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To my knowledge, Jimmy Buffett has never played here in Buffalo, so unless you are a Parrothead from this area and have traveled to see Jimmy Buffett, you may be unfamiliar with the type of tailgating that takes place. This drunken event that we are about to get into takes place in early August of 2005, less than 2 months after the PNC Park Jimmy Buffett concert, which some of you may recall from the "Drunkest Weekend of my Life parts 1 & 2" blogs. The Summer of 2005 was quite the alcohol fueled adventure that I fondly look back on as my "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas".
With the fresh memories, or should I say blurry recollections from Pittsburgh some six weeks earlier, myself, Izzy, Digital, Digital's Bitch and some other friends of Digital decided to go to the Kenny Chesney concert at HSBC Arena in Downtown Buffalo. The Concert starts at 8pm so we decide to get there at 3pm and get all shit-faced before going into the concert. Digital did not attend the Buffett concert with us down in Pittsburgh and he had heard the tales of the drunken debauchery from that weekend, so we decided to bring that same atmosphere with us to the Chesney concert. Now everyone hangs out around their vehicles and drinks their beverage of choice before concerts here in Buffalo, so pre-gaming for the show was not a new concept... but grass skirts, coconut boobs, pirate flags and rowdiness on the roofs of vehicles just might be.
So as planned, Izzy and I arrive at the parking lot in front of the venue at 3pm, Digitial lets us know he will within the hour. There are not many vehicles in the lot this early, but there are a few others drinking beer and one other particular group that has potential to be a wild tailgate. This amuses me... Izzy and I set up shop, make some pleasantries with the potential wild party goers around us, and I continue to put on my grass skirt. I can tell from the looks of most of the people around us that they do not know what to make of me, but the potential wild group understands where we are coming from and puts some Jimmy Buffett on their radio. We recognize that they are a good group and do shots with them. We are a few drinks deep when Digital arrives with his posse, he sets up and joins me wearing a grass skirt.
As cars start filling the parking lot, we are getting drunker, the pirate flags that we had been flying off of the vehicles have been removed and have now become fixtures in our hand that was not holding a beer. People are still looking at us, but I am not sure if it is in horror or envy because we are the life of the parking lot and are having more fun that just about anyone else (I only say that because the potential wild ones and us have merged together while partying). Digital and I are on top of the truck waving the flags acting like drunken fools and having a grand old time.Slowly but surely people are meandering over taking pictures of us, mulling around to see what the excitement is all about in our section of the parking lot.
My favorite moment of the night came while I was on top of the vehicle waving a flag with a beer in hand... My mother calles my cell phone.
Mom: Mike???
Me: Hey Mom, What's up?
Mom: Are you by any chance downtown by the arena right now?
Me: Yeah, why?
Mom: Well, I am driving home on the Skyway and I see someone down below standing on top of a truck wearing a grass skirt waving a pirate flag. (For the non Buffalonians, the Skyway is an aweful looking high overpass that runs along Lake Erie that leads you into Downtown Buffalo)
Me: You can see me from up there... sweet! I gotta go Mom, I'm drinking.
Mom: Yes I can, I knew it had to be you. Please becareful.
Only a mother can recognize her asshole, whom I bet she views as an embarasment of a son from that distance... I love her.
Knowing that not only the people in the lot can see us, but the people from the Skyway can as well excites me and reenforces the decision to continue with this behavior. After a while of partying like we had been, two ladies come over and ask if they can join us on top of the truck. They are cute, so we allow them to join us on the truck. We pass out a round of drinks and the madness continues. These girls were actually pretty cool, they were taking the cardboard cases of beer and somehow forming them into makeshift cowboy hats which impresses me in my drunken stupor. The people that were just stopping by to check out our antics were now meandering around us. Our behavior must have been infectious, I have a vast view of the parking lot from my roof top perch and notice a yellow pickup truck with approximately ten young ladies dancing in the flatbed. I see this as an opportunity to expand our party territory, so I get off of the truck and walk over to this pickup truck. As I am walking over the girls yell "Hey, its the guy with the flag! Get in here with us!" I knew opportunity was knocking, so I opened the door and joined them in the flat bed, flag in hand. They ask what the deal is with the grass skirts and pirate flags and I respond with "Why not?" The girls take the flag and take turns waving it. Who knew girls liked pirates... Oh yeah, Disney and Mr. Depp did.
I party with them with a bit and I notice over at our tailgate that there are some new ladies on our roof top party zone so I wander back over. One of the girls is really attractive. I ask Izzy, who is over at another tailgate party drinking someone's rum "what's up with this?" He says "I dunno, they're Canadian. I met them over there." Nice score Izzy! We join the ladies on the roof and the fun continues. After a few moments of revelry, their boyfriends come over and they do not look happy. The girls tell them to go back to their area and they will be back soon. A half hour later the girls are still partying with us. Their friends make a return appearance and the girls eventually leave without incident. Maybe if their boyfriends did not have a stick up their ass and let loose like we did, their girls would not be wandering over to other parties.
It gets to be around concert time and Digital and his people go in to see the show from the start, opening acts and all. I have no desire to see the first act, so Izzy and I stay out for another beer. We get inside and run into Digital's Bitch girlfriend and she is asking where Digital is. I respond with "Thought he was with you?" Well he was not. He was so shit-faced that once he got inside and went to the bathroom, he decided that he was so hammered that he wanted to go sleep in the car. He did not even tell her he was leaving... Classic! As we get in to our seats Gretchen Wilson, who was the second act, was in the middle of a cover of Black Dog by Led Zepplin and to my surprise it was really good. During Kenny Chesney's set he covered Jimmy Buffett's Cheeseburger in Paradise, so we've come full circle making the tailgate experience of the day all worth it.
Overall this was a day where we had gotten really drunk, had some fun and show Buffalo a little tailgating Parrothead style. No real debauchery occurred here, it was just a good time and I wanted to talk about it. I know that some people have caught on after this event as to the pirate flags being waved at other events have occurred. The part that gets me most was that someone decided to play capture the flag at the following year's concert. Yes, someone sole my original pirate flag, which saddens me because that flag and I had gone through so much debauchery together. Either someone wanted the flag to party like us or they despised us and what we stood for so they took our symbol of revelry. I bet it was option two... I wonder if those Canadians guys were back the next year for the show?
I party with them with a bit and I notice over at our tailgate that there are some new ladies on our roof top party zone so I wander back over. One of the girls is really attractive. I ask Izzy, who is over at another tailgate party drinking someone's rum "what's up with this?" He says "I dunno, they're Canadian. I met them over there." Nice score Izzy! We join the ladies on the roof and the fun continues. After a few moments of revelry, their boyfriends come over and they do not look happy. The girls tell them to go back to their area and they will be back soon. A half hour later the girls are still partying with us. Their friends make a return appearance and the girls eventually leave without incident. Maybe if their boyfriends did not have a stick up their ass and let loose like we did, their girls would not be wandering over to other parties.
It gets to be around concert time and Digital and his people go in to see the show from the start, opening acts and all. I have no desire to see the first act, so Izzy and I stay out for another beer. We get inside and run into Digital's Bitch girlfriend and she is asking where Digital is. I respond with "Thought he was with you?" Well he was not. He was so shit-faced that once he got inside and went to the bathroom, he decided that he was so hammered that he wanted to go sleep in the car. He did not even tell her he was leaving... Classic! As we get in to our seats Gretchen Wilson, who was the second act, was in the middle of a cover of Black Dog by Led Zepplin and to my surprise it was really good. During Kenny Chesney's set he covered Jimmy Buffett's Cheeseburger in Paradise, so we've come full circle making the tailgate experience of the day all worth it.
Overall this was a day where we had gotten really drunk, had some fun and show Buffalo a little tailgating Parrothead style. No real debauchery occurred here, it was just a good time and I wanted to talk about it. I know that some people have caught on after this event as to the pirate flags being waved at other events have occurred. The part that gets me most was that someone decided to play capture the flag at the following year's concert. Yes, someone sole my original pirate flag, which saddens me because that flag and I had gone through so much debauchery together. Either someone wanted the flag to party like us or they despised us and what we stood for so they took our symbol of revelry. I bet it was option two... I wonder if those Canadians guys were back the next year for the show?
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