Fun-Haters Beware!

One has to wonder in this day and age what with the availability of camera phones and public blogs why anyone would act openly like an a$$hole in public. Who could forget the drunk and passed out girl at the Cubs game with mysterious liquid on her pants? Incidentally, that photo is my most frequently-viewed photo on Flickr – over 3000 views.

Anyway, I realized last night I take certain things for granted. When I first moved to Indy 12 years ago, most of my close girlfriends with the exception of a couple did not live here and those couple have since moved away. They aren’t in the South Pole or anything (tri-state area for the most part) but still not a 15 minute driven away. So I had to really work to make new friends who would be my local friends. And fortunately through jobs, acquaintances and neighborhoods, I have a wonderful circle of local friends. In the last couple of years, I’ve in particular grown to adore the folks I’ve met on the near south-side whether it’s my granola girls down the street, the loud single girl with the big white dogs who bark all the time (wait that’s me…), my great neighbors like Matt and Kristin and Brad and Callie, heck even snarky Mary Favors (aka Edith) keeps the neighborhood in line. Also south of the DMZ with me is Sweaty B and his lovely wife Jen, Brigitte and Brian, Drew in Irvington,  and my other diverse Garfield Park neighbors. All these people come from different backgrounds, jobs etc. but there is a common thread – all salt-of-the-earth people lacking pretention. And until last night I just kind of took that for granted.

Last evening Drew and I attended the Kathleen Edwards concert at the Music Mill. Kathleen Edwards is a charming Canadian singer-songwriter. The crowd was small but diverse – hippies, older folks, younger folks and everything in between. Most everyone seemed pretty laid back, just having a few beers and listening to the musical styling of Kathleen Edwards. She’s kind of a folky-rock mix but don’t get the impression it’s a lone quiet person sitting on a stage with an acoustic guitar. Along with her powerful voice and guitar, she’s got a drummer, 3 other guitarists and a keyboardist so they rock and do it loud and right.  Drew and I positioned ourselves in the back, close to the bar of course and had a great view of the stage (the Music Mill is actually a really great venue – I’m not sure there is a bad seat in the house). We were in a pretty high-traffic area being that we were by the bar. The concert gets going and it’s really good. Drew and I are commenting back and forth to one another about various things – people at the show, what the band member’s stories might be, and how Kathleen Edwards clearly loves what she does and how great that makes her to watch – those kinds of things. We weren’t hotly debating politics or anything like that.  We were standing there taking in the good beer, good conversation and good music when a women approaches us. I’m thinking she’s headed for the bar or a garbage can. And she’s sticking out like a sore thumb. She’s wearing high heels, all winter white – a cable-knit high-necked sweater, winter-white pants the exact same color and she’s carrying a Louis Vuitton purse. Now I’m not one to judge a book by the cover but she’s standing out in the crowd because she’s dressed like an uptight Carmel housewife out for the symphony.  Instead of passing us by to go the bar she stops, leans in (because it’s that loud) and says to Drew and I “Can you please move someplace else? I can’t hear the music because you are talking.”  She stands there for a minute I guess waiting for us to move or respond, and when dumbfounded Drew and I do neither, she goes back to her spot which is about 15 feet in front of us.  She can’t hear the music???? Bull$hit. Normally Drew and I are not the types to let someone like this get away with the last word but we were literally in shock and therefore unable to even speak. Even after she was gone we didn’t say anything until 15 seconds later. Then we both scratched our heads in bewilderment, laughed, made fun of her and of course did not move an inch. Now if I were at a movie, or at the symphony, or the ballet, or at a concert where the venue was small and there was no sound system or it was all acoustic, I would understand her complaint but then again I would not have been chatting in any of those environments to begin with. But we are in a LOUD concert venue. A LOUD bar. A bar! Standing where there is a constant stream of people passing through, getting drinks and talking. So forgive me for being just a little offended that apparently we aren’t supposed to be talking. The night proceeds on and I go back to get a couple more beers and when my super-nice bartender comes back with the beers she says “So are you being quiet enough?” And then laughs hysterically and tells the other bartender the story. She had taken in the whole ridiculous scene. So I guess the lesson here is just because I live in a great neighborhood with cool friends I can’t forget about all the 30,000 millionaires living up in Carmel and coming out to venues to ruin the fun for us hooligans. And when the lights went on after the show? I quickly snapped a few photos of Winter White Fun-Hater Carmel Lady so I could post them on Flickr and tell the story here because that’s just how I am J