Drewography

90s alternative rock stuff

90s Concerts

Aerosmith: My Angel to Winning Radio Contests (and gateway to Vanilla Ice)

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At 12 years old, every night wound down the same way. After brushing my teeth, I’d lay down in my “captain’s bed” with the steering-wheel headboard, my yellow Sony Sports boombox against the wall, and fall asleep with my ear pressed against the speaker, the volume just loud enough to be audible.

Then it happened. Usually, between 2am – 3am.

Aerosmith’s “Angel” would come on the radio, and I would rise from the dead.

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Confessions of a 90s Alt-Rock Ticket Scalper

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It was an experiment rooted in greed that was destined not to end well.

As my teenage life became centered around live music, it was clear I needed additional income to support my concert addition. At an average price of $13 a ticket, plus that patented 35% Ticketmaster surcharge, how was this high school kid supposed to get by?

The formula I devised was straightforward: Buy a few extra tickets to a show I was planning to attend anyway, and sell them for enough profit to cover the expense of my ticket.

It was a win-win, making the mass-transit travel and early-morning West Coast Video trips (they were a Ticketmaster outlet and ill-fated VHS rental chain) a bit more tolerable.

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Ned’s Atomic Dustbin: My First “Real” Concert

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You never forget your first.

My first “real” concert, sans adult supervision–standing-room-only–was Ned’s Atomic Dustbin at Roseland Ballroom back on January 22, 1993.

At 16 years old, this was the night that everything changed. I became an addict, hooked on live music. Sure, by this point I had already seen Madonna, C&C Music Factory and Vanilla Ice live, but that was just music.

With Ned’s, my alternative rock universe came into focus as I moved beyond a suburban kid with creative vision and morphed into a young adult who became unafraid to express his uniqueness.

As I looked out across a sea of humanity, bodies hoisted towards the sky, knees flying through the air, I realized we were all more than plaid-shirt wearing “weirdos.”

The Ned’s show was validation that I was not alone.

I found my people.

And the music spoke to me.

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