Tales From Titan

On Friday night, we went to Titan for the first time to hang out for a little while with the Bowie Cub and, hopefully, see some of our online pals. We got a surprise just before we left when our friends Tim and Donn called and told us that their previous plans for the night had fallen through and that they would be joining us at Titan as well. We hadn't seen them in a while due to conflicting schedules, and it was great to finally catch up with them. They just celebrated their 6th anniversary together. Congratulations Guys!

We found a table at one end of the bar and stayed there most of the night only venturing over to the other side of the bar to get drinks and to pee, both of which took a bit of time since the middle section of the bar was packed so tight with people. No one could really move and it was hard to get through the wall of men. There were some big bears there which puts a little monkey like myself in a real minority, but I pushed my way through. My concert crowd handling experience always comes in handy.

We saw a few acquaintances and some folks from the Blowoff crowd. We even ran into Bob and chatted with him for a while. He talked to us about mixing the Blowoff album. It should be ready in June. We are really looking forward to that! While we were talking to Bob, it reminded me of a blog that I almost wrote last week but decided not to because I was fighting a cold and just felt low-energy all week, and I wasn't sure that I wanted to share it anyway. But, what the hey, I'll take a detour into a blog bubble day dream to the nostalgia factory and then we'll come back to Titan.

For Those With Fuzzy Memories And Absent Friends

This past Thursday the 23rd way back in 1987 was actually the first time I ever met Bob Mould and saw him play live. Hüsker Dü was playing at The Lisner Auditorium in DC for their Warehouse: Songs and Stories album. Before the show, the band did an instore signing just down the street at Tower Records. Maybe you were there. I was one excited 20 year old as I stood in line with my friend Mike with some stuff to sign and our 5th row tickets to the show. The band came out, and we got our stuff signed, but I was too shy to talk to them too much especially considering the HUGE crush I had on Greg Norton at the time. WOOF! I had them sign my "Could You Be The One" 7" single and my Warehouse CD long box. (Remember those?) My friend Mike was not really a fan, but we would go and see shows together. He got a flyer signed and gave it to me afterwards. The flyer was actually wrong. It was printed earlier before the tour was delayed a month (I won't go into that) and, also, the DB's didn't play with them, only the Feelies did.

The show was one mind blowing experience. Hüsker Dü played all of Warehouse and a handful of other songs. (See setlist below.) It might have been the beginning of the end for the band, but you never would have seen it in their performance that night. Whatever internal problems that were going on were put aside as those three guys cast their spell over Lisner that night. I left feeling elated and happy that I had found the another perfect band to follow. Little did I know that I would be following one of them much more than the others and that 19 years and a day later I would be hanging out at a gay bar and chatting with him. I guess life really has it's twists and turns though.

Hüsker Dü Set List:

These Important Years
Charity Chastity Prudence and Hope
Standing In the Rain
Back From Somewhere
(Improv, see below)*
Ice Cold Ice
You're A Soldier
Could You Be The One
Too Much Spice
Friend You're gonna fall
Everytime
Visionary
She Floated away
Bed Of Nails
Tell You Why Tomorrow
Not Peculiar
Actual Condition
No Reservations
Flexible Flyer
Turn It Around
She's A Woman (Now He's A Man)
Up In The Air
You Can Live at Home

(Encore 1)
Never Talking To You Again
Gotta Lotta

(Encore 2)
Helter Skelter

* At this point, Bob broke a string , so Greg and Grant went into an improvisational bit while Bob was restringing. The people next to us were yelling "Drug Party," a rare Hüsker Dü song that popped up from time to time. I wasn't familiar with the song at the time and I haven't heard any boots of this show, so I can't say for sure if it was actually DP that was played.

Now back to Titan for...

Pee Shy Guy In The Bathroom

So, we are sitting there and chatting and drinking and suddenly it hits me. All these Cokes are making me have to pee, badly! So, I get up and make my way to the other side of the bar and, like I said, it wasn't easy to do. Bubala called it the "grope zone," but everyone behaved themselves while I walked by. I'm just too small of a guy to be attractive to a lot of this crowd I guess. I think most of them would be afraid that they'd break me. Anyway, I make it to the bathroom, and the stall is occupied but the urinals are free and there is this guy in there that says, "I'm too shy. Go ahead." So, I step up, whip it out and begin the ritual and then I hear, "I'm just too pee shy. If only I had an older brother that could have taught me. Then, maybe I wouldn't be so shy." I said, "It's OK buddy. I understand." Then, he steps up to the other urinal with his eyes on my dick and says "well, maybe I could try it." He keeps his eyes completely in my direction as I'm finishing up, and as I'm leaving he says "Oh, I just can't do this!"

Well here are some helpful hints if the stall is occupied, men:

1. Concentrate on your dick, not mine.
   
2. If there is something to read like a flyer for "Bears Gone Wild," it helps.
   
3. The counting method (One -one thousand, Two-one thousand, Three-one thousand) works well too.
   
4. Concentrate on your dick, not mine.
   
5. Just use the stall, dude.

I made my way back across the bar, and we were all talking and checking out the crowd. Donn introduced us to WoofyCub. Bob talked about his upcoming trip down south to do a few acoustic shows while Bowie Cub kept taking my ball cap off of me and putting his cold hands on my bald head. Then, the feeling hit me again. Damn that Coca-Cola! So it was back through the grope zone where I said Hi to Steve (the guy who picked me up at Blowoff) and Jake (who Steve also picked up at Blowoff.)

I made it to the bathroom again and everything was occupied. So, I was doing that awkward waiting in the men's room kind of thing and hoping that the stall will be free first so I wouldn't have to deal with that Pee Shy Guy or some other "wandering eyes" guy like him again. I kind of noticed that there was more than one guy in the stall and none of the guys in there were peeing... a few other guys around noticed too. So, as a small audience trickled into the bathroom, the urinals became free and guess who was up to bat next? Yep, me.

So, I stepped up, whipped it out and tried helpful hints #2 and #3 and nothing happened. I was very aware of the crowd behind me and the guys in the stall next to me. So, I was out of there after a few minutes still having to pee. Damn it, I wish I had an older brother so this wasn't such an issue. Or, maybe if sucking cock on the pool table was an acceptable thing to do, then the stall would be free and I could go and pee in private. All of this happened at about the time that we were getting ready to leave anyway, so it was okay, I guess.

We decided to go and said our goodbyes to the Bowie Cub and to the rest of those who hadn't already left. We took a little walk down Rhode Island Avenue to catch up with Tim and Donn, and we joined them for dinner at Annie's. It was a little cold outside, but I was okay.

All in all, we really liked Titan. There were some nice looking guys there, and everyone seemed very friendly. Possibly too friendly! We'll certainly go back again some time.