In a House With Unlocked Doors… Part Nine
By Sharon Mitchell
Frustrated ….
We returned home from California on a Wednesday, launched straight into the busiest non-Green Day related part of my year – Heritage Week. I love history and threw myself into a series of events, culminating in an open day on the Sunday. During the day, I developed a back ache – which got steadily worse as time progressed. By ten that night, I was in hospital, on morphine.
I had a kidney infection, but there were complications, and to cut a long story short, I was sent home after ten days to get well enough to undergo surgery – I was actually told I was too ill to be in hospital!!!
One thing was clear – I would not be making any travel plans for a while, and it broke my heart because Billie was in the middle of his Broadway run, and The Frustrators had surfaced with a new EP and promise of a tour.
I love The Frustrators, who are very high up on my ‘bands I need to see live’ list, but it wasn’t going to happen.
By January, I was still very sick and the show dates were approaching. Still, I pre-ordered the new EP, Griller, not only on cd but on vinyl. At the last page on the record store website, I noticed a small entry on the stock list – Griller test pressings, only 25 available. I ordered one, expecting it to arrive with the regular vinyl in April. It didn’t, it landed on my doorstep in early February and I had an almost exclusive sneak preview of four new Frussies songs.
Meanwhile, the shows went ahead and I had to rely on the reports of some lucky friends who got to see them.
Still unable to even drive my car, and having to spend several spells in hospital because of bad reactions to my drugs or bouts of chronic pain, sickness and dehydration, I needed cheering up.
My good friend Tony came to the rescue with a ‘care package’ from California. He had not only acquired one of the exclusive ‘tour edition’ Griller EPS, but had asked Jason Chandler, the lead singer, to autograph some of the posters he had designed for the shows. Not only that, but Tony had asked Mike Dirnt to autograph a scrap of paper for me. If you have trouble reading his writing, it says “2 Sharon The Dirnt sux”. He really doesn’t.
They say every cloud has a silver lining, and one of the consequences of my illness was that I was not spending any money on regular household shopping, and I was able to splash out on a few bargains on the internet.
I found an early compilation vinyl, The Big One, and a few bootleg dvds, my day brightened when the goodies were delivered by the postman. It was around this time that Green Day released Awesome as Fuck – a live cd and dvd named in honour of the signs held up at various dates on the American tour – and written by my friend Beth! It has to be one of the biggest claims to fame – having your favorite band release an album that you named – truly, awesome as fuck.
