the dashboard to Nevermind the entire way.