Buffalo
From her journals. Undated; probably summer of 1981.
When we got to Buffalo we headed for the War Memorial Colesium, where I thought the show was. Buffalo is a dirty, run-down place on the whole. The War Mem. was in a bad section, like Hartford going toward the North End.
The Collesium itself was a beat-up wooden place, open air like a baseball stadium. No ded heds or hairy people or lines of cars. The gravelly parking lots were practically empty (except for rusting car wrecks). We couldn't believe our eyes, after driving all that way, to arrive at a place like this. Was the concert cancelled? As soon as we came to a more decent neighborhood, we pulled in at a college and Keith and Leonard went in to call a radio station. Hank and I got out and stretched. We took out the tickets. On them it listed the collesium as the Buffalo Memorial.
Ah ha! We whipped out the map of Buffalo + sure enough, on the other side of town was a Buffalo Mem. Collesium. I painted WE FOUND IT on the car + Hank went to find L + Keith. He couldn't - came back and we waited.
We finally got together + left for the right place. The roads, especially main street, were all torn up with abandoned construction. The whole center was ripped out + lanes went on either side, very slow traffic. "I'd hate to see this place in rush hour," Keith said. "I don't want to think about that" Hank said, who was driving.
We parked a couple blocks away, got out, waited for Keith to roll some bones + went to find some cold beer.
No luck. Keith was very determined and we walked back + forth = at one point we were led from a liquor store ("go to the drug store down there") to a drug store ("must have meant the CVS, we don't have any") down to CVS and up carpteted stairs and to the back - NO COLD BEER! I didn't care, L. didn't and Hank was luke warm, but Keith really wanted some. No luck. We stood outside the door of CVS and people would come up to the door, Keith would say "No cold beer," and they'd say "No cold beer?" "Oh wow." "No cold beer! Wow." And they wandered away.
Soon we wandered away, explored a dull mall "How many shoe stores do they have in here?" Keith said. We went to eat lunch at a Wendy'swhere I got into the interior designing - brick walls, wall papered walls of 2 different designs, linoleum floor, carpeted floor of garish colors, mirrors, enlarged photos of farm scenes on walls, plastic tables (very modern), wood (?) carved doorways, and the inevitable strings of purple, pink, red, gold, yellow, blue, green plastic crystals hanging in strings from arches over the salad bar. Somebody said later, when I was describing this, "Yeah, and they had, you know, when you punch plastic out of a mold, it leaves little nubs?"
We waited for Keith to buy a bottle of rum - as consolation for not finding cold beer - to put in the Coke Hank had brought a six-pack of. In the parking garage we had wine, I gave everybody a couple hits of speed, and Keith w/ rum + Coke was rolling bones. I got the speed very cheap from a kid named Vinny - 3 Black Beauties for a dollar - I could have made a few cents selling them for 2 to a dollar but I'd rather give them to Keith and Hank who had been doing all the driving. Anyhow Keith was sitting on the wall against which our car was parked - second floor of the garage - the front of the car against the wall, over the wall was the ramp leading down to the first floor. I wandered around, painted We'se in Buffalo! on the car, + sat down beside Keith. Wondered if the cid was still working and admired the swirl-designs of the garage floor. On the other side of the ramp to the 1st floor was the outer railing + we could see across the street to other buildings, such as the mall. I was watching Keith + out of the corner of my eye I saw something fall - thought it must have been a jacket or something, but I remember an arm hitting the railing of our floor. (Keith says my eyes popped out of my head.) Nobody else saw it and at the time I thought they had seen it was a jacket + had not been worried. A minute later I heard a moaning + ran down the ramp, around the corner to the railing, expecting to see ... He was lying with one arm out, knees curled up. I ran down + saw Hank jump off the railing - I didn't want to jump that far. At the corner of that floor I jumped + went over to the kid. Keith appeared over the railing on our second floor + I looked up at the third floor - what a long way! I was sure he must have broken his back or neck or something, especially the way I thought he had fallen. A bus had stopped and the driver had gone to call an ambulance.
Soon the kids friends showed up - losers, dressed like tough guys which made them look pretty silly since they didn't seem to be older than fifteen or so. The youngest one started blubbering, his eyes puffy + face red from drinking - he said "Jerry, man, you can't do this to us" and the unspoken part was: we want to see the concert and you're ruining it. Meanwhile Hank was trying to keep the guy awake.
"Jerry" wasn't talking but staring with glassy eyes and screwed up mouth in pain. He rolled over on his back, put out his legs + lay there. We waited while the ambulance wailed down one street and another. people walked by, one guy strode toward us and after looking coolly at the kid, asked if we had any extra tickets. We saw the ambulance stop way down the street, flashing its lights, and it stayed there. We waited. Finally some kids passing ty ran down to tell the bastards they had the wrong place.
Etc. Etc. Etc. As it turned out, Jerry wasn't mortally wounded, could stand up straight in fact, and although obviously wasted on liquor (pills?) trying to get his feet in his sneakers and foaming at the mouth, his friends encouraged him to go to the show. "Come on man, you're all right, let's go to the show." Hank meanwhile was trying to talk them into letting the paramedics take him to the hospital - or Hank would drive - this seemed to satisfy the kids until Hank said "I want you guys to come with me," and they balked. Nobody offered to drive Jerry to the hospital for Hank, probably because these kids weren't old enough to drive. Jerry, who looked to be the oldest, was probably their transportation. Anyhow they finally walked off into the sunset and I really pitty Jerry for his friends - also for the way he no doubt felt the next day.
When we got to Buffalo we headed for the War Memorial Colesium, where I thought the show was. Buffalo is a dirty, run-down place on the whole. The War Mem. was in a bad section, like Hartford going toward the North End.
The Collesium itself was a beat-up wooden place, open air like a baseball stadium. No ded heds or hairy people or lines of cars. The gravelly parking lots were practically empty (except for rusting car wrecks). We couldn't believe our eyes, after driving all that way, to arrive at a place like this. Was the concert cancelled? As soon as we came to a more decent neighborhood, we pulled in at a college and Keith and Leonard went in to call a radio station. Hank and I got out and stretched. We took out the tickets. On them it listed the collesium as the Buffalo Memorial.
Ah ha! We whipped out the map of Buffalo + sure enough, on the other side of town was a Buffalo Mem. Collesium. I painted WE FOUND IT on the car + Hank went to find L + Keith. He couldn't - came back and we waited.
We finally got together + left for the right place. The roads, especially main street, were all torn up with abandoned construction. The whole center was ripped out + lanes went on either side, very slow traffic. "I'd hate to see this place in rush hour," Keith said. "I don't want to think about that" Hank said, who was driving.
We parked a couple blocks away, got out, waited for Keith to roll some bones + went to find some cold beer.
No luck. Keith was very determined and we walked back + forth = at one point we were led from a liquor store ("go to the drug store down there") to a drug store ("must have meant the CVS, we don't have any") down to CVS and up carpteted stairs and to the back - NO COLD BEER! I didn't care, L. didn't and Hank was luke warm, but Keith really wanted some. No luck. We stood outside the door of CVS and people would come up to the door, Keith would say "No cold beer," and they'd say "No cold beer?" "Oh wow." "No cold beer! Wow." And they wandered away.
Soon we wandered away, explored a dull mall "How many shoe stores do they have in here?" Keith said. We went to eat lunch at a Wendy'swhere I got into the interior designing - brick walls, wall papered walls of 2 different designs, linoleum floor, carpeted floor of garish colors, mirrors, enlarged photos of farm scenes on walls, plastic tables (very modern), wood (?) carved doorways, and the inevitable strings of purple, pink, red, gold, yellow, blue, green plastic crystals hanging in strings from arches over the salad bar. Somebody said later, when I was describing this, "Yeah, and they had, you know, when you punch plastic out of a mold, it leaves little nubs?"
We waited for Keith to buy a bottle of rum - as consolation for not finding cold beer - to put in the Coke Hank had brought a six-pack of. In the parking garage we had wine, I gave everybody a couple hits of speed, and Keith w/ rum + Coke was rolling bones. I got the speed very cheap from a kid named Vinny - 3 Black Beauties for a dollar - I could have made a few cents selling them for 2 to a dollar but I'd rather give them to Keith and Hank who had been doing all the driving. Anyhow Keith was sitting on the wall against which our car was parked - second floor of the garage - the front of the car against the wall, over the wall was the ramp leading down to the first floor. I wandered around, painted We'se in Buffalo! on the car, + sat down beside Keith. Wondered if the cid was still working and admired the swirl-designs of the garage floor. On the other side of the ramp to the 1st floor was the outer railing + we could see across the street to other buildings, such as the mall. I was watching Keith + out of the corner of my eye I saw something fall - thought it must have been a jacket or something, but I remember an arm hitting the railing of our floor. (Keith says my eyes popped out of my head.) Nobody else saw it and at the time I thought they had seen it was a jacket + had not been worried. A minute later I heard a moaning + ran down the ramp, around the corner to the railing, expecting to see ... He was lying with one arm out, knees curled up. I ran down + saw Hank jump off the railing - I didn't want to jump that far. At the corner of that floor I jumped + went over to the kid. Keith appeared over the railing on our second floor + I looked up at the third floor - what a long way! I was sure he must have broken his back or neck or something, especially the way I thought he had fallen. A bus had stopped and the driver had gone to call an ambulance.
Soon the kids friends showed up - losers, dressed like tough guys which made them look pretty silly since they didn't seem to be older than fifteen or so. The youngest one started blubbering, his eyes puffy + face red from drinking - he said "Jerry, man, you can't do this to us" and the unspoken part was: we want to see the concert and you're ruining it. Meanwhile Hank was trying to keep the guy awake.
"Jerry" wasn't talking but staring with glassy eyes and screwed up mouth in pain. He rolled over on his back, put out his legs + lay there. We waited while the ambulance wailed down one street and another. people walked by, one guy strode toward us and after looking coolly at the kid, asked if we had any extra tickets. We saw the ambulance stop way down the street, flashing its lights, and it stayed there. We waited. Finally some kids passing ty ran down to tell the bastards they had the wrong place.
Etc. Etc. Etc. As it turned out, Jerry wasn't mortally wounded, could stand up straight in fact, and although obviously wasted on liquor (pills?) trying to get his feet in his sneakers and foaming at the mouth, his friends encouraged him to go to the show. "Come on man, you're all right, let's go to the show." Hank meanwhile was trying to talk them into letting the paramedics take him to the hospital - or Hank would drive - this seemed to satisfy the kids until Hank said "I want you guys to come with me," and they balked. Nobody offered to drive Jerry to the hospital for Hank, probably because these kids weren't old enough to drive. Jerry, who looked to be the oldest, was probably their transportation. Anyhow they finally walked off into the sunset and I really pitty Jerry for his friends - also for the way he no doubt felt the next day.
posted by Asher Abrams at 11:26 PM
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