Actually, another great concert I missed (but not to the regret level of the Beatles): Woodstock. A girlfriend invited me to accompany her to Woodstock. Considering that we were both barely 15 at the time and it was six hours away from us without the traffic jam that we didn't know would ensue (and ignoring the fact that neither one of us actually had, you know, a driver's license yet), my parents' not unreasonable response upon my request to go was simply to laugh. I have to admit I shrugged it off at the time. But my girlfriend went -- she had the coolest parents, they actually trusted her -- and had a wonderful time. I stumbled across her on an internet bulletin board a few years ago and caught up; she's now a Really Cool Mom herself. Ah, good times.

I love the Waterboys. For some reason, I was under the impression that they were the kind of band that wouldn't come across well in concert. I was so pleased to be 100% wrong. They are fantastic.

Another really fun concert was REM promoting their second album (and yes, I had the album, not the CD). Stipe was at his bizarre best - singing one song staring into a huge blue light at the back of the stage and completely ignoring the band and the audience. For the encore, he came out by himself, stood on a chair in the middle of the stage and sang "Blue Moon."

Wow, this thread always brings back really good memories for me.

First concert: Luther Vandross at Radio City Music Hall. I was about thirteen, had only vaguely heard of Luther and really went with my best friend to see DeBarge.

Best concert: Its a tie. Prince at Irving Plaza in NYC and Chaka Khan at Tramps. Both are kind of small venues, really intimate. That sort of show allways works for me as opposed to 50,000 of my closest friends at a stadium

Concert I wanted to see: When I was a kid, any of the Budwiser Superfests. As an adult, I wish I could have seen Stevie Wonder in concert back in the day. I am a Stevie Wonder fool.

Hildy, don't feel bad about the John Denver thing. One of my friends gave me a best of John Denver tape the first summer I went to sleepaway camp. JD and I spent many a night together. To this day whenever I'm out in the woods I start humming "Country roads, take me home..."

Oh wow, that reminds me of a concert I went to when I was about 13, rlb8031, that started with Vanilla Fudge (okay, they were a one-hit wonder, but their hit hadn't been heard in Seattle apparently so they were quite defensive onstage about being ignored, it was very funny), followed by the Young Rascals, and ending up with Little Stevie Wonder. Talk about a mixed bag of a show.

Papa Tiger's favorite concert was seeing Jefferson Airplane at the Filmore. I only got to the Filmore East in New York, which was a pretty amazing venue, to see that ultimate hippie band, the Incredible String Band.

And in the have you ever heard of them vein, recently an online friend elsewhere mentioned being a friend of the couple who sang as Hedge and Donna for a few years early in the 70s. Their stuff has never made it to CD; I'm hoping she'll remember to send me a tape one of these days since she still has their albums. I saved them for years, but they vanished in one of my many moves. Anybody else here ever heard of them? Donna had the most beautiful voice!

Ohmigod. We saw Great Big Sea in Toronto right when they came back from touring the US in 1995 ("back on home ice"). We were given tickets and had never heard of them. They come out on stage, the entire venue stands up and sings every word to every song for the rest of the concert. My date and I sat there and just kinda stared blankly, and watched the videocast since we couldn't see the stage. But afterwards, we went out and bought three of their CDs just so we could actually hear the music. And so fans are born.

miri, my Dad says one day, "We're going to see the Os-muffle muffle." Woo hoo, going to see the Osmonds? Wow! No, we went to see the Osbourne Brothers, who are a (now ancient) bluegrass/old time group. Technically, I think that was my first concert.

That's kind of how I was introduced to Great Big Sea -- we went to see the Chieftains performing at Wolf Trap outside of DC, and their opening act was this group we'd never heard of. Except they came out onstage and totally charmed this audience of mostly stodgy older folks. There were a few GBSers in the audience singing every word, but not like at the NOLA show this past year. And I of course went out and bought every album of theirs available in the States (I have since gotten my grubby hands on every album they put out, to the extent of ordering them from Canada before they're released here if I have to) and have also learned every word to every song, even Merrimac (which did take some practice!). Who, me, obsessive?

I saw Great Big Sea and Blue Rodeo outdoors at Fort York. I already had one of their CD's though. What a fantastic show they put on! I grew up with that kind of music on Prince Edward Island and it is a usual thing for the audience to know all the words and sing along, especially to the traditional songs.

Oh, Blue Rodeo! I really like them and have a CD. They used to get radio airplay when I was growing up in Detroit. Once I moved south and then east, no one I met had ever heard of them.

My first concert was Night Ranger at the Ohio State Fair. My first concert that was not a freebie, was Def Leppard. My biggest concert regret was having missed Duran Duran and U2 in the '80s.

The best concert is a tough one for me. Last year I saw Radiohead in London and that was pretty great. devajd, I'm jealous you actually got to meet them!

Hehe - I had a cute drunken chat with Colin as he was getting on the bus. He had been drinking Canadian beer and seemed quite proud of the fact.

I only got to have a little mimed conversation with Thom Yorke through the window of the bus because some asshole fan made a big deal out of the bus driver trying to do me a favour. He was going to take my CD for Thom to sign (the only one who hadn't yet) and the little prick whined that if I got one signed then he should too. I still wish I could track him down and kick his ass.

What was your first concert?
Jackson Victory Tour at the Meadowlands. I think my mother paid $7M for those floor seats and then I got tired in the middle and sat on the ground. I was way too young for that experience.

I won tickets on the radio when I was 10 or 11. I remember having a choice between Fleetwood Mac, Heart, and Eddie Murphy. I chose Fleetwood Mac because they had a song out then that I liked. Again, my mother was reallllly pissed. Truth is, I was scared to choose Eddie Murphy because the DJs made a comment about me being too young. She took me and it lead to me learning about recreational drugs so it was educational too!

Me: Mommy, what’s that smell? It smells like hamsters.
My mother: That’s weed, baby. Marijuana.
Me: Oh.

No "Just Say No" or anything. That was the whole talk.

What was the best concert you ever saw?
Most of the stuff I’ve seen has not been all that great, but I enjoyed Maxwell more than I thought I would and I screamed like a fool at the New Edition, Bobby Brown, and (the non-showing) Al B. Sure show. But, I was 13. And, as has already been mentioned, should have been locked in a closet.

What artist, dead or alive, do you most regret not seeing?
Rick James. Prince. And I want to see one of those people that are known for their performances, not necessarily their singing, so I can see what all the hype is about – like Janet Jackson.


Every time I hear this, I think of Danny Romalati. One year on the Y&R, they must have mentioned “JAHATD” about 70,000 times.

First concert: The Texas Playboys (sans Bob Wills, who had been dead for several years -- I'm not sure how many because I can't remember exactly when this concert was). I think I was in sixth grade, maybe, and my dad took me. We drove 4.5 hours and spent the night. On the way back, he got mad at me because I made him drink his coffee before starting the car.

Best concert: I'm not really sure. In about 1982 or 1983, our youth group went to see Petra for free (Maybe the "More Power To Ya" tour), and that was great. I was in junior high, there was a really cute boy sitting (standing) next to me, the concert was free, and we had great seats. On the other hand, I went with my husband to see the Tannahill Weavers at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville several years ago, and that was a fun concert also. Our seats were not as good, but I good see everything, I wasn't crowded, and I didn't lose my hearing. My only regret is that it was on a Sunday, so we couldn't go to a pub after the concert and see the band (blue laws) the way my husband and a friend did when they went to see the Weavers in Springfield, Mo.

Concert I most regret missing that I actually had a chance to attend: Probably the Statler Brothers. They came to the town where I was working in 1990 for some group's fund-raiser. As the entertainment reporter, I got to interview one of them over the phone, but no free tickets were offered by the organizers (I still hate them for this). I could have bought some, but I was broke (first job out of college) and didn't have any friends there and didn't want to go alone. I was depressed a lot then, too, and really didn't do anything but go to work and go home.

Concerts I would like to have seen or see someday: I would have loved to have seen Simon and Garfunkel's Concert in Central Park. I have it on videotape, but that's just not the same, is it? I'd also like to see Billy Joel, but not in a stadium tour. I want to see him in a small club where I can actually see his fingers hitting the keys. Like that's ever going to happen. I'm not so big on concerts anymore. Too many people and too loud. I think I'm old.

Suga, can I copy you (again)? Skid Row, 1989 or 90. First hard rock concert, escorted by SkaDad as my friends were into Bell Biv Devoe, New Edition & the greater East Coast Family.

Me: Daddy, what’s that smell? It smells like bad gas.
My mother: That’s bad grass, dear. Marijuana.
Me: Oh.

And no lecture either! Those crazy folks.
EDIT: that was 90 or 91, because Soundgarden opened for Skid Row.

Suga, while I never saw New Edition during the time that all my friends were swooning over them, I did go to the reunion tour two summers ago. There is nothing like a bunch of thirty-something women reliving their youth by screaming and yelling like teenagers at an aging boy-band. Hill-ar-eee-ous!!!

First Concert was The Police Synchronicity Tour.

Best Concert was Peter Gabriel - it'd be tough to say which particular concert was the best. I've seen his 'So,' 'Us,' and 'Up' tours, and each one was amazing and far, far better than any other concerts I've ever seen.

I did a similar thing for the "Up" tour. I saw him in the Meadowlands (North Jersey, about 2 1/2 hrs. away from me) one night and in Philly the next. I was tempted to drive down to D.C. to see him on the 3rd. night. I didn't do it, but I actually did get to see him a 3rd time when he returned to Philly several months later.

Biggest regret is the Who. I had a couple of opportunities, but it never worked out. I suppose I could see the remaining two of them someday, but it's not quite the same, and I'm not sure I want to see that. REM is nearly the same story. I used to love them, but I'm not nearly as into them now. I would have killed to see them then, but may not bother seeing them now even if I do have the chance.

Luckily, I have few musical skeletons in my closet. Most of the groups I liked when I was young, I still like - like The Who and The Police. There was a very, VERY brief Ozzy Osbourne phase and a slightly longer Van Halen phase when I was (you guessed it) 13. But that's the worst of it, no NKOTB or Osmonds or anything like that, like some other people. [Cough] [cough].

Check your videotape for one of my obscure-brush-with-celebrity moments: The synthesizer player for that concert? A guy I went to high school with. Who once asked if he could "deflower" me. I laughed so hard he was never nice to me again. :-( (Till we got back in touch this past year thanks to a high school friend who's linking everyone up; I didn't bring it up, and he didn't mention it, either!)

1. What was your first concert? (No lying, you Milli Vanilli goers)

Probably seeing Tim Noah at the Mountlake Terrace Rec Center. IIRC I was five. Say what you will, the Wow Wow Wibble Woggle Wazzie Woodle Woo is still a good song.

2. What was the best concert you ever saw?

A tie, I think, between: the Moody Blues at the Gorge Amphitheater (good concert, exceptionally lousy company); the Oregon Symphony and Burt Bacharach playing at my college (would you believe I sneaked in to a Burt Bacharach concert?); and a Seattle Symphony/Canadian Brass Christmas concert.

3. What artist, dead or alive, do you most regret not seeing?

None, really. I missed a Mark Knopfler (the Dire Straits guy) concert because I was in California seeing my brother graduate from college, but it's not like I had tickets or anything -- the graduation date was announced long before the college date. I'd've liked to see it, but it's not an agonizing miss like Mama Tiger and the Beatles.

Speaking of Mama Tiger, she said ...



Hmm. Not exactly the same, but just to further destroy any musical credibility I might have, I've seen Mamma Mia! three times. In Toronto. And I live on the other side of the continent.

I've seen Mamma Mia in Toronto 3 times too. But I live here and was taking visitors from out of town. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

Veering off-topic for a second, I haven't posted a "Dumbass Phone Call" in a while so here's today's entry:


Me: (name of law firm) Good afternoon.

Moron: Yes, what is the notary's name?

Me: Which lawyer are you talking about?

Moron: I don't know his name.

Me: Well, what is it regarding?

Moron: I was there this morning and he gave me his card but I don't remember his name!

Me: What does it say on the card?

Moron: Simon (last name).

Me: Then his name is Simon (last name).

Moron: Oh. Thanks! <click>

Me: <head explodes>

Seriously, how do these people find me??

I saw Donny in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in Chicago. My mom and I were in town to see it, and spent the day at the Art Institute. We tend to lose track of time in art museums so we didn't have a lot of time to catch dinner if we wanted to get back to the hotel and change before the show. We ended up at the Bennigans across the street from the Art Institute, and as we were sitting in our booth discussing the upcoming show, a short little man from the table next to us got up to leave. He turned to us and said, "I hope you enjoy the show tonight." It was Donny Osmond. And I just remember that he was very short. My mom was swooning. I was about 15 and couldn't figure out why she was swooning over this short little man.

Damn, Donny in Joseph makes me start singing the melody they put together for the radio commercial in Chicago (the run kept getting extended...) Jacob! Jacob & Sons!....I'm going to be a starrrrr!. Oh joy, that's in my head now. Those may not even be the lyrics but that's how I know them. Every morning for like two years. Damn you Osmond!!!

Rachel, I feel you. I work tech support. I get stupid callers all the time.

Still, that one was pretty classic.

Concert: My first concert was the Power Station. I distinctly remember people telling me to move my hair out of their way. Heh. I was 13.

Concert I most regret missing:
Tie. Duran Duran on the Seven tour, a year and a half before tPS tour. It snowed six inches in less than six hours and my family wouldn't let me go. They actually showed the snow on the highway in the tour documentary. It was a mess.
Second half of the tie: Rush on the Test for Echo tour. They were playing literally down the street from where I worked. Sadly, I was eight months pregnant and decided that I didn't want my water breaking during Subdivisions. (Three weeks later, and it would have been an entirely different story.) "Sure, I can catch them later on their next tour." Then Neil Peart's family tragedies hit and they vanished for five years. I thought I'd lost my last chance to see them live, and they put on a hell of a show. I was so relieved to catch them two years ago on the Vapor Trails tour.

Best concert: You want me to choose? Argh. Um. Five way tie: Pink Floyd, Delicate Sound of Thunder tour, Rush Vapor Trails tour, David Bowie Glass Spider tour, Prince Emancipation tour, The Who The Kids are Alright tour. Honorable Mention to Blue Oyster Cult in a tiny club in the mountains of North Carolina.

Worst concert: Metallica in a San Jose parking lot. Not that the music was bad, but good lord. Get permits before you block major highways, folks.

Dear God...that is one stupid person. Like mind-blowingly stupid indeed. The funny thing is that me probably got the phone number off of the card.

As for the concert Questions

1) First Concert- Neil Diamond, sometimes in the 80's at Maple Leaf Gardens

Don't Laugh!!! It was a great concert.

2) Best Concert In 1990-91 Red Hot Chili Peppers were playing in Toronto at the concert hall for their Blood Sugar Sex Magic tour. Opening was a little known band called Smashing Pumpkins who had just released Gish. So we go to the show and this band takes the stage and blows everybody away. However my friends and I are all thinking "who the hell is this, because it's not the Pumpkins, and there was no one else on the bill. The guys next to us in the mosh pit turns to us and says " It's some band named Pearl Jam I think" Ten was just about to be released.

That concert blew me away. Mostly because I just didn't expect to two opening bands to be so good. I was exhausted before the chili peppers came on. There was so much sweat and heat in that building that clouds had formed on the ceiling, and a few people were in their underwear.

3) Concert I wish I'd seen I'm still pissed that I never got to see the Grateful Dead. I was living in California the summer Garcia died, so the closest I came was the memorial service for him.

Zron I too was at the Barenaked Ladies concert at Massey Hall in 1996 and your right it was an amazing concert. I got free tickets because I was living with Kevin Hearns brother at the time. The weird thing was that my father also went because Kevin's sister worked for him and gave him tickets. We didn't even realize the connection till the day of the show.

Count me in as one whose first concert was the Osmond Brothers! I must have been 10 or so, and I remember the venue being some kind of racetrack or something (Chicago area, mid-70's). The Osmonds had this whole karate segment, breaking boards and stuff. I was sooooo smitten with Donny! When I moved to my current city in CA, I was excited to learn that Donny used to live here.

Best concert has to be Paul McCartney Flowers in the Dirt tour. It was so emotional for me finally to see him in person. I didn't really discover the Beatles until 1978 when a friend took me to see "Beatlemania" in 7th grade. I was blown away, and promptly raided my older siblings' record collections. Paul's last US tour had been in '76, and so by the time I saw him in '89, I had waited half my life for the chance.

Other awesome shows: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, No Quarter tour at the LA Forum; Heart last year at the Orange County Fair.

I'm not old enough to have seen the Beatles live, but that would be the ultimate for me. Still hoping to catch U2 at some point.

Oh Lord. Does that count as a concert? Please tell me that Beatlemania doesn't count as a concert. Cause I cannot have that being my first concert.

Hey, I saw Beatlemania, too. Of course, I also went to the Monkees reunion concert (when I was about 26 or 27). It also featured Herman's Hermits, and Gary Puckett and the Union Gap. This would have been in the mid-Eighties.

First concert I ever saw: Peter, Paul, and Mary at Meadowbrook Music Festival in Rochester, Michigan. In the mid-Seventies with my mother.

Best concert: Fleetwood Mac just after "Tusk" came out. It was a great show.

My first concert was The Fifth Dimension when I was in high school.

I swear I am really 24.

All of the girls in my 4th grade class went to see NKoTB, but my parents alone said I couldn't go. My father terrible about how - now embarrassingly - upset I was (I will contend I was upset about being left out of a group trip that plummeted me into outcast status, not actually missing the dreamy New Kids on the Block).

So much did my father regret his decision, he decided to "make it up" to me by surprising me with box VIP seats to see Backstreet Boys in college. While this baffled me (I had managed to mainly escape them on the radio and had no feelings about them one way or another), I went to the concert with a VERY excited friend and was (at the time and still embarrassingly) openly envied by girls on my dorm hall. Seriously. I almost gave away the tickets, but I have got to say my dad's office's box is very fun to go to, and short of Barney on Ice I would have tried most any concert there, given free tickets.

Best concert? BNL are awesome in concert every time I've been (3). I've only been to maybe 12 concerts in my life (not counting symphony and such), so that's a fair portion.

Mama Tiger, as a huge Beatles fan, my heart is weeping with the repressed 13-year-old you.

Off topic for a second? We just moved into a new building; I got a new office. My office has motion sensor lights that cannot be switched to manual. The light goes out every 30 seconds, even with me moving moderately. I have to wave my arms all over the place, and I am so glad no one can see me. I feel like a fool, and cannot stand this for more than one week. I will give them one week to fix this somehow. And then I'll... I don't know. Give them another week. But this has got to be messing with my mind or something

First Concert Rod Stewart, followed a few weeks later by Skid Row/Soundgarden. Lots of hair product between those two shows.

Best Concert All of my Smashing Pumpkins, Mighty Mighty Bosstones & Skatalites concerts have been stellar. I worked at club in DC & was out at other venues all the time so a number of small shows (early Donnas, Radiohead, Slackers, Modest Mouse, Dismemberment Plan, etc.) all blend together. However, Madonna's current tour was one of the best large venue shows ever. EVER. Amazing. Tina Turner in 1996 or so & Cher's final tour (snerk) both kicked ass.

Biggest Missed GnR, by no fault of my own. I sat in a minivan in traffic with my friend & her mom, waiting to get into the Rosemont Horizon, listening to the radio, to discover that Axl Rose was skipping the concert right after the St. Louis incident --- after hours of convincing my friend's mom NOT to wear a pink cardigan. Also, I got too f'ed up to remember most of the Madonna Drowned World tour which is essentially missing it. Oh, and still bitter that my parents wouldn't let me see Body Count (Ice-T's speed metal band) because the cops were protesting it...although last year when I met him my mom was all excited (Law & Order fan).

I used to work with a woman who had grown up in far-flung corners of the world; her dad was a project engineer. When she was a teenager, they spent a couple of years in the jungles of Thailand, and emerged for a vacation in Bangkok. One evening they went out for dinner, and when they returned to their hotel found barricades set up around it and they practically had to promise their firstborn to persuade the hotel staff that they were guests and allowed in.

Then they got in the elevator to go up, and there were these four guys with funny-looking long hair riding up with them.

Yup, the Beatles. She'd never heard of them. Hee! Can you imagine what all those screaming girls outside the hotel would have paid to trade places with her for those three minutes???

I'd post about my concert stories, but I don't really go to many concerts.

This story about a $hitty river tour of Chicago vaguely reminded me of the Mountain of Poo from last season. How gross. People are on an architectural tour of the Chicago River, and two tour buses drop the contents of their toilets onto the tour boat passengers. The link is from the Chicago Sun Times - the story in the Chicago Tribune (which I didn't link to because it requires registration) says that it was like a sheet of brownish-yellowish water. Then there was an observance that perhaps it was accidental. I don't think so.

TAR TWoPpers are widely travelled, so I'm wondering if anyone else can shed some light on this. About 20 years ago, my family travelled from Chicago to DC on Amtrak. I remember that there was a sign in the toilet saying to not flush the toilet while the train was in a station. When I flushed the toilet, I saw rails flying by through the open drain hole. I'm pretty sure that it is no longer done this way, but did trains in the past really deposit their toilet waste directly on the tracks? I've said this to others, and they all think I'm crazy. Does anyone else have any recollections of train travel?

Heh, I took that same boat tour on Saturday morning. Thank God, there was no poo though.

Don't worry, Zron, I don't think Beatlemania counts as a concert. I'm just glad that I went and got turned on to the real Fab Four.

True confessions from my life pre-Beatles-conversion: I saw the "Sgt. Pepper's" movie with Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees and liked their versions of the songs (ACK!). And, when I was really young and heard my siblings singing "Let It Be," I thought it was the most boring song imaginable. I was only 5 at the time and it just seemed so repetitive. Guess I had already passed that stage of development (tying back in to earlier themes in this thread).

And that story about the Chicago boat tour? Eeeeewwwwww, but I had to laugh that the spokeswoman's name was Osmond. I grew up in Chicago and remember many a Wendella Boat Tour on the river.... Good times!

Way to motivate the workers. Make 'em feel invisible.


An ex-BF of mine was at the St. Louis incident. I think his biggest regret is also the concert-that-might-have-been.

Best Concert: Caught David Bowie's Reality tour this year, and he wins a special prize for exceeding expectations. He's gotten over himself and allowed some of his back catalogue in, he has better control over his voice than he did in the 70's, and (it might have taken a bit of work, but) he's still hot.

ETA: And they opened with Hang On To Yourself, which is on every mix tape I ever made! Love!

Excuse me, Beatlemania is totally a concert.

Beatlemania-attender!

Can I interrupt this fun conversation with something totally depressing? (Note: This is not a political discussion, and I have no intentions of participating in one; I'm just reporting an observation from a very upset Papa Tiger. Who was in Vietnam in '69-'71, so you'd think he's seen it all.)

I was just talking to my hubby, who's now back at work at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in DC. He had lunch at the cafeteria today. He said, "You know how we keep hearing how land mines are becoming such a worldwide problem? I have never seen so many one-legged and one-armed soldiers in my life!"

What makes me maddest, though? In the cafeteria there was a table with a big sign, "Wheelchair use only." So who was sitting at the table? A whole pack of young, female, able-bodied hospital staffers. While guys with one or no legs sat at the table right next to them.

I think I would have gone off on them big time.

Then there was the other day when Papa Tiger was in the parking office, and a young Air Force security policeman was there on his second try to get a handicapped tag. The young woman kept telling him he hadn't crossed his T's and dotted his I's correctly, and he'd need to go redo his paperwork to "justify his handicap." So the poor kid finally pulled up his pants leg and showed her his artificial leg.

He got his pass.

But he shouldn't have had to publicly humiliate himself for that, you know?

Sorry, the whole thing just bummed me out. Although not as much as it's bumming Papa Tiger out! He has 26 friends up on the Wall, but this? Is also pretty damn hard to take.

That's not political. It's bureaucracy, which unfortunately crosses all political lines.

Well, and just rudeness and stupidity and thoughtlessness on the part of the women sitting in the cafeteria. It's actually way beyond that, but I can't think of any words to describe their behavior. It's worse than Mirna.

I can appreciate that folks who care for wounded soldiers get hardened to seeing some awful things. But the sheer rudeness of those young women was just astonishing. That, and the fact that nobody was hauling them out of there in a bloody pulp for having the balls to hog that seating area!

Mama Tiger-- Perfectly able-bodied jackholes using handicapped facilities is a HUGE issue of mine. I think anyone caught doing it should be immediately forced to forfeit the limb or sense of their choice. And smell doesn't count.

In other news:

First Concert: Def Leppard with opening act Europe.

"It's the final countdoooooooown!"

Best Concert: Guns 'N Roses with opening act Skid Row.

(Mmmmmm... Sebastian Bach before he got all old and bloated and nasty... Axel? Always looked like a garbage man, but boy could freaking SING.)

Most Annoyingly Missed Concert: U2 at Slane Castle in Ireland in 2001. I was over for a wedding, and a bunch of my friends went to the concert the day after the wedding, but they thought I had to do family stuff, so I didn't get a ticket. From what I heard? It was effing AMAZING.

whereverthefk, I don't think they should get a choice in the limb or sense they will forfeit. I think the taker should get to choose.

Do they have any sense to spare?

Certainly not a sense of shame.

I'd love the chance to forcibly remove their sense of entitlement.

Hee, one of my retirement jobs will be writing tickets for the f***wads who park in handicapped spots. Since I know the civilians who write these tickets get grief from the offenders I always tell them what a good job they are doing when I see them.

I have a friend whose mother made up little cards she sticks under the wiper of cars illegally parked in handicapped spots: "The handicap is mental, I presume."

Hee!

ETA that I have no problem with anyone with a legitimate handicap tag. It's the tagless -- or, in this case, young women with two good legs at a table marked "wheelchair use only"!! -- who piss me off. Heck, I've had a handicap tag off and on over the past few years from foot surgery and a lot of fairly long-term foot pain that severely restricted my walking for a while, but because I don't have a visible handicap, I'd always limp ostentatiously just so people wouldn't get upset with me. So I'm not about to critique anyone with a tag, no matter how able-bodied they may appear.

In defense of the non-handicapped with handicapped tags, my dad was going for dialysis for years and was given a handicapped tag to use at the hospital parking lot. Although he was elderly, he looked perfectly healthy and I'm sure that there were plenty of folks who wondered why he was parking in handicapped spots

Except I am talking about vehicles parked with no special plates and with no tag hanging on the mirror.

Yeah, go easy on the people who have the tags. I have a friend who is 23 and looks like a model but is stricken with severe early onset rheumatoid arthritis; it takes her a lot of drugs and willpower to even get to the car, and when she does, ‘good citizens’ give her grief.

No tag? They’re fair game

My best friend has a severely mentally and physically handicapped older brother. He is 32 years old and a big guy with little control of himself, therefore difficult to take places and move around. Their family relies heavily on handicapped parking spaces. When seeing cars without handicapped tags on them parked in handicapped spaces, her mom quietly walks over and lets the air out of the tires.

The funny thing is that this is the quietest, sweetest, just plain *precious* little woman, and you would never guess she has this devious side to her. And the best part is that it is a tiny little town and all the police know she does it. Conveniently, they always seem to be looking in the other direction when she does it. Heh.

ETA Funny handicapped parking spot story:

At the Stanford shopping center, which is a snooty place with expensive shops, I saw a brand new Ferrari in a handicapped spot. They DID have the tag hanging from the mirror, but I figured it was someone cheating. I nearly peed my pants laughing when I saw a very elderly couple, both about 4 feet tall and stooped over with walkers, come out of Nordstrom's and get into that car. Lets just say there isn't a lot of room for two walkers in the 'trunk' of a Ferrari.

I have to say, I don't advocate letting the air out of people's tires. I mean, I agree that it's shitty, but so are lots of other things, and you don't vandalize other people's property because they do things you disapprove of. My mother has sometimes had to transport my grandfather in her car, and they try to remember to take his tag, but I can only imagine if they forgot and someone let the air out of my mother's tires -- hanging her up, along with my grandfather, without a way to get home to his medical equipment and his meds. To me, the million-to-one shot of doing that means that while I may silently curse people who park in handicapped spaces, I don't take it upon myself to do anything to them. It's no different from any other law -- if you're mad, call a cop. You don't follow a dangerous driver until he parks and then key his car, and I don't think you do anything to or around the car of a person in this situation, either.

I don't know. I don't think piling being a jerk on top of somebody else being a jerk helps the situation.

I agree. I also think it's nobody's business when someone who looks physically fit has handicapped plates and parks in a handicapped spot. They could have some kind of heart problem or something not obvious, that explains why they need the handicapped tag. If it's just a kid borrowing Grandma's car, yeah, that's pretty poor of the kid. But I don't think anyone should have to explain themselves.

I seem to recall one of the local news stations doing some expose on healthy people parking in handicapped spots, and I was embarrassed for the reporter when I watched her running after somebody and shouting questions at them. Surely they had better things to do with that money. They could have just called the police to get better enforcement.

Letting air out of someone's tires is not really cool. What happens if they don't notice, attempt to drive, and get into some kind of accident? If someone got hurt because of something I did just to teach them a lesson, I'd feel horrible.

Not to mention the fact that a car without air in the tires is going to be blocking that handicap spot for another hour, waiting for AAA (or the like) to respond.