Dedication

This story started back on the afternoon of July 24, '07. it was an ordinary day at work...until I got an email that made my eyes do a computer double-take (I think that means that they just widened and made sure the screen had been refreshed) because of an email I just received: the Ten Club, Pearl Jam's fan club - also known as 10c, sent a message announcing a pre-Lollapalooza show. in Chicago. in Lake View, at The Vic! could it get any better? let me spell it out again for y'all: pre-concert concert, my home town, my neighborhood, great venue next to my favorite hangout. wow. and all just a 5 minute walk from my place.

tickets would be sold on the 10c site two days after the email announcement (so on the 26th of July for all of you taking copious notes) for a show just a few days before their upcoming Lolla headliner. I knew what had to be done.
Preparations Checklist:

1. is my membership up to date? check.
2. does my log-in/password work? check.
3. does my computer have its cookies enabled? (weird, but required by the site) check.
4. am I familiar with navigating the site and finding the area for ticket sales? check & check.
5. does my billing info match my credit card number? check.

I felt like I was on a mission and was going through the operational guidelines in my head:
All checks have been processed and systems are a go
The run-through has been completed successfully
Clear your calendar - Advance to stand-by position

my friend Dan and I made a mini-pact that entailed that in case one of us was not able to buy a pair of tickets, the other could have the spare ticket from the person who did get the tickets. nice. we're going to see Pearl Jam baby!

The morning of July 26th was calm. almost too calm. the mildew left an uneasy sense in the air. people knew. tickets were to go on sale at 11am PDT - 1pm Central. at noon I started prepping, dancing through the steps once more. clockwork baby, we got this. there was a twinge of nervousness in me, but I was driven that morning by adrenaline and excitement of almost incomparable proportions.

I put aside all real-world obligations like eating, drinking and...oh yeah - working to make sure that I could get tickets for this show. my anxiety was high. at 1250pm CDT I logged in to my 10c account and began the CCCP routine, but applied towards ticket sales instead of email. I had been doing this for about 10 minutes to be sure I would be among the first to click in...1pm came and went - still no link with the Chicago tickets. ok, maybe the guys & gals at the 10c in Seattle needed to get more coffee or whatever. 101, 102, 105pm - still nothing. I began what was to become an incessant email barrage with Dan to see if his experience was similar. someone else in my office called me - he couldn't get the tickets either. shit! I had been clicking and double-clicking and re-clicking and re-loading and opening new tabs and windows and every combination thereof to figure out what was wrong. 130pm strolled along and it was around then that I first saw the link for the Chicago show. phew! ok let's do it....or not! for what turned out to be the next few hours to come, the only thing that would appear on screens of many, or realistically most, fan club members was text that said 'Temporarily Out of Stock.' noooooo - say it ain't so! this was my chance to make it happen and the site was bombing out, not able to handle all of the volume it received. two things came to mind here: first, would one really think that, since the concert was open only to fan club members, so many people would be interested in a Chicago show? there are way more fan club members in the NYC area and I didn't anticipate such a huge draw to a small place in Chi. but I ended up meeting a ton of people who traveled for the shows for this weekend. secondly, the Ten Club staff would have to anticipate this frenzy for tickets. I even complained last summer when their site failed me for tickets then. my right arm was so sore from literally clicking on the mouse for a plethora of hours - pretty much solidly through the rest of the day. I became very sullen and angry. I felt that I deserved a ticket.

After work I headed down to the Vic with my camera and some guarded optimism. apparently there were quite a lot of others who shared the same thoughts. we all were big fans and we all wanted in. I stood around and talked to a few people for about an hour before walking away empty-handed. before I left, this guy (pictured) was a trooper and seemed of the cool sort. better luck next time, you and me pal, right?

Then, as is ritual for many nights, whether sweet or sour, I naturally headed to Matilda's. not only is it my favorite bar in Chicago, but Matilda's is also my 'spot.' it's a Cheers type of place that has a unique setting, crowd and offers an enormous comfort-zone above what any other bar could. I got a burger and mashed potatoes, which are a resident token of the bar along with the stomach-ache inducing nachos - but only because they are that good...or that cheesy, along with a Point draught. I sat at the bar and chatted a bit with the bar tenders. at first I was complacent. say "oh well" and move on, right? then I became really bitter and angry, realizing that I knew the words to all of the songs playing on the jukebox - all Pearl Jam, all night. it drove home the FACT that I was not going to the concert that I thought was meant for me. it was then that I felt an incredible feeling of emptiness and of being let down.

A few days passed; the anger subsided. Pearl Jam and I would try to be friends again. so I got some earplugs and two liters of water (this was a borderline fiasco: I quickly ran into the CVS at Clark/Halsted to get the earplugs and water, but they didn't have water. ok - we're in the middle of 90+ degree, humid-as-hell {ignore that oxymoron} weather and they had no water! so I took a few bottles of Dasani from a bulk package. the clerkess wouldn't accept it. so I asked them to check their inventory in 'the back' as if it were some magical kingdom with all the supplies customers wanted but weren't put out front. no luck. they had two one liter bottles of Smart water I think. but one of the bottles didn't even have a label of any kind on it. so I told this clerkess, by now full of way too much attitude, that I would buy the earplugs and water - but the second water would be half price because of the inconvenience and lack of proper packaging. the manager agreed. nice. kinda like my version of a David y Goliath victory. or Roger & Me, but I still haven't seen that so I don't know how it ends. shh!) and brought along a light back-pack thing I picked up from one of the previous summer festivals and headed out to Grant Park, which was transformed into the epicenter of living music the first weekend of August 2007.

I walked in and immediately got a large beer in a Lollapalooza collector cup. sure, it was a bit of hoopla, but it carried more beer. I headed through the crowds with a direct path to the southern end of the park where Pearl Jam would play. I squeezed my way pretty far forward until I thought that I would have trouble a) keeping my own space and b) not annoying every other person if I pressed even further. the crowd was alive all around me and very ready. admittedly, I wasn't looking forward to hearing My Morning Jacket at all, but they ended up playing an amazing set. during this time I managed to make friends with a group of Canadians by me (Vinnie and Ashley pictured to the left). they were pretty fun. then later on two guys from Guam joined up with us. everyone had a blast.

Pearl Jam came on pretty hard. it was so great to hear them, though for me it was only a hiatus of a year. (could have been only 3 days. hey - we moved on, remember?) check out the set list for the show. pretty energetic. the pain and sincere aggravation of missing that fan club show, where many rarities were performed, was all but erased. Pearl Jam, as always, played a spectacular show.


there are many who don't follow them and/or picture the band as very over-ripe from their early '90s prime, but I strongly disagree. Pearl Jam still has the creativity and the talent and plays better than most musicians I've ever heard perform. no show is shy of two hours and most approach three. I remember being in New York at Madison Square Garden for a show and Ed made mention of how many fan club members were in attendance, recognizing and appreciating the audience. at that show, the group continued playing past their max end time, incurring a fine. why? just so everyone could continue the vibe and enjoy the special night of music. now I was on an adrenaline rush - not the kind you get when you're sitting impatiently in front of a computer to buy tickets. it was the kind of rush from just drinking and...enjoying the greatness of the spirit of the night by myself but very much not alone in celebration of the band and the love of music.

Pearl Jam caters to what a fan would want in a band. they just need to work out some kinks in their website.