I rolled up in a cab at 9:00 pm, it was a warm summer night, I had gotten off work late so I was going to meet up with some friends later, but I wanted to check out a couple of bands at the weekly punk show for a bit, the show was always at this run down bowling alley. They had local bands and touring bands, most of them on tiny labels if they even had a label. It drew a mixed crowd, from skinheads to skaters, ska kids and the straight edge group. Ages ranged from 16 yr olds to people older than me in their 40'S. I'm 28, I work as a photographer doing mostly product shots, but I freelance for magazines, newspapers, and do the occasional wedding or headshot for a friend.
I had a digital camera with me in my messenger bag, I like to get shots of the band or the crowd, most of it is just for fun, but you never know if there is a good shot a band might use on their website or for album art. I know most of the people there, the bartenders and I have a good relationship and they know I always promote their shows to the local media. The place is a dive, but it's fun for a concert, they have a stage set up on one end of the alley, there is a wide walkway behind where the plastic chairs are for each lane, this is where most of the crowd is, although some people sit in the chairs or on the lanes, but it's not very comfortable. A bar is located on the opposite side from the stage, that's where I hang out when not taking pictures, drinking beers and chatting with the staff.
I walked up to the door and Mike, the bouncer let me go in without a cover. The loud screaming of a lead singer filled the air drowning out even his own drummer and bass player. His voice was a little too screechy for me, but the music was decent. The stale smell of beer and sweat mixed with a healthy dose of cigarette smoke filled the air. I walked to the bar, Karen, one of my favorites who worked here was tending. Karen was in her fifties, she was married and had kids and had been working there since I was 16.
"Hey Brian, how's my favorite customer?" she asked me.
"I'm great Karen, how are the kids?" I answered.
She told me her youngest was going to be graduating High School next year so they were looking at colleges. She got me a bottle of beer and went off to serve some other people. The place was rather packed tonight, a lot of kids by the stage, the summers usually drew a lot of high school kids but there was a good mix of college kids and 20 something's. I sipped my beer as the band onstage finished up their set. I walked over to the side of the stage and said hello to a couple of the staff. The lead singer from the next band came over and we talked for a bit, I had done some photos of the band for their upcoming CD and he asked me to help design some t-shirts for them. I told him I'd work on it and I'd be taking some pictures tonight. He left to get ready to play and I found a place against the wall to sit and wait. I lit a smoke and scanned the crowd for friends, I noticed their were more college kids than usual, I wondered if it was due to the story that ran about this place in last weeks newspaper from the local university. I had a couple of pictures in it and it talked about how the club was a great place to see underground bands.
I finished my beer and walked back to Karen to get another. She mentioned that someone was looking my way. I casually turned around and noticed a very cute girl standing with some friends looking at me. She had short dark hair that curled at the tips; her skin was a creamy white, her lips full with a deep red lipstick accented by a ring in her lower right side of her bottom lip. Her outfit was amazing, a black t-shirt, red plaid skirt, black fishnet stockings, and some black leather boots. She wore black-rimmed glasses that hid great green eyes. She had a beer that I could tell was about empty. I noticed one of her friends was a guy who worked at the university paper that I knew. I bought 3 more beers and went over to the small group. Todd, the guy I knew was standing with his arm around another girl and the girl who had been checking me out. I said hello to them and offered them all a beer. Todd introduced me to his girlfriend Mia and her friend Jane. They all were happy to be bought a round and we chatted a bit about the show. Mia said it was her and Jane's first time here, they had heard about it from the article and it turns out they loved one of the bands that was playing later. I explained what I did and Jane told me she had loved the pictures from the article.
We chatted a bit, Jane asked me if she could bum a smoke so I gave her one and we walked by the bar to chat. It turned out she was a Russian and Education double major. She said she had some Russian family and grew up speaking it. She wanted to be a teacher someday, which I had had minored in college so we talked about that. We liked a lot of the same bands; Green Day was one of her favorites as well as mine. The second band was starting up so I asked if I could buy her another drink after they played since I had to take some pictures. She agreed and went off to find Mia and Todd. I went to the side of the stage and took pictures of both the band and the crowd. I got a couple of shots of Jane dancing, which I liked, she was very hot, her body was curvy, the way I like it. She had nice breasts, maybe 36c and a great round ass, which looked good in the skirt she was in.
They guys played around 20 songs in a half and hour and ended the show by flicking off the crowd and then mooning us. I got a good shot of that which I thought might be good for the t-shirt. Todd, Mia and Jane came up to me, Todd asked if I could make sure Jane got home ok since Mia wasn't feeling well. I told them I'd be happy to. Jane and I had another smoke and she asked to see my pictures. I let her flip through them.
"Oh wow, these are good," she said flipping through my shots, "Oh my god, I can't believe you took pictures of me, ewww I look stupid dancing like that."
"I thought you looked sexy." I replied, to that she blushed, and I asked, "You want another drink?"
She nodded yes and I got another round. We sipped and chatted for a bit then everything went black. The power had gone out, Jane grabbed my hand as the room stayed dark, some kids screamed, some laughed, I was used to the place blowing a fuse or two, I whispered in Jane's ear not too worry, this happened all the time. Karen took out a flashlight and told everyone to calm down; she'd go check the circuit board. A couple of moments later several other staff members had flashlights on.
"Listen up people!" yelled Karen who was emerging from a back room. "The power seems to be out, so I need everyone to leave quietly, I believe we are done for the night!"
People grumbled and swore but luckily no fights broke out, the staff guided everyone out through the darkness, Jane held my hand as we went out the door. The sky was clear and a soft breeze blew into our faces blowing away the smoky residue clinging to us from the alley. We milled in front of the place, I asked her what she wanted to do.
