“X”mas surprise.

As many of you probably know, if I had to name a favorite band I’d probably say X. I’m constantly amazed at what they do, what they’ve done, and the fact that they just keep on doing it.

I’m not crazy about most of the venues in Los Angeles, though, so I don’t often opt to see them when they play live. I get too pissed off at the crowds, the scary corporate venues, the exhorbitant cost of parking and such. Not to mention that I balk at paying $50 and up for tickets. I mean, that’s good shoe money! At least half a pair, anyway.

But thanks to a Christmas miracle free tickets from Los Angeles Metblogs (thank you, lucindamichele!!!), I found myself at Club Nokia last night attempting to re-live the glory days of the 1980s.

The evening began in typical 1980s style – heading to Silver Lake for Thai food. That in and of itself is oh so good, but while there, we ran into some old old friends who I hadn’t seen in over 10 years. How better to start an evening trip down memory lane?

After dinner and reminiscing, we headed downtown to the club. That’s where all resemblence to that earlier decade stopped. First, we had to navigate this web of flash and style and corporate sponsorship:

Rather Blade Runner-esque, don’t you think? But I’m a sucker for lights, so I admit I enjoyed seeing this.

Once we found ourselves in the right place, there were lines, airport-style security searches, and $8 glasses of wine in plastic cups. So very different that my 1980s days of being on the list, getting free drinks, and cutting to the front of the line. Times have changed!

We missed most of the first band, Cracker, which was a little after my time anyway. Next up was the New York Dolls – what’s left of them, anyway – which was a little before my time. I had seen them once during the 1980s and knew to expect only one thing – that they would be LOUD. So we retreated from the pit to cushy seats in the balcony.

(Seating! Upholstered seating! At a punk show! I’m still marvelling at the novelty of that.)

And they were – LOUD. But surprisingly good. I may or may not have developed a bit of a fangirl crush on Sylvain Sylvain, just a little, because I am weak in the presence of good guitarists. Weak, I tell you.

After the Dolls played, we got up to wander and that’s when things got really un-1980s-ish. We weren’t allowed back in front of the pit, for lack of the right color of wristbands. We weren’t allowed back to the balcony seats we had scored earlier, because those were for actual ticket holders. We had to settle for way-back balcony seats. Which turned out to be fine, because there are monitors everywhere and an incredibly good sound system and really, it was kind of nice to not have to worry that I would be subject to crowd surfing due to alcohol-driven testosterone and the fact that I am often the shortest and therefore the most vulnerable person in the front row. Cushy seats? Not having to jostle for my customary front-and-left position, because it’s not an option? Hmmm, I could get used to this.

The only downside? No pictures. No video. Nada. Zilch. Bupkis. I was so far away at this point that even taking shots of the monitors resulted in nothing but a sad empty black blob. So I can only use words to tell you that Exene looked beautiful as always, this time with short bobbed hair, red tights, and red Christmas apron. I can only use words to tell you that I never in my life expected to hear a punk rendition of Santa Claus is Coming to Town, but I have now heard it and it was of course all sorts of awesome. And I can only use words to tell you that DJ‘s drumming was probably the finest I’ve ever heard. You’ll have to trust me on all of this.

I can, however, tell you what shoes Exene was wearing! You knew I wouldn’t let you down, right? They were Frye harness boots, although from our nosebleed seats I couldn’t tell you if they were the 8R or the 12R model.

I’m not really sure it matters exactly which ones they were, because both are gorgeous and classic and a little bit punk and come in about forty bazillion different colors. I could use some new boots! And if you could too, you can find them at Endless, where you can have them under your tree on Christmas eve if you order by 5pm PST on the 23rd.

Thanks again to Los Angeles Metblogs and lucindamichele for the tix! I had been having a not-so-stellar week, and this was a much-needed “X”mas surprise.