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March Madness: My Homemade Strokes T-Shirt

Ok guys, it’s about to get real personal right now. Over the course of Strokes March Madness I’ve shown you Strokes shoelaces, old concert photos taken on 35mm film, old newspaper flyers, and even shared a mp3 of a cassette tape recording of a live Strokes show from 2001, but I have yet to put up anything I actually made with my own two hands.

Now again, this was 10 years ago and my much much younger self thought that it would be soooo funny to make my own conversational Strokes t-shirt to wear at non-Strokes concerts. I was really into weird novelty t-shirts at the time, so I believed a cleverly-phrased custom shirt was a way to let fellow concertgoers know about my interest in The Strokes while being cool enough to make fun of the fact that I was a Strokes fan.

(You have to remember, in the early 2000s the Strokes were the most hyped band in the US and the UK, so anyone from New York had to also be mildly blase about the fact that they were a fan. Being too outwardly enthusiastic about them could be perceived as very uncool — like wearing a t-shirt of the band you are going to see.)

So what was a girl to do? Get out some scissors, fabric paint, and a stencil set of course!

Well the front seems pretty normal, right?


Continue reading “March Madness: My Homemade Strokes T-Shirt”

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March Madness: The Strokes’ Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel Setlist – 9/28/01

For those of you who enjoyed yesterday’s Strokes March Madness post about my first Strokes show on September 28, 2001, here’s my (signed) setlist from that night at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel.

The funniest thing though is something I found on the back of the setlist — someone (I think it may have been Fab) drew a play-by-play sketch of what happened on stage when Julian jumped into the audience. (The circle and squiggles on the right is where Julian was, the middle “x” is Albert, and the left “x” is Nick.)

Hahahah.

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March Madness: My First Strokes Show – Sept 28, 2001 in Providence, RI (with Live MP3)

One day when I was going through my stuff for Strokes March Madness I had a sudden epiphany — In the early 2000s I had a bizarre habit of recording tons of stuff on cassette tape, so I wondered if I might have recorded anything Strokes related.

Lo and behold, I found a 90 minute red Maxell UR tape labeled “THE STROKES – 9/28/01 – LUPO’S HEARTBREAK HOTEL PROVIDENCE, RI”.

Ohhh yeahhh…

This particular show is especially close to my heart because it was my very first Strokes gig.

Originally the show was supposed to be held at the much smaller sister venue, The Met Cafe, but due to demand they bumped the show up to Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel just around the corner. My friend J and her friend M got a ride up to the show from some totally random older dudes that M kinda knew.

The three of us sat in the back seat of the tiny compact car as the five of us drove for what felt like hours and hours in the midst of a torrential downpour. I distinctly remember seeing the red and blue Lupo’s neon sign through the raindrop-covered car window and thinking “wow, I’m going to see The Strokes!”

Of course it was one of the greatest concert nights of my life. I had already been totally obsessed with them for months and this show was the ignition point for my subsequent decade-long fandom. (I was originally supposed to see them for the first time on September 14th at Irving Plaza during that year’s CMJ, but then all the shows were canceled after 9/11.)

The crowd was really intense, with all these huge dudes pushing and shoving all us little kids in the front. It actually got so bad that I had to pull myself out of the crowd and I watched the rest of the show from the upstairs balcony.

It was because I was all the way up there that I witnessed what I consider to be a “classic” early Strokes moment:

In the middle of a song, Julian was looking into the crowd — then all of a sudden he throws down the microphone stand and LAUNCHES himself into the audience, causing a scuffle. The rest of the guys continue to play, but both Nick and Albert start edging their way to the front of the stage, nearly throwing down their own instruments and jumping in. At first no one can tell what was happening — but then within seconds the club bouncers are rushing to pull Julian — who’s fist was raised at this point — away from some dude in the crowd.

The bouncers pull the target of Julian’s ire out of the venue and JC climbs back up on the stage and the rest of the show goes on without incident.

Pretty much amazing, right?

So if you ever wondered what it might have sounded like to be at the September 28, 2001 show at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel, it’s your day. Here’s a MP3 conversion of my crappy cassette tape recording of The Strokes playing “Last Nite” from that show:

“Last Nite” (live) by The Strokes by missmodernage

UPDATE: View the signed setlist from the show.


Every day in for Strokes March Madness I’ll be posting something from my Strokes archive. Please tweet or FB like if you enjoy where this is going.

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March Madness: Alone, Together Lottery Ticket

You know how when people get up in age, they can turn into a crazy old cat lady? Well I’m realizing that after 20 days of consecutively posting about old Strokes memorabilia for Strokes March Madness month, I’m in the danger zone for being the archetype “crazy old Strokes lady.”

Despite that chilling possibility, I’m going to make good on my promise and keep posting these oldies but goodies until the end of the month.

I found this totally random Alone, Together lottery ticket in my pile o’ stuff. I can’t really remember what the ticket was supposed to win you. Maybe some special ticket to an upcoming show? A signed photo? A free hug from someone at Wiz Kid? Can anyone recall?

Every day in for Strokes March Madness I’ll be posting something from my Strokes archive. Please tweet or FB like if you enjoy where this is going.