Monday, November 2, 2009

Getting The Led Out

A local rock station in Jersey (could be Phily) has a session where they Get The Led Out. I will never forget this, because our painter (Rob) was incredulous that I had no idea what it meant to "Get the Led Out." It wasn't until Sophomore year that I started listening to Led Zeppelin, but it also wasn't until tonight that I heard Led Zeppelin music live. Nick H-S invited us to a Led Zeppelin cover band on Corrientes and having nothing better to do we headed over.
It had just been a little flier he barely noticed on the Subte, but it was the greatest of nights. The venue was below a bookstore on Corrientes in the Theater District and as usual the doors opened late. As you entered you passed a bar on the left and then the room opened up into a small space filled with wooden tables and chairs ending with a stage that was about a meter or two off the ground.
The room quickly filled with long haired Led Zeppelin t-shirt wearing people and the show had sold out by the time the band had done a warm up number. They played two songs and then took a brief pause to allow the singer to do a costume change, and he returned in tight bell bottoms, shiny black motorcycle boots, and a button down shirt tied at the bottom.
The lead singer opened up with a wail and the band joined in with Immigrant Song. They rocked. The bass player and his handle bar mustache, the guitarist with his long hair, and the smiley drummer with his long hair and bottle of Quilmes were rocking it hard as the singer pranced around the stage engaging the audience and singing in English with a funny accent that led me to believe he did not understand half of what he was saying. He even had the feminine performance style that Nick informed us was typical of Robert Plant.
As the collection of empty bottles grew on our table they band got better and better. The singer sounded more and more like Senior Plant (at least in my ears) and the bass player got funnier and funnier as he got more and more inebriated and gave shout outs to his son. The fact that he is a dad made him that much cooler.
At one point I remarked to Nick this this performance in English still managed to be so Argentine and it prompted me to shout "I love this country!!!!!" Nick responded "Me too!! That's why we're here, that's why we're staying. Wait, you're staying right?" There is never a good time to break news like this, and I realize that we haven't even broken it to the blogging world yet so here it goes. "No," I responded. "Actually we are leaving mid February." It startled us both. Normally when people ask I throw a probably for good messure. People know Josh is applying to Law School, but that hasn't exactly translating into a leaving date until just now. So there it is. The big leaving date. Its set. We leave around February 12th and begin an epic journey around South America which will finally help this blog reach its full potential moving the adventures into the continent of South America as promised and not just Argentina.
So then they started playing Stairway to Heaven which always reminds me of sitting around the family room after school in high school while Kenny played his guitar and made up funny songs in Spanish and then sang Stairway to Heaven every time my mom requested it which was every day. And I thought about making adult decisions you don't want to make, and I started hysterically crying. It was kinda lame and cheesy, I know, but I was overwhelmed for a moment.
The show ended and we headed outside for some air. We talked about life, Argentina, and such things, and then decided that yes, we would head over to the Costanera Sur for some Bondiola completa sandwiches from the best parilla ever que se llama El Rey. And yes, he is the king of the Bondiola. Siempre estoy feliz quando puedo encontrar un neuvo lugar de sandwhiches tan circa de mi casa!!! I am always happy when I find a new place to buy sandwiches so close to my house!!!! And so we went to sleep full of bondi and with the amazing riffs of Led Zeppelin in my head.

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