Memories

To me, music in general is about making and keeping memories that you would never sell, but cherish for the rest of your life.  In my mind, there are different kinds of memories that I get from a show: one is a mental one, seeing your favorite band play, how rough the pit was that night, seeing your friends (or in my case, extended family), and the list goes on.  The second kind of memory I think of is a physical one.  That physical memory could be guitar picks, a picture with a band member you looked up to your entire life, or in my case, setlists.  To me, setlists go beyond the songs played that night.  One show will come and go but a setlist will last you forever.  It helps me tap into what the band had in their mind of what they wanted to play to the packed barroom or concert hall that night.  It helps me remember the adrenaline rush when I first saw the Dropkick's play in April 2004.  Their opening song in Hampton Beach, "For Boston" and Ken Casey running out and yelling, "Lets go you motherfuckers!" to hype up the crowd is an experience a young teenager will reflect on at twenty years young.  The mind is so open and susceptible, and for me, it was perfect time for me to get into punk rock. 

In the last few years, I have grown a reasonably sized collection that I am looking to constantly grow.  You will never see me looking on Ebay for setlists because I don't find it to be the "real deal".  Grabbing a setlist off the stage is something some would call "nerdy", others would call "obsessive" but what I call authentic.  This all winds back into a my working title of this post, "Memories".  I can still feel the chaos of climbing on stage at the House of Blues in Boston at the DKM show and scampering the floor to grab their lead guitar player's setlist.  One motive of mine is to run towards the drum rise and to pull them off of guitar/bass cabs. Another is take a look at the floor, to find "that one" that isnt entirely obliterated or destroyed.

Mark Lind and I were talking at a Ducky Boys show at Great Scott in February.  He was telling me "wicked war stories" from his past in the Boston punk scene.  I also shared my personal feelings on what punk rock has meant to me growing up.  We both agreed it was having a place to belong in a world where some of us just didn't fit.  Ever since listening to Mark talk about what it was like in the mid to late 90s, it gave me more motivation to make a show more memorable.  I am not implying you go and destroy yourself with alcohol and act like a jerk.  My point is take a picture with a member of your favorite band, grab a guitar pick, or in my case, snag a setlist.  I personally have most of them taped on my bedroom wall, but someday, I will put them in a notebook or binder and open that up in ten years and think "here are my memories that I will never sell". 

-Nick Gold

"Do you have any memories that you'd never sell, to light a darkend room while your alone for awhile?"-Death and Taxes, "All These Things".