Why Don't You Turn Me Loose - in 100% Cotton
The Lovely Mrs. G. and I survived Van Halen last night. Whoo-hoo – Rock on! Yeah! F'n A!
Actually, as far as concerts go, it was a pretty mellow crowd. Most people there were *old* (i.e. my age or so); there were very few teenagers present, although there were a lot of kids (age 8 – 15, maybe) with their parents/grandparents. (Side note: I wish my Dad had taken me to see Van Halen when I was 10, but there was no chance of that ever happening. None whatsoever.)
Anyway, the concert was great, the experience was worth it, and my ears are only ringing a little today. But there's one more thing I wanted to mention.
I've already bitched about the prices of the tickets. $150 for a floor seat? Well, it's a seller's market. What can you do? So I'll move on from that subject – slightly – and mention the concert t-shirts.
They were selling a retro-style VH shirt last night that was pretty cool. It was the old baseball style shirt – dark sleeves, VH logo in the middle – the type I lived in back in my teen years. I thought it'd be cool to pick one up and be instantly transported back in time 25 years.
Actually, as far as concerts go, it was a pretty mellow crowd. Most people there were *old* (i.e. my age or so); there were very few teenagers present, although there were a lot of kids (age 8 – 15, maybe) with their parents/grandparents. (Side note: I wish my Dad had taken me to see Van Halen when I was 10, but there was no chance of that ever happening. None whatsoever.)
Anyway, the concert was great, the experience was worth it, and my ears are only ringing a little today. But there's one more thing I wanted to mention.
I've already bitched about the prices of the tickets. $150 for a floor seat? Well, it's a seller's market. What can you do? So I'll move on from that subject – slightly – and mention the concert t-shirts.
They were selling a retro-style VH shirt last night that was pretty cool. It was the old baseball style shirt – dark sleeves, VH logo in the middle – the type I lived in back in my teen years. I thought it'd be cool to pick one up and be instantly transported back in time 25 years.
So what's the problem?
I'll tell ya what the problem was.
They were $50.
Look, I'm not a total cheapskate – ask the Lovely Mrs. G; she'll vouch for that. But I just couldn't see dropping 50 bucks on a concert shirt, just to say I did. Oh, sure – I've got Disney shirts that ran me close to that price, but 50 clams for a concert T of questionable quality just seemed like too much, man.
Who knows – maybe I am a tightwad at heart.
It wasn't always that way, though –back in the Ancient 80's I used to own a stack of concert shirts. It was a ritual to pick one up at every show, and then wear it to school the next day, just to prove where you'd been. It was more like an unwritten rule – you go to the show, and then you show off the evidence the next morning in class. Then you'd nod at other dudes in the hallway wearing the same shirt and sleepy smile – yeah, man – I was there, too.
My favorite concert Ts from 1982-83 were my Journey Escape shirt (mainly because a girl I liked seemed to fawn over it) and my Def Leppard Pyromania shirt (for the same reason, only a different girl). I also had an AC/DC shirt, a Cars shirt, a Hall & Oates shirt, and a Neil Diamond shirt – but we don't like to talk about that last one. (I may have had a wide variety of musical tastes, but it's kind of embarrassing to mention now.)
But by far my favorite concert T was from the Loverboy show in 1983.
It was the baseball jersey style, with hot pink sleeves and a white front. Loverboy's hit album at the time was called "Keep it Up". On the front of the shirt it had the band, complete with those stylish headbands of theirs. Hey, it WAS the 80's.
And printed across the back of my favorite concert T, in large, hot pink lettering that matched the sleeves, was the following phrase: "LOVERBOY. Get It Up, Keep It Up."
I loved that shirt.
But my dear, sweet, God-fearing Mother? She HATED it.
Mrs. Gressel the Maternal hated my Loverboy shirt with a passion, mainly because of the semi-filthy double-entendre expression printed across the back. She nagged, whined, and guilt-tripped me every time I wore it about how disgusting it was. She'd point it out at every opportunity, and twice as often when it was in the laundry and she had to actually touch it. (I'm surprised it was never "lost" in the wash, to be honest.)
She'd even go as far as to make "THE FACE" – you know, the look all teenagers see from their parents from time to time. The Face that's a half-scowl, half pursed lips. The Face that says "I am not amused, and you shouldn't be, either." The Face that leaves smart-ass teenaged boys with two options: Either give in to her parental cajoling, or totally ignore it, driving her even crazier.
I chose the latter.
Yes, I proudly wore my Loverboy: Get It Up, Keep It Up shirt all throughout my senior year and into college. I wore it at every opportunity, where it was especially popular at church socials, family gatherings, and other public events. I wore it until the hot pink sleeves had faded away and there were holes the size of Mike Reno's leather-clad butt in it.
Finally, the sad day came – my Loverboy shirt ended up in the rag box. It was unceremoniously cut into strips, and ended up cleaning various messes around the house.
I remember finding the once-hot pink sleeves in the rag box one day, but for some odd reason I never did find the part with the "Get It Up, Keep It Up" writing on it. I suspect that to this day it's still buried somewhere in the backyard.
So I didn't get a Van Halen shirt last night, and my youth in concert Ts is forever preserved in my happy memories. Nowadays I have to wear polos and collared shirts more often than not, but that's okay, though – it was fun while it lasted.
But if I could somewhere find another hot pink Loverboy shirt, you just know I'd buy it. And then I'd go see my Mom.
(Follow-up: After writing this, I found one on eBay. Too bad it's only a small, but at least you'll get to see what I'm talking about. Hey, the kid is hot tonight!)
Look, I'm not a total cheapskate – ask the Lovely Mrs. G; she'll vouch for that. But I just couldn't see dropping 50 bucks on a concert shirt, just to say I did. Oh, sure – I've got Disney shirts that ran me close to that price, but 50 clams for a concert T of questionable quality just seemed like too much, man.
Who knows – maybe I am a tightwad at heart.
It wasn't always that way, though –back in the Ancient 80's I used to own a stack of concert shirts. It was a ritual to pick one up at every show, and then wear it to school the next day, just to prove where you'd been. It was more like an unwritten rule – you go to the show, and then you show off the evidence the next morning in class. Then you'd nod at other dudes in the hallway wearing the same shirt and sleepy smile – yeah, man – I was there, too.
My favorite concert Ts from 1982-83 were my Journey Escape shirt (mainly because a girl I liked seemed to fawn over it) and my Def Leppard Pyromania shirt (for the same reason, only a different girl). I also had an AC/DC shirt, a Cars shirt, a Hall & Oates shirt, and a Neil Diamond shirt – but we don't like to talk about that last one. (I may have had a wide variety of musical tastes, but it's kind of embarrassing to mention now.)
But by far my favorite concert T was from the Loverboy show in 1983.
It was the baseball jersey style, with hot pink sleeves and a white front. Loverboy's hit album at the time was called "Keep it Up". On the front of the shirt it had the band, complete with those stylish headbands of theirs. Hey, it WAS the 80's.
And printed across the back of my favorite concert T, in large, hot pink lettering that matched the sleeves, was the following phrase: "LOVERBOY. Get It Up, Keep It Up."
I loved that shirt.
But my dear, sweet, God-fearing Mother? She HATED it.
Mrs. Gressel the Maternal hated my Loverboy shirt with a passion, mainly because of the semi-filthy double-entendre expression printed across the back. She nagged, whined, and guilt-tripped me every time I wore it about how disgusting it was. She'd point it out at every opportunity, and twice as often when it was in the laundry and she had to actually touch it. (I'm surprised it was never "lost" in the wash, to be honest.)
She'd even go as far as to make "THE FACE" – you know, the look all teenagers see from their parents from time to time. The Face that's a half-scowl, half pursed lips. The Face that says "I am not amused, and you shouldn't be, either." The Face that leaves smart-ass teenaged boys with two options: Either give in to her parental cajoling, or totally ignore it, driving her even crazier.
I chose the latter.
Yes, I proudly wore my Loverboy: Get It Up, Keep It Up shirt all throughout my senior year and into college. I wore it at every opportunity, where it was especially popular at church socials, family gatherings, and other public events. I wore it until the hot pink sleeves had faded away and there were holes the size of Mike Reno's leather-clad butt in it.
Finally, the sad day came – my Loverboy shirt ended up in the rag box. It was unceremoniously cut into strips, and ended up cleaning various messes around the house.
I remember finding the once-hot pink sleeves in the rag box one day, but for some odd reason I never did find the part with the "Get It Up, Keep It Up" writing on it. I suspect that to this day it's still buried somewhere in the backyard.
So I didn't get a Van Halen shirt last night, and my youth in concert Ts is forever preserved in my happy memories. Nowadays I have to wear polos and collared shirts more often than not, but that's okay, though – it was fun while it lasted.
But if I could somewhere find another hot pink Loverboy shirt, you just know I'd buy it. And then I'd go see my Mom.
(Follow-up: After writing this, I found one on eBay. Too bad it's only a small, but at least you'll get to see what I'm talking about. Hey, the kid is hot tonight!)
posted by Tommy G at
5:50 PM
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