February 25, 2004 - Amity Jr. Highschool - Bethany, CT with: Bunji and Cloverleaf
Henning Says: On Friday SFTD had a strange gig. We were scheduled to play at a school called Amity Junior High in Bethany, CT at a night time assembly sort of thing. The school is further away than you think and hidden down a maze of turny roads. Brian and I traveled together and it was a rushed journey because we both had to leave immediately after our dayjobs. No time for dinner or to kick-back for a second. We loaded up Brian's car, not knowing what equipment we were going to need, and I took over driving, since Brian had been traveling all day at work. So, we shoved our way through the rush hour traffic as Brian set-up and played his new Rio MP3 Player. As we rounded the corner south of Springfield we were greeted by a sky full of swallows. A flurry of black darting birds filled the air and formed a streak of specks that stretched down along the highway and beyond the horizon. We drove beneath them as they shifted and swirled like schools of fish in the sky. The MP3 player was blaring out bands that start with the letter B, The Beatles, Beach Boys, Bee Gees, Frank Black, and the Byrds. As we headed into the Hartford area, the swallows trailed off and the sky was instead over run by bigger black birds (maybe crows), they covered the trees on the side of the road, and darkened the city skyline. They seemed to be a mirror image of the cars littering the crowded highway. Welcome back, birds. We were running late and we were running low on fuel and it wasn't a relaxing drive, we barreled through the hills and turns of Bethany, CT until we finally reached our destination. Max and Tony and Anya, weren't there yet but they pulled in shortly after Brian and Tony had a crackly non-communicative cell phone conversation. Inside the school, the energy of the migrating birds was once again present as small gaggles of teens darted from one corner to the other shrieking like pterodactyls and cackling like ducks. This school smelled like a school. We found the stage by following the sounds of the first band setting up. It was a large stage with nice curtains and lights built into the side of a gymnasium that smelled like a gymnasium. In the gym, was a smattering of kids jumping around and small groups of adults standing in the shadows against the walled-up bleachers. I set up a table with our T-Shirts and albums and a kid came up and looked at our stuff. He said, "What do you do with this stuff, buy it?" "I don't buy it, I sell it." I replied. "How much is that white T-Shirt?" He asked and I pointed to the sign that said T-Shirts = 10 bucks. He said, "That sucks! They didn't tell us to bring money!" "Always bring money." I told him. Soon, the first band started playing. It was made up of a bunch of kids from, I'm guessing, one of the schools invited to this event. They played dark heavy songs, some of which I could remember writing in junior high as well. They were new to the stage and having a blast, I think. I couldn't stop smiling. I looked back at Brian and Tony and Max and Anya and they were all smiling, too. This was a far cry from our usual surly venues. Not necessarily better or wonderful, but definitely different. I was marveling at, and envious of, the energy of the kids. Brian was sizing them up trying to determine their futures, there goes a young John Belushi. Tony was thinking of his own future, soon he might be teaching kids this size. Max was thinking about his pants and the long ride ahead of him. Soon, we were setting our stuff up on stage. I looked over at Tony as he was checking his pedals and there were about 10 kids smooshed up against the edge of the stage jumping up-and-down yelling at him like they were at a big-time rock show (which they were, but they didn't know that). The kids love Tony. We played a set of upbeat rocking stuff and we did it really well. To me, it felt like a really good show musically. One of our best in a while. The kids listened on and off, coming in the room and then leaving then coming back and running around in circles. At one point during Omnivore I noticed that the left side of the gym had only boys on it and they stood against the back wall watching Tony play guitar, or Brian do some crazy drum fills, or Max standing up on his amp. On the other side of the room a group of girls stood in a circle, some of them doing funny jokey dances and then stopping and laughing. After the set we took a bow and carried our stuff off the stage. I went back in to man the merch table for a few minutes and then went back stage and Max and Anya were gone and Brian was standing out by his running car with his jacket on. Tony was in the hall talking to some students and a teacher. I went back in and packed up the merchandise, some girls came up and asked what our mailing list was for and then one of them signed it. Another started to, but then left off the last part of her email address, perhaps remembering something her parents said about giving out her address. I gave them a few Chain Cds. I also left a few Chain CDs for the very nice and accommodating sound guys. Joe, who put together this show and was very friendly and helpful, bought a disc to give away as part of their raffle. Tony and I gathered up our stuff, nudging our way past people in the halls and I crammed the car full of our equipment. I think we made it to the highway before the third band had even tuned up. We accidentally took a slightly longer route home, I think, but still got back before 11:00. We could have had a local show the same night and still worked it out. Crazy.