Cool Cherry Cream

The Rebellious Coat Check Groupies and Kim Mitchell

So Jada calls me up, 'round 9:30 and says "hey, wanna go to the Kim Mitchell concert?" and I say "sure".

But this was not just any old quest to see any old concert, oh no! This concert was occurring at our very own school! Not only that, but some janitors were overheard discussing the concert earlier today and the fact that "all the doors would be open". Not only that, but this concert is nineteen plus, and wee little Jenny here is only eighteen. Those factors, combined with jaywalking and it being far past our bedtime combined to make the quest to this concert the most law-breaking-est yet!

Except for the fact that our janitorial friends are not as trustworthy as they seem. The many doors that we attempted to open were, indeed, locked. It seemed our mission had been impossible, so we gave up and decided to pay the thirty dollars, but if anyone asks, we snuck in, okay?

The matter of the under-aged-ness, you ask? Well, we paid the ticket, got a cute little blue star stamped on our hands, and went merrily on our way, down to the lower gym without a mention of ID. Sweet.

"I am a wild party!" the crowd chants. And down we wander, only a few metres away from Kim Mitchell and the roadies who earlier had broken our basketball net.

The actual concert was good, LOUD (seriously, my lungs were vibrating and my brain at one point did this whooosh twirling thing… and this had nothing at all to do with any noxious fumes that might have been floating around our humble learning environment). I can't much describe the concert, like any concert. I mean, it's a concert, for chrissake! Some old dudes, up on stage, singing some old songs! That's what a concert is, right?

I knew a lot more of the songs than I did at the Rock 'N Roll Picnic last summer. I'm quite fond of "Paradise Skies" (or "Pair a' Nice Guys") and "Go For Soda", as well as "A Million Vacations", which I did not hear them play, so I assume they opened with it. The "Patio Lanterns" and "Rock 'N Roll Duty" songs sounded familiar as well, since my mom and brother play them every once in awhile.

Got to say I feel a little bad. I kind of bashed Kim Mitchell in a Creative Writing paper only a week or so ago. Not really bashed per se, but I noted that I didn't want to hear "A Million Vacations" a million times. And I mean, I do like the song, it was just for the purpose of a joke, okay?

So. Concert. Good. There was a drunk guy running around and dancing and he came up and talked/yelled at us towards the end of the show, when we were up close to the upper gym stage. Had no idea what he was saying, but I'm told it was some gangster song about furry boots? After the show, there was a little hubbub over who was going to get the set list and what seemed to be a woman threatening the guy who got it? Nice.

I would wager that our school currently has the beeriest-stickiest gym floor. Pretty awesome. And speaking of that, since when does our school have a liquor license? Seriously! Like, why would a school have a liquor license? That kind of conflicts with what we're being taught. But of course, no actual students were going to be at this concert, so no one would ever know! Kim Mitchell? What student would know who she he is!?

A funny thought occurred to me during the concert. My dad has seen Kim Mitchell like a bajillion times, and now I've seen him twice too, and… Kim Mitchell is old. Weird. Also weird, I would assume Kim Mitchell's "dressing room", if he had one, was the girl's change room. Nice.

And so, we go to the caf next. We see our Data teacher from last year, and apparently she asks if we're eighteen, but alas, I could not hear the conversation (the whole brain being ripped out of its sockets, remember?). She seemed amused (confused?) that we were there. Which, well, the only other students there were pretty much the ones at the coat check and selling stuff. I mean, usually there are at least a few younger people. Most people seemed to be alumni, so it was like a mini high school reunion thing. Which, eww, means our class would be coming back to the school to see some crappy today band for a mini-reunion? Eww.

Speaking of the coat check, it was off to there next, where did not check coats, but just hung around, thus earning us the title of Coat Check Groupies. Which occurs to me is a sort of fabulous name for a band.

Excitement at the coat check — a man does not have his ticket to receive his coat! Three or so police officers come over and the woman police officer says to him "why don't you come back tomorrow… when you're sober!!!". Whooaoaoaoa! And then they have to like drag him out and it was awesome.

Then there's this other lady who wants her coat and is looking through them all, and the police officer uses the same line on her and she's all pissed, but she finds her coat apparently on the other side of the table and leaves.

And then we are informed that someone stole $250 from some of the other kids selling stuff and they have to all be checked by the teacher and stuff and so we decided to leave because it was getting crazy with drunken grown-ups and missing fundraiser money. Ah, what our little innocent minds were exposed to at the Kim Mitchell concert — in our very own school!