The Great Lesley

A little over a week ago, I FINALLY attended my first ever Texas Rangers baseball game. With the help of a cool friend, a rain delay and some clubhouse seats, I was able to catch the last half of the series against the Los Angeles Angels. And guess what?! They won! There was a loooong firework show after the game and it was really neat.

The next day we drove to Downtown Dallas to the Winspear Opera House to see “American Idiot”. Yes, Green Day’s “American Idiot”. Admittedly, I was not that excited to see it, but it was another reason to get out of Lubbock for the weekend, so I went. Now I am not the biggest Green Day fan, but it was ah-may-zing. The sets, choreography, song selections, and actors were all so great. Sex, drugs and rock n’ roll, all perfectly captured on stage. Hell, I almost cried during one of the songs. It was WAY better than I thought it would be. After curtain call, all of the actors sang an acapella version of Good Riddance, threw their guitar picks in to the crowd and I caught one! It was so cool.

       When it was done, Ben rode with me for a short trip to Austin to see Gravity and Daily. I love those girls! And I never get to see Gravs for her birthday, so I decided to go for a night. Went to Highball for the first time, and then trekked on over to Yellowjacket on the East Side. Love that bar, they were playing Tejano music. A bar after my own heart. Braddock was there too! Bitchin’ times were had by the five of us. I miss those gals and guy.

       It was so nice to see my old friends, whom I miss dearly. I wish I could go see them more often, but I have to plan my trips strategically. And I can’t wait to move there.

As most of you know, Chapafest was this past weekend. It was a benefit show with proceeds going to the family of Marcus Chapa, and it was incredible. Friends near and far ventured into the Prairie Fire Theatre to see a plethora of amazing home-grown artists and musicians, many of whom I am lucky to call “friends”.

Highlights of the night include a love induced mosh pit, The Dry Heeves, metal singalongs, Hex, Killroy, me passing out on a couch during Go To Hell’s set, Daniel Markham, La Panza and the chanting of “MARCUS!”, selling the vast majority of our custom Chapafest shirts, Coquelicot, and the Thrift Store Cowboys. Everyone dedicated their sets to the memory of Marcus and to all of the good things he was doing for our close knit music scene. Love was in the air.

Now, usually I would elaborate on a few things that made this show special, but I would be stupid for trying to pinpoint it to only a handful of moments. This show was special in it’s own right. Marcus’ family was there for a good part of the night. I am proud to say that I was able to dress his beautiful sister, Victoria, and sister-in-law Penny in shirts that I made. I have to say, it was pretty cool to see them wearing our stuff all night.

I also thought it was really cool for the family to see kind of what Marcus, Middle Child and the Lubbock scene was all about. Victoria and Danny seemed to really like Daniel Markham’s set, as well as many others that night. She also really enjoyed Hex, who between songs encouraged all in attendance to love each other like Marcus did, and to never give up on the scene that is seemingly keeping all of our lives in sync.

Perhaps the most special moment for me was slow dancing with Rachel to Coquelicot’s cover of Jesus Fever by Kurt Vile. We just kind of swayed, cried and sang along. I’ll never forget that. That song, as well as many others I heard that night, will always remind me of the beautiful, supportive and gracious being that was Marcus Chapa.

To the people I spent time with or saw this weekend, thanks for being my friend. You are a key piece to the complicated puzzle that is my life, and I love you.