MEMORY CAN BE A FUNNY THING. That is because it is a work in progress. Some of your most cherished memories did not happen the way you think they did. Memory is imperfect and suggestible. It is constantly in the re-write phase.
This is not a story about memory so I will not bore you with the details. Look up ‘false memories’ and ‘The Mandela Effect’ for examples.
This is a story about one party.
The other night I received a text from a friend who was at the Green Day concert in Seattle. They were excited to tell me that Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day had mentioned a party the band had played in Bremerton sometime in 1990. Mr. Armstrong had mentioned the band Two Foot Small opening that show. He said it was in some kid’s garage and that they did not get to play because the cops stopped the show due to the eminent arrival of skinhead Nazis.
I was there. Two Foot Small was there.
Green Day was there, but they did play.
There were four bands at that party. Two Bremerton bands, one Seattle band and Green Day. It was indeed at some kid’s garage out near Wildcat Lake. The opening bands were supposed to play for fifteen minutes each to give Green Day time to play before the noise ordinance kicked in. Two of the openers did so, one of them did not. Green day played for about fifteen minutes before the police arrived.
The police were cooperative that night. They said to try again at half volume, but if they got another complaint, they would have to shut it down. Green Day gamely turned it down to 5 and played a goofy, muted few songs.
One an Ozzy cover if I remember correctly.
The police returned and shut it down for good.
The Green Day boys were cheery and understanding. They were selling band t-shirts that they printed right there on the lawn. They told you to wait till it dried to put it on. It was a great story.
Now here are the fuzzy memory parts.
There may be many who remember being at this party, but my memory is that there were about fifteen people there for the bands. Maybe twenty. The whole thing had been a rushed affair, before the internet. It had been strictly word of mouth, telephones and maybe a flyer with just a few days’ notice.
The skin heads were real. Whether they were Nazis or not is between them and their conscience. They showed up later.
Green Day was warned that they may show up and that the band should probably leave before this became a wholly different kind of story. They did so.
The skin heads were looking for someone they had a beef with, but that person quietly left before they found him. I cannot attest to what happened after because I was the one who drove the would-be victim away. But I don’t remember hearing any horror stories so I imagine it fizzled out.
Still, classic Bremerton night.
So, were you there? According to my memory, probably not. However, I also remember these two incidents, Green Day and the skinheads, as two separate nights. I have been informed that, nope, my memory is wrong. Like I said, memory can be funny.
Maybe you were standing right next to me. // ANONYMOUSLY YOURS
FIND MORE FUZZY MEMORIES from that house show at greendaylive.fm, search ‘June 22, 1990’ and find a live recording of that set on the youtubes, search ‘Green Day – House Party in Seabeck, Washington.’
