9:30--Past My Bedtime?

"I have an extra ticket to see Ben Harper at the 9:30 Club.  Do you want to go?"

When Bonnie calls, I don't even hesitate to say yes to a night on the town with the girls.  Never mind that it is a school night and I don't have a clue who Ben Harper is.  This night has adventure written all over it.

Pre-adventure routine when I was 25:

• take a nap
• plan outfit for evening
• fuss over extra mascara
• grab cash from ATM

Pre-adventure routine tonight:

• take Katherine to Girl Scout meeting
• plan to leave dinner on stove
• fuss over Jack's homework
• grab cash from Paul's wallet

Once downtown, we eat dinner at a very trendy place.  I know it is trendy because the decibel level is so loud that we can't actually talk to each other so we just sit and look cool.  Also, I know it is trendy because our waitress has an asymmetrical haircut and the wine is $9 a glass.  The 20somethings that had time to take a nap earlier are playing bocce ball in the courtyard.  I wonder if a round of bocce ball is cheaper than a glass of wine.

After dinner, we head to The 9:30 Club.  Some people think the name of this concert venue refers to the time when shows begin.  Actually, the reference is to it's original address at 930 F Street, NW. That was 15 years ago.  Now we arrive at 815 V Street and make our way past the bouncers, pausing to get our hands inked with proof of our adventure.

There are a lot of people at the 9:30 Club.  It is a sold out show in a standing-only venue.  I try to walk and discover my shoes are stuck to the floor.  This is the kind of place where the bathroom stalls are out of toilet paper early in the evening.  When we finally wind our way around to a place where I can kinda sorta see the stage, a tall guy with huge hair stands in front of me. 

My view of the stage

It is really fun to people watch at a place like this.  There seems to be a certain dress code at the 9:30 Club and it is not preppy. There were, however, grown men wearing full Oktoberfest costumes with the little shorts and the embroidered suspenders.  The sleeves you see here are often not blouses, they are tattoos.  And several guys had these giant discs which appeared to be somehow implanted in their earlobes.  Their earlobes were the size of silver dollars. 

As for Ben Harper,  I didn't know many of his songs.  That's OK--I love listening to live music and being with my friends.   It is worth staying up past my bedtime every once in a while.  Next time, I'll remember to pack my own toilet paper.