What Were The Words Again?

One job I had was administrative assistant for a small mall in Calgary. It was a good job, nice pay and good benefits. The mall was small enough that I quickly became acquainted with the people who worked there.

I tried to make it a practice to buy whatever I needed at that mall, if possible. I figured I would help the merchants out by giving them my business. One day I went to the counter of the drugstore to pay for something and there was a young man wearing a POISON t-shirt. We talked about the band and I discovered that he was also a musician.

His name is Christopher Barran and he invited me to come a show his band was putting on outside of Calgary. I talked to a friend of mine who was excited to see this new act and offered to drive. The night of the concert my friend, her boyfriend and I started out – following Christopher’s directions.

We had to go on a few back roads that appeared to be dotted with farms or acreage. Or else nothing. Of course, when we are in the area of nothing, the car breaks down. The fan belt broke. The boyfriend borrowed a pair of pantyhose and we managed to get to the venue that Christopher was performing at. Just as they finished.

I was so disappointed. Christopher got me onstage and we sang ‘Talk Dirty to Me’. Or I should say we tried to. One of us messed up the lyrics. He swears it was me and I said it was him. (To be honest, it probably was me.) The band got so fed up with us that they walked off stage. The show was over anyway.

We did manage to get the car fixed before the drive home – a man at the venue had a small garage with everything we needed. The sad thing is that I have never seen Christopher perform live in all the years I’ve known him. He is in Los Angeles now so the commute would be a bit much. But I will always remember my experience onstage with him.