The Stain and Korn shows from 1995.

(my Feb 28, 2006 comment at toledotalk.com)

A good friend of mine played in The Stain, and I attended several of their shows around town back in the mid to late 90s. I ran the video equipment, so plenty of documented evidence exists showing Stainbrook's leadership along with a few other unmentionables related to haning out at places like Frankie's.

We had a lot of pre and post concert footage of various crowd members. Miss Trixy, the Fire Breather, free beer. Good times. Except it was my friend's video camera, so I don't have the proof.

We even got video of the policeman giving me a ticket after I got pulled over while driving my friend's Jeep after a show. It's so stupid that you can't turn left at Front and Main while on Main facing the skyline. And the cop showed me how stupid it was. The Stain was a punk band, and that night my friend's face was painted up in some kind of scary, deranged, KISS-like manner. Perfect for being pulled over by the police.

The best part was seeing some of the bands that played before or after The Stain. Example: Labor Day Eve, 1995, at The Main Event, The Stain opened for a band I had not heard of. It was Korn. My buddy left after The Stain show, but I said I was going to hang around and see what this band Korn was about. Oh man. That was one wild and most excellent show. Still one of my favorite concerts because it was in a small setting. I was standing up near the stage off to the side.

Actually, I wound up jammed against the wall, trying to avoid the violent mosh pit that exploded after Korn opened with the first song off their first CD. I think some pros from Detroit were there because they were literally beating the hell out of each other. It was awesome. Before Korn really got going in their first song, several in the crowd were like me, not knowing what to expect because everyone was standing around nice and still until the lead singer started with "Are you ready!" Then look out. Some of the crowd, mainly girls, dispersed, streaming out the two exits when the mosh pit started up. That's when I got pushed up against the wall, and I stayed there for the entire show. As much as I wanted to jump into that mess, I remembered I had a brand new computer systems job to go back to in a couple of days, and I didn't feel like testing out the company's extended medical leave.

At the Korn show, Stainbrook was one of several Staff or Security people who were hunched down up on stage, lining the front of the stage, throwing people back into the crowd. So Jon is for a strong defense.

The Stain was good for their "humor." I remember the one show where Jon brought up a homeless guy on stage for some reason, and Jon handed him a giant joint. I suppose it was fake, but who knows? Anway, a week or so later, that homeless guy was in the paper, arrested for something. Jon made t-shirts with the homeless guy's face on the front along with the word "Banned." That was a name of one of their songs. It was a funny shirt. I wished I would have bought one. So Jon cares about the plight of the homeless, and he supports universal health care.

So in other words, hell yeah, make Stainbrook the local GOP leader. If anything, the meetings should be fun. Just beware of the dude with the video camera.

#toledo - #politics - #music - #history - #event - #humor - #blog_jr