My Very Brief Rock & Roll Life

A High School Remembrance

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When I was a high school student, in the early 1990s, I went to a Pixies concert at First Avenue, the legendary club in downtown Minneapolis. This was the band’s last tour before they broke up. They reunited when I was older, but the effect was different, as these things often are. I went to a fair amount of shows as a teenager, as long as they were all age shows. The Pixies new record was good, their encore was better, their beloved song, Where is My Mind.

I drove home in my blessed 1990 Saab (black, beige, and I mean beige, cloth interior, manual transmission, manual windows). I loved that car the way only a teenager can love a car. The Alpine stereo, with its pale green digital lights, played Where is My Mind and I loved that song the way only a teenager can love a song. I took the CD up to my room and set it on repeat. I couldn’t get enough. I was seventeen and felt the direct devotion specific to teenagers. I resolved that I would see the Pixies again and soon. In fact, I couldn’t imagine my life without them.