Groupie Days

This morning, I watched the movie Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist at HBO. From the moment it started, I knew it was a teenie-bopper kind of movie. I don't wanna spoil the story but it certainly circled on band gigs, good music and of course finding love amidst all that.

While watching it, I was reminded of my days as a groupie back in college. Ahh those days. Picking up my friends on a Saturday night to watch a gig, sneaking to the backstage and prodding each other to ask a band member if we could get a picture.

I remembered driving after a band's van til it reached the hotel. Or sneaking through the crowd of drunkards just to take a good shot. And even throwing ice cubes in the air once the crowd of drunkards got too wild. And I clearly remember my shaking knees when I saw Ira Cruz for the first time - a real life Adonis smoking and downing a bottle of beer in front of me - aahh it was so surreal for me that I wasn't even able to say a single word. (The second time I met Ira, I was able to muster enough courage to have a picture with him. That fraction of a second beside him made me want to take him home and introduce him to my mother.) All the yelling, screaming and drooling while the band performs. And singing along every song they play. Oh geez.

And I must not fail to mention the dudes watching the gig. Since we girls knew that these band members were simply unreachable, we often shifted our attention to the dudes around. We girls wanted the same kind of guy - scruffy, tough, unshaved, wearing a black or gray shirt and a sucker for the kind of music we loved. No better place to look for someone like that. Amidst the gigs were our love affairs that never really happened. Love affairs that were just based on locking gazes and smiling at each other but never really having anything beyond that.

And of course, we would hang out at McDonald's or a coffee shop afterwards, scan the pictures we took and giggle about the whole night. Aaah groupie nights.

I wasn't really a pure-blood groupie; I was even too shy to rub elbows with vocalists and lead guitarists. And I've known girls who would really go to the distance, book a flight to where the band's next gig would be. Me and my girls were semi-groupies I suppose. But those days eventually came to an end as we were finishing college.

My groupie days were a colorful strain. Thinking about it now makes me feel a bit awkward - I actually chased men I didn't even have a personal connection with! But then typing this makes me smile. Knowing that I once lived according to whims, infatuations and fleeting feelings gives me the right to be a bit serious on life.

Passing by Gensan the other day, I saw this huge poster of Bamboo with the greek god himself Ira Cruz on the background. Aaah, those were the days. :)