Random Song in my Head...

And a storytime recollection

A trip down memory lane. This song was in my head all weekend.

I remember the last concert I went to. In early 2011 I had moved in with my parents in Las Vegas following the breakup with the father of my older daughter. I needed internet for my job and my parent’s house didn’t have that. So I went to the one place that did nearby: Starbucks.

I practically lived in Starbucks #2777 and I told anybody who asked that I worked there. After a month or two of spending so many hours in there, the employees behind the counter were getting very interested in me. I noticed one young guy behind the counter. He was always very sweet and kind and always dressed in a manner that indicated that he took a lot of care in picking out his clothes. They were tight pressed and always clean, and he had a happy, affable demeanor behind the counter. He had no tattoos, no piercings and his dark natural hair was always crisp cut, complimented by his sharp blue eyes.

I asked him his name one day and laughed. Hyrum. A Mormon working at a Starbucks? Call me curious.

Of course I developed a crush on him. It seemed like we were practically coworkers. Plus we hung out out front and he liked to talk to the homeless people. We did go on a proper date I suppose. One day Hyrum told me a friend had given him tickets to see a new band in Vegas and he asked me if I wanted to join him. “He said he thinks they’re going to be the next big thing.”

Hyrum told me that they were playing on the upstairs loft of Hard Rock on the Strip. Okay. I had a friend, Chops Walka, who was a drummer in a few metal bands I had gone to see on the Strip. Usually it was just a large restaurant/bar area with a stage for performers. This was just that.

Hyrum came over to my parents house all proper even though we were planning to take a bus since we wanted to drink. My father seemed to like him. Hyrum handed me the tickets and I looked at the name of the band. It was such a weird name.

I’ve gathered that that group played in bigger venues later than that say 500 capacity bar. No, it wasn’t the Killers, who are my favorites, incidentally. They were already an established Las Vegas presence by then. I never saw them in concert and never met them in town, even though I’d recognize most of them I suspect better than I would Kim Kardashian or Oprah.

And me and Hyrum almost kissed that night. Almost. It was incredible.

I should link to one of this group’s songs next. But none are going through my head right now. This one from the Killers little known album Battle Born has been though. It’s the state motto of Nevada…

You never shine if you never burn…