The Eagle's Wet Wings -- Posted by "The Eagle"

Dear Everybody,

I’ve been to plenty of concerts in my life. From being in the very last row of the Meadowlands for Billy Joel and Elton John (where the video screens didn’t sync with the music, since sound travels slower than light), to front row at U2 right after 9/11 (an emotional experience that can never be matched). So when I was offered to tickets to see R.E.M. on Saturday night, I leapt at the chance. Last concert I went to was (sigh) Poison and Cinderella. Please don’t ask me to explain. No really, please don’t.

Anyway, the venue for the concert is one of the greatest in the U.S.: The Nikon Theater at Jones Beach, outdoors and right on the water. During the summer you can smell the salt off the inlet, down a brew in the parking lot and catch a concert as the sun goes down over the ocean. Pure musical heaven.

So here I am, with my friend Lauren when the opening band comes on (Modest Mouse, great music, highly recommended). A few songs into their set, a few raindrops fall. Then a few more. Then fat drops, nickel-sized ones pelting my bald pate. We quickly huddle under the bleachers, escaping the torrent descending from the heavens.

"It’s pretty humid," I comment. "We’re due for a bit of--"

KRAKKA-KA-THOOOM!!! Ozone permeates my nostrils a split second before the entire ampitheater shakes -- shakes!!! -- and we realize the stadium was just struck by lightning.

The P.A. Announcer comes on the microphone: "For your own safety, please find shelter underneath the concourse." Lauren’s shaken up but hanging tough. I take her hand and walk her down the stadium steps (‘cause in a lightning storm, really ain’t too smart to hold a metal handrail. Just a thought…). At the bottom, we see the storm’s impact: the entire plaza is flooded. People caught in the rain react as if literal pennies from heaven are crashing into them. An ugly, ugly scene.

"I’m not dressed for this, I gotta go," Lauren tells me. Perfectly understandable, and as she leaves I have to make a choice: do I wait it out, hope the rain subsides, or head home to the comfort of my couch?

Decisions like this are a lot like life: at the first sign of distress, do you retreat to the known, wait for more security, or venture outright into the unknown? What kind of person are you?

The storm’s intensity increased, threads of lightning illuminate the sky in beauty and terror as we bear witness to flooding. No way R.E.M.’s playing in this…

"Ladies and Gentlemen, R.E.M. will take the stage in ten minutes!" Are you kidding? No, nope, can’t be happening, they expect people to watch them in this torrential downpour? Or...is it all that crazy? Rock 'n' Roll vs. Mother Nature; who wins that battle?

Once again, ask yourself what kind of person you are. Seek out shelter from whatever falls on you, or hold your head up high and potentially experience something new? Play it safe or take a risk?

My phone rings; it’s my friend Jessica, also at the concert and a few gates down. "What are you doing?"

"It’s just water. I’m gonna watch ‘em. You?"

"Me too!" she responded. And soon, we squatted in center-row seats abandoned by the less adventurous, watching Michael Stipe open with "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" Classic…

* * * * *

And today…I have pneumonia.

Standing in the rain for two hours as wind blows off the water and chills you will do that to you.

So I’m downing Chloraseptic like it’s going out of style and having a lot of soup, still…the experience was fantastic. Nothing like hearing the crash of drums accompanied by actual thunder. Music as wave after wave of rain cascades on top of you. Something I wouldn’t trade for the world.

So go ahead. Laugh at my expense. Tell me I’m dumb for standing in the rain listening to music I love. Tell me I deserve to be sick.

And I’ll tell you I’ll get better. And I’ll have an experience you’ll never share. And a million others just like it, because I had the guts to do what you didn’t.

Enjoy all the comforts you have, but don’t be a slave to them. If you don’t realize it, they could become your own prison. But free from their grasp, you can do anything you want…even if it means having a case of the sniffles.

Just something to think about; hope this email finds you well.

Peace Out,
The Eagle