2007-09-30 - 12:03 p.m.

Last night Nya and I saw the Donnas play. It was huge, of course. Their new album, Bitchin� is their heaviest, most badass-sounding yet. Brett and Alison came out and said hi to me and Nya during the opening band, but unfortunately it was too loud to talk much. They gave a shout-out to me during their set. Aw.

In honor of seeing them, what follows is a section from the first draft (and blogs are really good for first drafts) of an essay I�m working on:

The next day, Curtis came over (supposedly just for a few days, but I was a little dubious of how long that could stretch into). We went to the spring concert together (I paid for his ticket, of course). Although he was listening to a lot of underground gangsta rap hip-hop these days, he had pretty broad musical taste and always appreciated good stuff. I knew that a Joan Jett show would not be lost on him.

The concert was in the hockey center, which I had never been to but was only a few blocks from my house. (Athletes at Brown � including hockey players obviously � are very underloved, by the way. At such an un-jock school, no one wants to go to games � me included. Our teams end up playing to a lot of empty seats and the memory of unappreciated effort leads to a much lower alumni donation rate. I�d say �oh, poor them�, but jock-ness really isn�t my style anyway�)

We got there for the first band (Luna, the remains of Galaxie 500). I guess whoever assembled the ticket was trying to get powerhouses in three genres by putting together Luna, the Donnas, and Joan Jett � mellow indie, modern hard rock, and old-school punk. Curtis and I weren�t really interested in seeing Luna though and hung back in the hallway outside the main floor.

I was primarily interested in seeing the Donnas, even more than Joan Jett. I had a sort of history with the band, going back a number of years. Particularly with the lead singer. She goes by her real name now, but was Donna A. for years before that. Except to me she had long been Lady Brett.

One of my claims to rock DJ fame is that I was the first person to interview the Donnas when they were 18 and their first album had come out (well, me and a partner). It was the dead of winter and we sat in their tour van to stay out of the cold outside after the club they�d played in had closed.

I tried to balance a tape recorder in my lap, sitting in the back seat with my fellow DJ while they climbed all over the front seats like the hyperactive high school seniors they were. The interview was amusing and I was completely charmed by them. I asked whether they listened to a lot of Ramones, as a number of people had commented on that influence on that first album.

�Well you don�t really need to listen to the Ramones,� said one of them. �You can just hear their music once and then play that album over again in your head. I mean, it all sounds the same!�
�Indeed. So what bands are you guys actually into?�
�We do like heavy metal. Motley Cr�e. AC/DC. Judas Priest.�

�Metallica!� They all did air guitar riffs, then burst into giggles.
�I hate to spoil the party, but I have to go to the bathroom real bad,� said the singer.
�The club is closed, but I live real near here. You want to use my place?� said my partner.

She agreed and they left for a bit. I was a little bummed, as she seemed the most intriguing to me. Certainly, I thought she was the most attractive. After they came back and we ended the interview, he told me she had warmed her hands on his toaster oven after going to the bathroom. I had to admit that I was pretty jealous, although I realized what a dumb thing to be jealous about � a budding rock star using your toilet and toaster oven.

After that I would go see the Donnas every chance I could. I went to shows in Boston, in Providence, even in New York when I was there. The band got used to seeing me and, although they certainly had no shortage of panting male fans around, seemed to consider me more an old friend than a groupie. There developed a sort of order as to how much they liked me.

The guitarist was a little stand-offish, probably because she was known as the �pretty one� and received a lot of attention from slobbering fanboys. The bassist alternated between being nice to me and cutting into me with cruel jokes because that was her style. The drummer was always friendly, partly because I�d bought her a pair of gloves at a show early on where she was cold and partly because she was just a nice person inherently.

And the singer, Brett, Donna A., all that. I was magnetically (or pheromone-ically) drawn to her every time and she seemed to appreciate the attention. Unexpectedly, for someone who sang songs like �Huff All Night� praising getting stoned, she didn�t smoke or drink much. Although she was very amused when she saw a New England-area beverage called �Hardcore Cider� and asked me to get her a six-pack�

We�d talk before and after every show about the economics of the music business, about my memories of San Francisco from when I�d lived there in 1993-94 and her experiences of it now, about her family�s move from Bloomington, IN, to Palo Alto when she was 13 and the awkwardness she faced trying to fit into a new environment as a smart, dissatisfied kid (meeting fellow outsiders in the other Donnas helped a lot with this). We�d talk about anything I could think of to be able to hear her voice more.

Perhaps my most extreme moment of fan-dom was when I flew across the country to San Francisco to see them play. Well okay, I didn�t take the trip exclusively to see them play. That would be a bit creepy. But I did make sure a trip I wanted to take anyway coincided with a few Bay Area shows their website said they were playing. Which, now that I think about it, sounds only slightly less creepy.

This was in 1998. I had lived in San Francisco for a year in 1993-94. I wanted to commemorate my fifth anniversary by going back to the places I�d hung out then. The band�s first show was at a Potrero Hill bar I used to frequent on Sundays for �punk rock barbecue�. The bands were pretty good, but more than that I appreciated the all-you-can-eat food (especially given that I was too young to drink at the time).

I showed up early and sat at the bar drinking. When the Donnas showed up to load in, I got up so Brett would notice me.
She looked at me with surprise when she came in. �Wow, what are you doing here?�
�Well,� I put down my beer on the table I was standing next to. �I�m seeing the Donnas.�
She smiled and made me glad I had taken the trip. �Well, fancy seeing you. Did you come all the way out here from back East for this show?�

�I had to make a trip anyway. But I timed it so I would see your shows. I think I�ll be at the one in Palo Alto tomorrow too.�
�Well, I�m kind of flattered.�
�Ah, you say that to all the groupies.�
She grinned again and pointed to the nametag on my chest. �Hey, you�re �Geoff� with a �G�.�

I�d swiped a press badge from the PR table and written my name on it. �Yeah, my Jewish and Italian parents thought it would be classy to give their kids faux British names.�
�Heh. Well my academic parents thought it would be classy to name me after a literary character.�
�What �Brett� are you named after?�
�Lady Brett Ashley in The Sun Also Rises.�
�Hemingway, cool. Can I call you Lady Brett?�

She laughed again. I could get used to that. I picked up my beer and took a swig. Maybe I could impress her with my over 21-ness. Not that she was going to get carded at her own show.
�Hey, I really like the new album!�
�Thanks.�
I took another drink of beer. I was thinking about all the inspiration her music gave me. Well, me and like a million other fans. I�m sure she�s heard fanboys praising her a thousand times before. I shouldn�t say anything.

"You know what�s cool?� I blurted anyway. �Wait, never mind. I don�t want to make you overly self-aware when you�re writing songs��
�No, go ahead.�
�Well, you sing about being a tough-as-nails girl with a hidden vulnerable side if you listen close.� I finished off my beer. �And at the same time you actually are a tough-as-nails girl with a vulnerable side.�
The grin she gave me could have melted Antarctica.

�Hey, I�m going to be in town a few days. Do you want to like see a show or something?�
�Well, I�m kind of into dance at the moment. There�s a dance concert I want to see at this place in the Mission.�
�Sounds cool. Can I come with you?�
�Do you want to?� she said still smiling, but turning to leave.
�Hey, where you going?�
�I gotta play a show!�

Oh yeah. That�s why we were here, wasn�t it? I went to get another drink at the bar and thought about what had just happened. Had I just made a date with a rock star? It was kind of unclear.
It didn�t matter in the end anyway. I got a message from her a few days later saying she couldn�t make it. The band had to fly to Los Angeles that day to shoot a scene for a film (Jawbreaker � go rent it). My date-or-not was not to be. Ah well.

They went on through more albums, touring internationally, and the fame of being on MTV. I went on to interviewing more rock stars (Exene Cervenka of X, Jonathan Richman of the Modern Lovers, Mo Tucker of the Velvet Underground, etc.), talking to Brett at shows, and rocking out to Donnas albums.

I hadn�t seen the band in over a year before the spring concert. But when Curtis and I were standing in the hall during the first band, Lady Brett walked by. When she saw me, her jaw dropped in surprise and she did a double-take.
�Oh my God,� she said in shock. �I didn�t think I�d see anyone I knew in Providence! What are you doing here?�
�Well, I�m going to Brown.�

�Like grad school?�
�No, I�ve gone back to undergrad. Harvard didn�t work out so well for me a decade ago. Now I�m doing it right.�
�Wow. Really?�
�Yeah, really. College is wasted on the young. Like 1% of the undergrads here are older. You should try it someday.�
�Well, maybe someday. I�m doing the band thing now.�

I nodded. I guess I wouldn�t give that up for school either, �Hey this is Curtis.�
They nodded at each other.
�He was just telling me about how the members of A Tribe Called Quest only ended up with like $10,000 each after all was said and done for Low End Theory.�
�Heh. And I bet even that was from t-shirt and merch sales. At least they got to ride on a fancy tour bus.�

�How�s it working out with your new label?� The Donnas had signed to a major the previous year, making their new album a �major-label debut�, for whatever that�s worth. Although I guess I was in fact fishing for just how much it was actually worth.
�Well, it�s too early to tell financially. But they�ve treated us real well on tour. At least they didn�t lose our instruments.�

�How do you mean?�
�A few years ago with our old indie label, we got flown to New York to do a show. But when we got there, the guitars hadn�t come! We were so pissed��
I laughed. �Man, I�m sorry.�
�Hey, I have to get ready for the set. See you inside!�

Their show was awesome, of course. Over their last few albums, they�d dropped that initial Ramones influence (perhaps brought in by the garage-rock band member who had ghost-written the songs on their first album) for a heavier rock drive. Still fast and furious, but also dangerous-sounding now.

Listening to their playing made me want to get in a fight (or a �Rumble�, as Link Wray would have it). It made me want to fuck (and let�s not forget that the origin of the term �rock�n�roll� was African-American slang for sex, specifically for the old in-out). It made me want to scream in rage and joy. It made me feel� Well, feel. Feel! More real than anything ever. That�s rock�n�roll.

The best moment of the show was when they dedicated a song to me. To �an old friend�. I�m sure the song (�Midnight Snack�) was a planned part of their set list that they were going to do anyway, but still. I was so proud. That made my month, actually probably my year.

After that, I felt like staying for the Joan Jett set would invariably be a come-down for me. I turned to go.
�You don�t want to stick around?� said Curtis.
�No, nothing will top the Donnas dedicating a song to me.�
�Yeah, you did hit it with that. I guess you�re still a rock�n�roll boy.�
I guess I was.

� 2007 Geoff Gladstone

If you�ve ever enjoyed my writing, please donate to the Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis and/or the Montel Williams MS Foundation.

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