In a House With Unlocked Doors… Part Eleven
American Idiot comes home
By Sharon Mitchell
We don’t really need excuses to go back to California any more, but when the Broadway smash musical American Idiot came home to San Francisco, we wanted to be there for the last performance. That was to be on 8th July, and so we planned a two week stay with that weekend in the middle. We arrived on 2nd July and two days later, we helped America celebrate its birthday, watching the Redwood City parade, fireworks and a barbecue at our friend’s home. Once more, we tasted (literally!) REAL America, and it was a wonderful experience.
Before the performance on Sunday, we took some of the people that had travelled to catch the show on mini guided tours of the places that had become legendary. We went back to Fiat Music and Mrs Fiatarone was not only there, but she remembered us from the year before – amazing!
We also made several trips to Christie Road, to the squat on Ashby Avenue and to Gilman. So many tears were shed by fans that had read about these places and never expected to go there, to follow in the band’s footsteps. It’s amazingly emotional to stand on the tracks at Christie and watch a train roll by with the song playing on your iPod. Some of us wrote our names on the stones on the track and left them there, others brought home a small piece or a rusted, bent rail spike as a link with this place that means so much to us.
On the day of the show, we all gathered in Rudy’s for a late breakfast before heading to the theater We met up with our guests – the woman who two years earlier had persuaded me to fly to Vegas and her husband! – and sat behind the band Prima Donna, who I have seen quite a bit, and who were very generous with hugs before and after the show.
My friend thought it was so funny – she has lived all of her life in The Bay, and we knew more people in that theater than she did!
I admit it, I cried – I bit my lip during Wake Me Up When September Ends, held it together during Whatsername (two of my ‘killer’ songs), but lost it completely when my friend hugged me during the encore and told me she loved me!
Afterwards, we headed to Rudy’s (again!) and then on to the Oakland Metro Opera House and the fun that was The Mess Fest.
Arranged to coincide with the end of the musical, our friend Kat had put on a feast of treats including some legendary performers such as Kepi Ghoulie, Prima Donna and Hope Anchor. This last band is led by Terry Linehan, whose other band is Mike Dirnt’s side project, The Frustrators. He was very friendly, chatted for ages and gave me an autograph, and at the end of the evening, Adam “Lights Out” Levine of Prima Donna gave me his very sweaty bandana as a souvenir. Thanks, Adam – I think … it took two days to dry out in the boot of the car!
Another trip seemed as if it was going to pass without us getting to see a gig at Gilman. They have shows there on Fridays most weeks, and the first Friday of our stay, we went for dinner with some very, very special friends – and the second week, we had a gig at another venue with the fabulous Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children McNuggits. I was frustrated that I was never going to set foot inside – until our friend Rosie told us she had arranged to meet someone at 924 because they had something special for us.
Gilman is perfect.
It’s small and dusty and shabby despite its recent facelift, and actually, it was pretty cool to wander around it without the distraction of a show. We took loads of photos, spoke to the people that volunteer there, and that something special really was special – a copy of The Boo cd. I love Gilman even more now.
Many of us had met face to face for the first time on this trip, but after a few days, our shared experiences made it feel like we had been friends for a lifetime. Our group contained visitors from all over the USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, Mexico and Europe. That is the real magic of following this band – the friendships that span the world.
