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Listed below are some of my random thoughts on City Stages.

1. Ceasefire and Snoop Dogg

   Ceasefire (PDF) is a new organization in Birmingham designed to stop infighting between Birmingham’s inhabitants. Ceasefire’s goal is to get all Birmingham citizens to literally and figuratively cease fire and become a peaceful place to live.

   On the other hand, Snoop Dogg’s show had several gunshot references, and calls to perform a “187 (homicide) on a mother …. cop.” I wonder how happy the Ceasefire Volunteers were at Snoop Dogg’s calls for homicide against the very police officers that were keeping very rowdy fans from overwhelming him and his entourage.

2. Snoop Dogg and the Police

   Snoop Dogg began rapping a very old rap song entitled “….(censored) the Police.” I was at the very front of the stage when this song occurred. There was a sheriff’s deputy one foot in front of me between the barrier and the stage. Snoop called on the entire audience to scream the title of the song. I could have screamed the words directly at the deputy if I wanted to. Having more respect than that, I refrained. The deputy left during the song, obviously disgusted.

3. Sign Language Interpreters

   Define Irony: A bunch of interpreters using sign language to communicate lyrics at a rock concert. Rock concerts are very loud and cause permanent hearing damage. I hope the interpreters were using ear plugs to protect their hearing. Just for the record, I wore ear plugs at most of the performances.

4. Nobody is Entitled to the Front of the Crowd

Just before Snoop Dogg started, a young black girl screamed at me and said, “That’s no fair. You’re taller than I am. You need to let me in front of you so I can see.” The first thing I thought was, what the heck are you doing at the front of the crowd if you are so small? The second thing I thought was, nothing. I told her it was too bad and she would just have to deal with not being able to see past my head. I didn’t think of it until now, but she was probably a little too young to be seeing Snoop Dogg anyway.

5. Sling-chairs Suck

A bunch of people brought their lawn chairs or sling-chairs with them to they could sit down and watch performances. The Miller Lite Stage was the “rock concert” stage. I couldn’t believe that people actually thought they could sit down for Yellowcard and Snoop Dogg. The people with sling chairs eventually grew tired of the constant nagging (and the many water bottles being tossed in their direction) and left.

People carrying their sling-chairs also were a hindrance when we were trying to leave the area. As with most oblivions, they do not watch where they are going. As a consequence, there were many close calls with swinging sling-chair bags.

6. If You are in a Mosh Pit, Expect to Get Hurt

I saw a few people get hurt while moshing. Some of these people approached those that hurt them and threatened to take further action. No offense to those hurt, but you got what you were asking for. If someone hurt you, more power to them. Swallow your pride and let it go.

7. Water is too Expensive

I can’t believe vendors were charging $3.00 for 20oz. of water. There were no drinking fountains at all (at least from what I observed) at City Stages. I wonder how many people were dangerously dehydrated because they couldn’t afford the absurd prices being charged for water.

8. I Detest Crowd Surfers

I told Sarah that at a few concerts, I was hurt fairly bad by crowd surfers. One time a dude’s pants zipper caught on my arm and gave me a nice large six inch scratch. Other times I’ve been hit in the head with shoes, purses, etc. I also told Sarah that I punched a crowd surfer one time when one of them kicked me in the face. She chastised me that I was being too rude to crowd surfers.

People either crowd surf for the thrill (of being grabbed by hundreds of people), to reach the front faster, or possibly because their friends forced them into it. Some of the crowd surfers were fairly big people. Sarah was hit several times from crowd surfers. I know that crowd surfers are normal at rock events, but that does not change the fact that they are morons.

Thanks for reading my random thoughts.

Related posts:

1. City Stages – Saturday
2. Stages
3. City Stages – Friday
4. Random Thoughts
5. Blink 182 and Greenday