People Look So Much More Beautiful when they're WET! PT.1

"People look so much more beautiful in the rain" said the lead singer and guitarist of Vampire Weekend. As I stood there helplessly in the pouring rain I agreed. All around me there were beautiful young girls dancing freely in the rain, with their hair and clothes doused in water. No one seemed to care that were standing in mud or that the five dollar umbrella they bought didn't do much but keep the top of their head dry...everyone was just enjoying the wonderful sounds of Vampire Weekend.

I decided to embark on my first concert of the summer. Summerstage it was, a free concert that takes place in Central Park through out the summer. Summerstage opened with a relatively new act called Vampire Weekend, a group of Columbia graduates that just released an album and started to blow up.

I hopped on the 3:31 train into New York City. The train ride was dull. I had nothing to do. I sat across from some square that was reading one of those books you would find in an airport convenience store. I got off at Grand Central and quickly made my way to the subway. I wasn't used to traveling uptown so it took a bit of effort on my part to find the right train. I eventually did of course and waited another five minutes for the train to actually arrive. I got on the crowded afternoon 4 train and headed uptown. I had no idea where central park was so I just got off at the first stop which put me someone around 51st street. Nice, I traveled a few blocks away from Grand Central...now I hit the streets. It was raining. Not raining, but pouring rain. I was miserable. I looked like a wet rat, hopelessly trying to find shelter to dodge the water. I thought about just heading home many times. One thing I've learned about concerts though is you've got to persevere. There's always going to be something in your way at a concert...you gotta find away around it.

So I marched up park ave to like 70th street and headed west to the park. I began to see signs of life, concert life that is. I heard the music starting to bump and saw groups of pretty girls in their cocktail dresses, completely see through from the rain now. Suddenly walking twenty block in the rain wasn't so bad. As I was heading towards the concert someone said, "they're not letting anyone in, ever". Oh great. Just what I needed, another barricade. I decided to check things out myself anyway, came all the way from Connecticut, I'm not going back that easily.

There was a big ass line. I tried to go to the front but someone informed me that the line stats in the back. There were a group of big, black security guards (no pun intended) holding back a line of 40-50 eager concert goers. I was alone, in a line, uncertain if I was going to be able to see the show. From the line we could hear the sounds of Kid Sister. No one seemed to intent on seeing her. I over heard people talking about her performance, "Is that a person?". I stayed in line for about ten to fifteen minutes. Eventually the security guards decided to let people go in. All at once the line let out in a loud "YAY!". Everyone was excited. Many people thought we weren't going to get in, and so they left...but we were definitely on our way to see a show. It took like another five minutes to actually get into the venue. The security guards enjoyed all the power they had. Numerous times they decided to just stop the flow of the line, probably because they felt like it. I noticed that as I was approaching the entrance, one of the security guards said, "stop it at that guy there", pointing to a guy right next to me., I knew exactly what the guard meant. He did just that, he stopped the line right after letting that black guy into the venue. I said, "me too man", and he let me through, haha, BLACK POWER! I turned around and saw fifteen smiles turn to frowns as they were held back for a few minutes while I passed through.

I knew I was home free at this point.

Continued in PT. 2