Nothing Says Kindergarten Like a Heavy Metal Concert

Yesterday was Saturday.  Guess what I did?  I got up early, caught a ride with a co-worker, traveled 90 miles in the school driver’s ed. car (that passenger side brake was so tempting!!), to attend the state kindergarten conference.  But, Vonda, you say.  You’re not a kindergarten teacher.  Why go to the kindergarten conference?  Good question.  The answer is, I really like the kindergarten teacher.  She asked if I wanted to go.  I welcome any opportunity to spend time with her.  

It was not the first time I have attended a kindergarten conference with her.  I went last year as well.  I was student teacher under her at the time of the conference.  She thought it might be beneficial for me to go.   OK.  Why not?

It was too far to get up the morning of the conference and drive, so we decided to get a hotel room and make a weekend of it.  That should be fun.  Have a little girl time.  What else could we do while there?  We each decided to think about it and do some online searching for Fargo events that same weekend.  Hmmm...what could we do, what could we do??

A couple of weeks before the conference, the kindergarten teacher approached me a little timidly.  “I found something for us to do,” she offered hesitantly.  “Oh yeah?” I asked eagerly.  Art exhibit?  Craft fair?  Broadway musical?  Two-for-one night at the Hungry Heifer Buffet?

“There’s a concert in town that weekend,” she continued.  “There are several bands playing that night, actually.  It’s a big tour.”  I waited for more details.  Music genre was not being offered for acceptance or rejection yet.  “Ok,” I prompted.  “What kind of concert?”  Doggonit, I’m just gonna’ say it, I could almost hear her thinking.  “Heavy metal,” she finished confidently.  “There are a couple of bands I would really love to see,” she finished with, her voice trailing a bit.  She was losing the inner confidence battle, I could see.  I think she suddenly had become acutely aware of what she was asking a middle-aged, uncool mother of four to do. 

My co-worker is the picture of professionalism at school.  Dresses smartly, keeps personal issues compartmentalized in front of the students, does her job and does it well.  She is nurturing, intelligent, and compassionate.  That is the school version of our kindergarten teacher.  The one that walks out the door is a little less buttoned down.  She likes to howl at the moon a bit.  She is a roller derby queen (literally), and she likes to bang her head a little.  I absolutely love how unafraid she is to be who she is.  She is such an intriguing, lovable blend of uniqueness.  I respect and applaud her for that.

I owed her… big time.  When it came time for student teaching placement, I went to this woman and practically begged her to take the necessary course work in order to become a cooperating teacher through my university.  She never even hesitated.  Her heart is so big and golden that she would do anything for anybody.  I loved student teaching under her and watching how unfailingly patient she was with the high demands of such young children.  It was a rewarding experience.

So now she was asking for a reverse favor.  How could I say no?  I couldn’t and didn’t want to.  If she wanted to go, and wanted me to go with her, I would.  Of course I would.  Hey, this could be fun.  Certainly something to stick in my Things-I’ve-Never-Done file.  I adore new experiences.  OK, let’s do some head banging!

And so we did.  It was the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival tour.  You’ve probably heard of it (tongue firmly in cheek).  It featured two stages and eight bands.  Bands with names such as, Hail the Villain, Stone Sour, Avenged Sevenfold, Halestorm, and Disturbed.  Not surprisingly, I had heard of none of these, but my younger friend assured me these were big names in the genre and would put on a great show.  Even as I am typing this, I am laughing out loud.  You should have seen the looks on my own kids’ faces and heard the shock in their voices when I told them about my plans.  It was priceless!  “Mom!  Do you have any idea what you are going to?  Mom, there will be CUSSING!”  a.  No, I have no real idea of what I have in store, and b. I think I’m old enough to hang onto my moral moorings in spite of an evening of heavy metal mayhem. 

Just as priceless was waiting in line at the Fargo Dome to buy tickets, surrounded by more tattoos and black clothing than I had ever seen assembled in one place.  I suppose I stuck out a bit.  I really do not care.  This is America, after all.  If a middle-aged, squeaky clean, Naïve Nancy wants to see Disturbed in concert, why shouldn’t she? (I kept asking myself all night…).  As we are standing there, my friend spots a high school girl from our school standing in the line next to us.  Instead of finding black-clad youths with spiked mohaws to stand behind to hide, she grabs my arm and drags me over to her.  I wish I had a picture of the look on this young girl’s face at that moment.  Eyes widen to impossible sizes, jaw drops to her knees, and she exclaims loudly, “MRS. DAHL!!!  What are YOU doing here?”   Laughing I pulled her into my arms and said something along the lines of, “I have no idea….”

Did you just ask me if I enjoyed the show?  I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you properly.  I think I damaged my hearing somehow (I don’t know when or how)… 

Here’s my truthful assessment of that night.  Is it my new favorite genre of music?  No.  Although there were a few songs I didn’t mind.  Screaming into a microphone is not music to me (wow, did I just sound my age, or WHAT?!).  But there was this one female singer that was truly gifted.  Her voice was amazing.  I am glad I got to experience her talent. I called my children one by one on their cell phones and held mine high into the air so that they could experience it with me.  It was so loud in there that talking was impossible, but I knew they would want to share the moment with their mommy.  Even though they were spread out at universities hundreds of miles apart, I could almost see them rolling their eyes at my weirdness.  That’s all right.  Someday they will appreciate the fact that their mother was a lot of things, but boring, never.

The rest of my quick review of that night includes hours of loud music, screaming from the audience in response to the bands, some truly amazing stage shows, albeit darkly themed and even a little frightening.  During Avenged Sevenfold’s turn on the stage, a spotlight was suddenly shown on a man climbing along the rafters near the ceiling of the towering ceiling in that arena.  High above the crowd and just over the stage, he suddenly jumped, a rope tied around his neck.  I squealed.  I couldn’t help it.  I noticed everyone around me did the same thing.  It was a shocking sight.  Worse than that, his “lifeless” body was left to hang and swing over the band as they finished their song.  A mock suicide, obviously, but it was so realistic and disturbing that I couldn’t bring myself to look at him.  The crowd loved it and roared in appreciation.

Plumes of thick smoke began to rise from those standing in front of the stage.  Well, I’m guessing they weren’t frying chicken down there.  The man behind me got so excited about something shouted from the stage that his beer went down my back and soaked my hair.  I guess if I’m going to get the full experience, I might as well smell like it. 

I think the emotion that made the most impression on me throughout that night was the common feeling of dark hopelessness amongst those surrounding me and from those on stage.  It was a common bond that united this mass of people.  My friend probably has a completely different take on it.  I ‘m guessing she does.  It was incredibly brave of her take such an uncool person with her.  I love her for that. 

When the kindergarten teacher asked if I wanted to go to the conference with her again this year, I immediately said yes.  I had brought some good ideas back for my own classroom from the last one.  Jack Hartman was the featured guest.  The name will mean nothing to you unless you are a primary grade or early childhood teacher.  Jack Hartman is the Mick Jagger of classroom educational music.  I already owned one of his CD’s and use it daily in my classroom.  Absolutely did I want to see and hear him. 

We arrived in Jamestown on time, but were unsure of how to get to the elementary school.  We pulled into a gas station to try to Google Map it on her iphone.  Not having much luck, we went old school and went in to the service station to ask for directions.  As my friend was getting directions from the attendant, a man standing there interjected, “Just follow me.”  He walked out, got into his car, and like the pilot car on interstate road construction, he lead us right to the front door of the school.  Only in North Dakota.  We honked and waved appreciatively as he pulled away and left us to rescue some other damsel in distress, I suppose.

The conference was good.  Although did we really have to seat ourselves directly in front of the stage, like Jack Harman groupies??  I just knew he was going to call us up on to the stage to sing and dance like the fools.  He probably somehow spotted us for the metal heads we are and left us alone.

The workshops were beneficial, although I would have liked to of stood up during my morning session and publicly shamed the broads seated at the far end of the room who talked nonstop throughout the entire workshop.  How rude!  Shut up, already.  These ladies worked hard to put this presentation together.  Let them have their 45 minutes without behaving like kindergarteners yourselves.  There.  I feel better now for having gotten that off my chest.

I am glad that I went, both last year and this year as well.  It never hurts to broaden horizons and gain new insight and ideas.  I am also glad that I work with people I truly like and enjoy spending time with.  Work is fun because of them.

As we headed home in the late afternoon, sharing and laughing about the day, I felt a satisfied contentment with the place I am at in this phase of my life.  So much fun to have a career right now that I feel free to pour myself into without the stresses of a young family.  Life is good and fun and rewarding. 

I didn’t smell like beer, but it was a good day nevertheless.  Thanks, Gayla.  You (literally) rock!  :)