Another tour, another set of venue songs. Bonus fun in that my recording studio computer died just before I started, resulting in me upgrading to a new version of Cakewalk (I had been sporting one from 1995) so I got to additionally deal with learning new software. Wheeee!

Residents Fandom: Half A Life Wasted

I became a Residents fan at age seventeen. I am now thirty-four years old. When the band tours, I attend as many shows as I can afford (usually about four). And when I finish my mini-tour, I immediately start pricing flights for more shows that I can't afford. I love them that much.

While I'm around, I become an unofficial gopher for the touring crew. They need it, I fetch it - coffee, food, rubber bands, markers, socks, whatever. This began as a way to offset my sense of being an interloper because I'd show up really early and stay really late. May as well count t-shirts to make myself useful, right? Otherwise I'm just a big nerd who doesn't belong and gets in everybody's way. With each show everyone's more comfortable with me, I'm trusted with larger responsibilities, and I am able to bring more value to the organization.

The 40th Anniversary Tour has been my most happy tour experience. Past tours have not been unhappy, mind you (Bunny Boy is a possible exception because only days earlier I had lost my home to a fire and had that nagging homelessness on my mind the whole time). I'm just... happy. Really, truly happy. There's really no better word; it is a simple and pure feeling. I'm sure this tour is not the sole reason for my current elation, but it's definitely a factor and deserves some of the credit.

And most of all, I no longer feel like an interloper. I feel like I belong, that I am welcomed. Obviously there are limits; I don't feel I'm allowed to barge in during soundcheck and start suggesting changes. I carry boxes and load them onto the bus, but I never step inside the bus. I'm on friendly terms (and even all-out friends) with many of the people associated with the show. That might include some Residents themselves, I dunno. It's hard to tell who is who, and honestly I gave up trying to figure out their identities sometime in college (that kind of maturity should be a prerequisite for graduation). But using the popular loose definition of Resident as 'anybody who works with The Residents' I can say this: I am friends with The Residents. For seventeen years - half of my life - I have been forming relationships with some of the best people in the world. It's just a shame I wasted the first half of my life not knowing them.