Uptown Theatre

When I was 16 I was going to an alternative high school called the the Blue Valley Academy. BVA was a last ditch effort for kids who were failing out of their regular high schools in Blue Valley that caught kids from all over the district.

It was there that I crossed paths with a friend I hadn’t seen since middle school, a lifetime to a teenager, named John. John, like myself was - and still is - a musician. We bonded, as many teenagers do, purely over the fact that we both enjoyed guitar music even if our tastes were actually pretty different.

Guitar music to me meant The Mountain Goats and Bob Dylan, and to John it meant, if memory serves, Led Zeppelin and Nirvana. On our venn diagram however, our circles overlapped with our mutual love for one band that was very important to both of us; The Pixies.

Just as John and I had reunited that year in 2005, so did The Pixies - and Kansas City was on their tour routing where they would be playing at the Uptown Theatre. A concert of this caliber coming to our mid sized city in the early 2000s was a big deal. But the show sold out quick and we didn’t get tickets in time for whatever reason. It was like the plot to Detroit Rock City except we never had tickets to get burned in the first place.

But when the night eventually came John and I, along with our friend Grant, as if by fate, ended up driving past the Uptown where the marquee illuminated PIXIES SOLD OUT. Who knows what we were up to that night. Just cruising the strip, as teenagers do.

I had completely forgotten that the Pixies were even in town when I turned to John and asked - man why aren’t you at that show, they’re you’re FAVORITE band? - I then remembered John explaining that he had actually tried - but by the time he did it was already sold out. That and when he attempted to get tickets through our local radio station, 96.5 The Buzz, he was told he wasn’t a certified “Rockoholic” and thus he wasn’t eligible. I have no idea what this even means but I do remember him explaining it as the issue.

Whatever the case, we were ticketless, and needed to find a way in. In a moment of inspiration I instructed Grant to pull the car over as I declared I was going to somehow get us in. Grant pulled over and I jumped out of the vehicle and ran to the ticket booth. I remember purposely gassing myself for dramatic effect and my plan was to play dumb and hope the person in the ticket window took pity on me.

Out of breath I made my way to the booth and asked for three tickets please. The person behind the glass looked at me like I was crazy and responded by telling me two things; that it was sold out, and that the show was nearly over anyways.

But me and my friends just drove from Omaha! I lied, looking back and notioning for Grant and John. The man behind the glass then gave me some sort of look somewhere between pity and scepticism and said I can give you *two* tickets as he pushed two paper tickets across the counter.

Good enough! I took the tickets and turned around to show Grant and John. I did it! I told them, explaining that Grant wouldn’t be able to go in. Sorry Grant! My logic was that it was John’s favorite band, and I got us the tickets so we should go in. Plus, Grant had the car, and could drive himself home, and John and I would find a different way. Again, sorry Grant.

But once again, as if by fate, in that moment, some kinda rock n roll guardian angel, a man who at the time seemed old but in reality was probably in his late twenties saw us discussing who got to go in and who didn’t and asked if we wanted his extra ticket, nonchalantly handing it over to Grant.

Why was this man also getting to the show so late? And why did he have an extra ticket? Miracles don’t need logic.

As I type this I know it sounds like I’m making all of this up - but I’m not. It was just one of those magical nights that happens because you’re young and fearless and the universe, sometimes, abides. Sometimes you go out to greet the universe and you find that the universe is already out there, waiting for you to shake its hand.

My memory’s hazy, as this was 22 years ago, but I believe we ran into the venue during their encore as they were halfway through their song Hey, which according to the internet was their second to last song, followed by and ending the show with Gigantic - my favorite Pixies song. I still remember how god-like Kim Deal looked, playing the bass and singing the lines “and this I know, his teeth as white as snow…”. I also remember the elated look on John’s face as he sang along.

The show was over in a matter of minutes but it didn’t matter. We had actually SEEN the Pixies, and that was all that mattered.

I would recount this story to Kim Deal backstage at the Sydney Opera House in Australia 12 years later. I’ve shared a few backstages with Kim over the years and she’s one of the best examples of why one should absolutely meet their heroes.

But the whole point of this story is that the Uptown Theatre in Kansas City has long been my favorite venue in my hometown. It’s big but somehow intimate and beautiful and the sight of many of my favorite memories, like this one, during my formative years.

Besides the Pixies I also saw the Get Up Kids at their peak, buying my first ever vinyl 7” from their opener, the legendary Super Chunk. I also saw Bright Eyes at the Uptown during his world take over after I’m Wide Awake came out, and so on.

I have also performed there as part of Thundergong a few times over the years but headlining my own show there two weeks ago was an honor and a career, and life, highlight.

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Uptown. We pulled it off and I hope it’s the first of many xoxo.