Recollections of a Brilliantly Barbarous Birthday Bender

I remember it was my birthday, a Friday night in the year with three zero's. I decided to go to a concert with friends, for what better way to celebrate the passing of time than with friends and various attempts at hilarity? It was a magical time, there was an electricity in the air, our youth attracted it, like we were keys flying on the back of some scientists kite.

The city was alive that day, as it is most days, but with a tinge of energy that had me now and then entranced. My friends and I had elected to indulge in a splendid assortment of potions for the evening, in our minds assuring us of a mind bendingly good time. It was the beginning of summer, the promise of the new season had everyone in high spirits. The sun had shone during the day and its presence spelled out to us the possibilities of days and days of starlight to guide us on our forages across the planet in the coming months.

We were then very excited when evening came again to cover the earth, a soothing balm to the brightness of the day, though the land and things on it, still radiated the warmth of the now absent star. We strode down the street, kicking our heels up, yelling, laughing and telling great yarns of how wonderful we were.
We found ourselves in the surrounds we had chosen to take up before the evenings entertainment and stationed ourselves there for the allotted time. There was a buzz amongst us as we chose to imbibe fluid and some of the substances we had on hand to help us reach some conclusion that only each individual could know. But we laughed and joked and time passed freely like water running through a brook, it bubbled and coursed, as we did with it.

I remember this all as if I was there, but also as if I was not. I was someone else I suppose, an element of who I am now, but also something a lot rougher but also more refined, a contradiction really, something I find myself to be now also. The music was always a huge part of any time spent among friends, and the battle for supremacy that took place amongst us. Each trying to wrest control of the device which played it, so that we could attempt to show our friends what we felt when we listened to particular songs. Of course there were also the tunes that were loved by a few, but very rarely was everyone satisfied at any choice. The battle raged on as our actions became blurred, and then in certain moments, crystal clear, clarity and chaos, intermingling over the minutes and the hours.

We made our way to the town hall to hear the music. Two favorite performers this evening at the building by the pyramid and the suspended metal globe. The action of making way into the concert is a blur that is partially available to my mind as I heark back, but it has faded to the point where our entry to the actual organ hall is more readily rapidly reminisced.
We walked about for awhile and then I remember myself and a certain dread-locked fellow ended up dancing on top of a roof that was above the eastern door of the the hall, it was a great spot. A merry dance it was, though I remember complaining to my friend that the band kept bringing the music up before inexplicably diverting themselves from the crescendo. He laughed at me, telling me I was being controversial because of the potions and continued to dance.

I recall thinking that there was a especially conspicuous remember of this band that was nowhere to be seen. I peered down over the side of the roof we stood on and into the crowd, it was like looking over a cliff. All through the crowd around the stage I looked, before my eyes settled on a thick line of electrical cords, they snaked back through the hall, under the feet of parts of the gathered listeners. I followed the cords backwards through the hall, and suddenly there he was, the very fellow I had been wondering about, controlling the desk, arms moving in all different directions, turning dials, moving switches, tweaking the experience of everyone present, unbeknown to many of those listening.

Just then a familiar sound was heard from the stage, the beginnings of a bass-line from a well loved number of theirs and it seemed to spur the man at the desk to action of a different sort and he strolled from the desk toward the front of the hall, generating a wave of realization around many that he passed as they saw him go. When he reached the stage he walked straight on, picked up an acoustic guitar and started the riff that the crowd knew so well.
Illumination! A literal cloud of sweet smoke rose from those below as the song amplified through the hall and lifted the crowd to a new level of excitement.
It was a splendid thing to see all of this happen and I remember at the time thinking how wonderful it was and that it was a moment I would never forget, I am glad that I have not, it was spectacularly cool.
We danced like druids at an ancient ceremony, time flowing around us, suspended in portions of seconds, energy flowing from us and everyone else as the band played on, it was a truly enchanted moment, I remember experiencing the most maddening epiphany, spectacular insight into everything I knew for a few moments, and then it was gone. It whirled back to me again and again, after that, over the night and the weekend.

The concert actually ended soon after this and we left into the night, walking the streets, talking and laughing, singing and dancing, free in the darkness and safe in our group, but friendly and happy toward others as we ambled through the town back to the very place we had been only a half hour before the concert.
Conversations sparkled and died, moments of inspiration lit up the room and then drifted into the night, we replenished our supplies and went in search of adventure through the streets. We soon found a bar and played some pool, of all things, all incredibly invigorated by potions and a magical music show, but at the time it seemed to fit.
On through the night we bubbled and coursed, like water through stones, alive and imagining what we would do, then sometimes doing it and sometimes wondering why we imagined. The night went on and events moved around us as we whirled on through town wilder than before, now becoming torrential at times, as the water reached new levels, now more a waterfall than a brook and we cascaded into new places and conversations, new introductions and sometimes old faces met again.

We walked many places, a ball of energy now, amidst the slow drunken stumbling, we darted like hummingbirds compared to the slothful lurching and stumbling that went on around us. Eventually we made it back to the abode we had been in directly before we made our way to the gig and we decided it was time to listen to more music and carry on the party. We did so and then two strange visitors arrived.
They proceeded to sell us a car for a very reasonable sum, a ridiculous sum in fact and it was decided that myself and a chum would take this vehicle and journey northward in search of exotic herb. It seemed brilliant at the time, and it was.
We had a hell of a time moving the car onto the road as it was stuck in some mud when we found it, but it was soon on the road and myself and one who occasionally scrapes were off, around town we went, still buzzing a million thoughts a minute, but somehow making perfect sense to each other and finding our way to the motorway and northward. The drive was exhilarating and magic, certainly more interesting than many car journeys I have taken, though equal in eventfulness to others.
We reached our destination making sure we took many concoctions to keep energy up, legal and illegal and all in the name of fun and adventure. Once we were there we had to look about the place to find out how we would get what it was we meant to get. Luckily someone we knew helped out and we found ourselves with exactly what we had made the trip for and proceeded to my co-pilots friends house to socialize. All the while making sure we kept ourselves awake and alert, energy drinks, alcohol and other substances, the mind was flying like a mad dragon, wheeling through the air breathing fire.

We saw many people in this state, even managing a quick visit to my parents, which I remember partially. We went all over the plains visiting, seeing all sorts of people and blasting through time. Finally some respite, at a cousins house in the wee small hours I slid off into unconsciousness, a few hours I slept, before being awoken by my cousins son, as he rapped a popular rhyme at the time along to the stereo, dancing about laughing, I was flabbergasted at the time, it was a funny moment.
Soon after my co-pilot returned from his errand and we embarked again for the capital, to complete the mission, indulging ourselves in mind altering things again as we went, to the benefit of ourselves and others.

The most astonishing storm greeted us on the way through the middle of the island, thunder, otherworldly wind, horizontal rain, debris and lightning. It was a torrid time.

At one stage we found a tree blocking the road, and despite our state and the nature of our cargo, decided the only thing to do was to try and alert someone to move it. The one who scrapes on occasion, stayed at the car, intent on signaling the presence of the hazard, while I made my way toward the lights further up the road, battling the storm to try to get there. In the end I remember the only way forward was on my hands and knees crawling like an animal along the fence-line, the wind howling over my head like a thousand banshees.

It was a strange moment when I made it to the house, as a high profile event in the news at the time had involved criminal types invading farm houses and holding up the inhabitants, a young man inside demanded an explanation for my presence before opening the door. Soon afterward I was riding a tractor with his older neighbor, back to the scene of the accident, the machine fighting its way through the elements with us perched gratefully on its back.

It was amusing to see when we got there that a man had pulled the tree to the side of the road, a big hulk of a man, but one man all the same, my co-pilot and I were momentarily amazed, then said our goodbyes and drove off southward, through the storm, to the city at the bottom of the island. It was just after ten pm Sunday, the weekend was almost over.