I had less than ideal health this past winter. I’m not saying I was ever on my deathbed. In fact, over the course of a year I only missed three days of work due to illness (if an Internet source is correct, the average full time worker takes 8.5 days of sick leave). The situation is that starting around December, I went through this routine of getting colds that lasted about three days. I’d recover and then figure I could just go back to my normal routine, and then about two weeks later the sniffles would return.
I am either getting old or perhaps it is just bad luck.
Sidebar. As I write the first draft of this column, I am fighting back another bout of a sore throat and runny nose (that in fact in retrospect lasted longer than three days).
One friend recommended that I give up the night life and go for 8-9 hours of sleep. Perhaps she is making an appropriate recommendation. Of course, I argued that exercising out in the cold winter nights probably contributes a tad; you know, breathing in cold air –- this is what I’d like to believe.
My latest run of bad luck illness hit after four nights of music scattered amid three days of cold winter night exercising.
Here’s what perhaps led to this latest illness.
Monday: I headed off to Spaceland to catch Castledoor (pictured left) and Princeton (pictured right). I’ve previously made reference to Castledoor. What was unique about this night was the fact that it might have been 
Castledoor’s last ever set. At a minimum, it was their last set in their current form. Really sad. It was only the second time I’d seen them and I was liking them. As for Princeton, it was their residency month. For their last song, they invited anyone so willing to come up on stage. A number of folks got on stage and they had a dance party. (I would post photos of the dance party, but I’m not sure people would appreciate having their photos up on intraffik.com.) Two friends were supposed to meet me at Spaceland. Both made it to Spaceland, but didn’t get inside. When I arrived at 10 p.m. I walked right in, but it was already crowded inside Spaceland. I sent off warning texts. Unfortunately, my friends got caught in the long line that quickly formed outside after 10 p.m. Interestingly, they know each other and I’m sure they were standing in line at the same time, but neither noticed the other.
Tuesday: I was off to see Oh, The Spanish Moss and Roll the Tanks. Siria mentioned this night briefly in her ‘What I Listened to . . .’ column. I have to give props to Oh, The Spanish Moss. Their bassist had just quit on them before their gig. They decided to play anyways. Who needs a bassist anyways? As for Roll the Tanks, there was an interesting situation where one of their amps started picking up a Spanish radio station. You couldn’t hear it while they were playing, but in between songs you’d hear Spanish coming from the amp. It was amusing for the audience, but frustrating for the band.
(click on images to enlarge)
Oh, The Spanish Moss (pictured far left), Roll the Tanks (pictured left)
Wednesday: I jumped from The Echo to The Kibitz. At the Echo, I saw Queen Kwong. At The Kibitz, I saw The Shakers and The Mulhollands (pictured left). I’ve given plenty of love to these bands in various columns. For a friend of 
mine, this was the first time he got to see Queen Kwong. She gave a fine performance even though she was sick (an apparent common theme to this column). At The Kibitz, it was a birthday celebration for Jodie from The Shakers and Sarah from The Mulhollands (Sarah and Jodie pictured left). Their birthdays are within a few days of each other.
Thursday: I didn’t do anything. I stayed home. I did not exercise. Around 10 p.m. as I was sitting in front of my computer monitor, scanning various websites, I started to think, “Wow, why does this feel so strange.” I spend a few moments trying to figure out why I had this strange sensation and realized it was the first time in about a week that I was actually spending a whole night inside my apartment without stepping outside.
Saturday : It was the fourth Annual Dre Day Celebration at the Blue Star Cafe. The bands were Dharma Bums, Pu$$y Cow, and Madison Bloodbath (pictured left) . The Underground Railroad to Candyland was supposed to play, but cancelled. If I heard a conversation right, someone in the band got ill (this is now more than a trend for my column). Now this is the night I’m thinking sent me down the path of illness. It had rained most of the day. They in fact brought pop-up canopies (the Blue Star has an outdoor stage) just in case it rained that night. Not only was it a wet day, but it was also a chilly day and night.
(pictured from left to right: Dharma Burns, Pu$$y Cow)
I picked up a couple friends and we headed towards Blue Star. Now I have my way of getting to the Blue Star, but so do my friends. They were both convinced that I take the long way to the Blue Star so they decided to give me proper directions. Well, these directions led us to a strip club, The Score. Unknown to me, the Blue Star is walking distance from a strip club, but the intention was not to go to the strip club. After some confusion on directions from that point onwards, my two friends were able to get us to the Blue Star . . . but I think we’d have gotten there faster if we’d just gone my route.
One of the traditions at the Annual Dre Day Celebration is a competition where candidates see who can drink two 40 ounces the fastest. The competition is called “Eddie 40 Hands Competition.” Two beer bottles are duck taped to a contestant’s hands and the bottles aren’t supposed to be removed until emptied. Obviously, a pre-competition run to the bathroom is advisable. Important note: a person must have a ride home. The prize is a Gansta Rapper Coloring Book. There were three contestants for the night. It was a blowout. I’m not sure of the individual’s name, but who ever his name was, he ran away with it. Even though it is against the rules, I think one person gave up and had the duck tape removed. When the winner was announced, I noticed that this individual had finished about 1/8 of his beer. The next time I saw him walking around the patio his hands were free. Good for him or good for his friends for stopping him from drinking. He obviously wasn’t in any shape to finish.
Noticed: Joe from Pu$$y Cow measuring how far he could take his microphone into the audience.
Comment of the night: “Give me back my cigarette.”
Sunday: I was feeling it coming. My throat was a tad sore.
Monday, Tuesday . . . the days rolled on. I never got super ill, but I was ill enough where I decided to take my first sick day of 2010.
Wednesday: So over a week later I decided I was going to go out no matter what it might mean to my health. I was talking with a friend about heading over to the Bootleg Theatre to catch Delta Spirit. The problem was that it was sold out online though the website stated that there were potential tickets at the door. My friend said that if I headed over and found that there were tickets available, I should tell him and he’d show up. I decided at the last moment to switch over to Spaceland. I sent a text to my friend, telling him I was heading to Spaceland. He got back to me, but didn’t ever show up.
I caught four bands that night. First up was Jared Mees & The Grown Children (pictured left). They were on their way to SXSW. At the start of their set, they put on a ‘Spaceland’ cheer. First time I’ve seen a band do that. The keyboardist had a wilted flower that was given to her by ‘Bob’ up in San Francisco. The next band was Finn Riggins from Idaho. I briefly mentioned them in a ‘What I listened to . . . ’ column. They were back in town, also on a brief tour before 
heading off to SXSW. Their first song was amazingly powerful. They also announced that they had free ear plugs at their merch table. The keyboardist had some wind up toys that he put to use during one song. Finn Riggins has a song called “Pankakes” where the lead singer goes off on this ‘00100001000101’ chant. I couldn’t help but wonder if she sings ’01 . . .’ in the same order each time. After Finn Riggins, up came Olin and the Moon (pictured right). They were the main band for the night. I noticed in front of me a number of young women with their iPhones and Blackberries. I’m feeling a bit behind the times by not having a smart phone. Final band of the night was Correatown. A friend mentioned seeing them at Echo Curio. I learned later that he actually wanted to catch them at Spaceland, but decided against it once he learned that their starting time was pushed off towards midnight. I also have my sleep timeline. I caught a couple of their songs and then headed off for home.
The classic moment from the night: one of the band members for Correatown lost sound, there was a mad scramble to figure out what was going on and what was the problem – the classic problem that drives the IT Help Desk crazy when you call them up – the bass was unplugged.
Did I come down with a cold after Spaceland? No, I have a clean bill of health for now. And I recently went on a run of three consecutive music nights. Hey, winter is finished; let’s get back to days of no more colds and the H1N1 virus.
