Freaking awesome night with Jake!
We went to see Devo in concert at the 9:30 club in Washington, D.C. last night, and it was amazing. We got there early enough to claim a spot by the stage, and I bought a tour t-shirt and an “energy dome” (“flowerpot hats,” for the non-Devo fans). After a mildly humorous opening comedy act, Devo performed their Freedom Of Choice album in its entirety, with several encores afterward.
We hung around a bit after the show — half because I had heard they came on for a final encore in their street clothes the night before, and half because I didn’t want to get snarled in post-concert traffic.
As we were waiting, we saw that the band was meeting some fans on the balcony. So after Jake got his swag, we started to head upstairs. Jake was met with a club staffer, who informed him the balcony was closed to the public. Dejected, Jake told me he’d wait for me outside while I excused myself to the men’s room.
When I came out, I saw Jake just outside. I turned and saw the stairs up, and I asked another staffer if the meet & greet was invitation-only. He said only “guest passes” were allowed access, and, as if on cue, the female half of an older couple (early-mid 50s, maybe?) who happened to be standing right there looked at me and said, “I would love one of those hats to take home for my daughter. Would you like our guest passes?”
Would I? HELLZ YES! Thanks so much, nice (drunk?) lady! Here’s my hat. I’ll get another online!
So, we ventured upstairs with our newly-acquired guest passes, and we made ourselves over to the band, which by that time was only Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale. I introduced myself and Jake to Mark, and spoke with him for a few minutes — he couldn’t have been a nicer guy. Very gracious and very kind. After we spoke, he started to walk off to the back room, when Jake called out, “Mr. Mothersbaugh, would you please sign my Energy Dome? And could I please get a picture with you?” He graciously accommodated Jake’s request:
I wanted to get my photo taken with Mark, but he looked like he was weary from the previous barrage of folks, so I decided I’d try to meet Jerry instead. But when we got over to Jerry, he was involved in a conversation with another fan (who was much cuter and much more female than either of us), so we decided to go ahead and leave, rather than awkwardly interrupt.
So we left. I finally saw Devo live after 25 years of wanting to do so, and I shared it with the best possible person I could have shared it with. Score a big check mark on our Geek Cred cards.
Check out the photo set on Flickr.
