Saturday, October 13, 2001 - Rockin for Relief Benefit outside the 5:01 Club

Saturday, October 13, 2001
Rockin for Relief Benefit outside the 5:01 Club

For $5, those over 21 could enter the fenced in area starting at 5 and see Von Cello perform the national anthem, Julian Fist, Negative Space, Clove, Nevermoure, Live Alien Broadcast, Wayne Supergenius, 7th House, and the Darcie Miner Band.

Arriving at the paying area with her mom, Shannon was way too honest and said "It's okay if I come in with my mom even if I’m under 21 right?" A man standing beside the woman taking the money said "no" and went into an explanation about alcohol in the fenced in areas and how underage people are permitted outside of the fenced in areas. Shannon could've beat herself for asking the foolish question when she was obviously close to entering the area. It was basically just as good outside of the fenced in area, but it's a shame because if only they would have been allowed to enter, a lot of the music fans under 21 could have supported the cause by giving money. Even though the lovely Evelyn (ETBGirl) and her cousin Polly witnessed Shannon's stupidity/honesty, it was still a pleasure to see them there!

Julian Fist started the show off. They have been transforming into basically an all-original band and have much on-stage professionalism. They revealed a few new songs, which pleased the growing crowd.

Since Shannon was already down in Harrisburg, Melanie was dropped off by the Hilton and began to walk down to the block party. Seeing Brian, the manager of Julian Fist, with his wife, she called out his name to get his attention. Walking down with them, she asked if he had seen Shannon yet. He explained that it was not very crowded yet and she was up by the fence. Seeing Shannon and her mom, Melanie ran over and attacked Shannon with a hug. Shannon was not sure if Melanie was going to make it down because of work.

Negative Space was getting ready on stage and we talked with a sweaty Kyle for a bit. Julian Fist had to leave soon to a gig over in Easton. It was still light out when Negative Space began to play. Todd and Sean were both sporting new shorter haircuts. This was our first time seeing them cover “Smooth Criminal.” We must admit that we think Josh should not try to imitate Michael Jackson on stage and just be Josh. None of that grabbing himself nonsense. After they finished, Negative Space soon had to leave for another gig like Julian Fist.

During the in between time, we bought 3 bags of 2 mystery CDs each from the X table. As we opened them, Todd came over to say hi. There was a Bob Marley, Jesse Camp, Verbow, Keoki, Diner Junkies and Stereophonics CD. Back over at the fence, Melanie wanted to say hello to Evelyn since she wasn’t there when Shannon did. Shannon’s mom told us to find out when Negative Space was playing at Field of Screams next weekend. We went around to the back of the stage and waited till one of the guys didn’t look busy. Mark came over for a high five, but did not know when they were playing. But Mark is such an awesomely nice guy and told us to wait where we were and he’d be right back with an answer. Thanks Mark!

It looked like some clouds were rolling in as Clove took the stage. Luckily, the rain held off. Jen pranced around the stage in her bare feet. They opened with “Anthem," a favorite of Melanie's. They also played their well-known song, “Go.”

Next up was Nevermoure. Neither of us had seen them before. We did not stay for the whole set due to a run in with a homeless man. But we did hear a pink haired Adam Marino sing “Sweet Christine,” which had been stuck in Melanie’s head the other day. Mike Ritchey gave his guitar a full swing around his body, which Melanie missed, but highly impressed Shannon.

On another note, Shannon's homeless man encounter #1:
I accidentally bumped into a 60-something-year-old homeless guy when I was walking with Melanie and I apologized immediately as he started yelling "watch where you're going, little lady!!!" and he began to quickly walk after me with an American flag in his hands that was pointed towards my head. I eventually lost him by pushing my way into a random crowd of strangers. Neither Melanie or my mom were aware that this was going on at the time, so I had to tell them what happened once he was out of sight.

Homeless man encounter #2:
Melanie and I were watching Nevermoure and a suspicious, greasy man in his 50's kept stepping closer to us. We attempted to slide over a bit to keep him away. He came close to me and while spitting breathes of beer into my face, he told me he liked the band because "it's better than that n****er (ah, sensory) rap music"...then he continued to make harsh comments, so I backed up a bit to ignore him until he started to explain to me about how he used to be in a band, only they played naked. How lovely. As if that wasn't enough, he yelled something belligerent and held his hand out. I asked what he said and he repeated "What's your name?! We can be friends!"...so I tugged on Melanie's shirt and walked over towards where my mom was peacefully sitting and explained to them my second homeless man encounter of the evening. Then homeless man #2 and the American flag guy started to yell and sing in the middle of the crowd…fortunately, that was the last I saw of them.

Homeless man encounter #3:
On the way to the car, some guy sitting on steps whistled and made…for a lack of a better word, "icky" comments towards us as we walked by. I'm convinced the comments were directed towards my irresistible mom though!