Hello/Goodbye

I have been in a few bands in my time, but the one that actually had songs comes with quite the amusing name and story.

I'm not sure which came first, the band name or the idea to start a band, but after BG found out I had a guitar, he decided I would be the band's new guitarist. We were a bit unorthodox with two singers and one guitar player who didn't know how to play.

I remember the night before our first scheduled band practice when I went with my friends to see Elliott Smith and Granddaddy play at the 930 Club in DC. Realizing my guitar knowledge was limited at best, I took to watching the guitarists that night as closely and as intently as I could. I thought that maybe I would become a better player by focusing on their technique.

Well, I don't know what I was thinking, because the next afternoon we gathered in my dorm room to write our first song, "Beth Comes Ripping." BG explained what the song was about, but he's crazy so I didn't even try to understand his references to "the thunderdome" and who, exactly, Beth was. And not only did I not know how to play the guitar, but I was embarassed to do so in front of them. With my position in the band on the line, though, I picked up my axe*, ready to play. BS taught me what power chords to play and we were off! We had our first song.

And our last.

But it was a good song and we even talked about taking it on the road. Or at least to the Underground, which is Mary Washington's coffee shop/small venue for music. A few days later I asked what the inspiration for the song was and BG explained that he had looked at an apartment down the street to rent that was inhabited by a girl named Beth. Apparently the apartment was dubbed "The Thunderdome" for whatever reason and I guess she was hott. I'm not sure, really. Remember that BG is crazy**.

We never did play our song live and now, six years later, I can't even remember why we stopped working on it. Somewhere, in my old computer backups is a sound file of BS playing the guitar part and BG singing the lyrics. I'm telling you, one day that file is going to be worth millions. "Beth Comes Ripping" is a long lost hit that never got its chance.




And that is the story of my band, Hello Shitty.




*Actually, just an acoustic guitar I had gotten for Christmas the year before. I didn't get my real axe (electric) until Christmas of that year.
**So many other stories to tell.