Photo Op-ended

I want to relay this story for my cousin:

Back in 1982 I was a freshman in high school whose musical horizons were expanding.  I had grown up on a lot of R&B and Funk, but by now I had started playing guitar and developing a love for rock music.  Added to that mix were the intriguing punk and new wave bands you wouldn't hear anywhere else but KROQ.  Back then is when I first discovered the band that would eventually become my all time favorite - the not quite punk, not quite new wave, British "art pop" band XTC.

At that time their songs had been getting a lot of KROQ airplay.  So you can't imagine how excited I was to hear they would be playing gig at the Hollywood Palladium soon.  I so wanted to go to that show!  The only problem was I was too young to drive and couldn't think of anyone in my family who would take a 14 year old to a concert at a club in Hollywood.  And we're talking back in the day when Hollywood was grimy, nasty, bombed out, drug-infested, dangerous Hollywood!

It wouldn't have mattered anyway.  Three weeks before XTC's scheduled gig at the Hollywood Palladium on April 4,1982, the lead singer had a panic attack on stage in Paris.  They would perform only one more concert - in San Diego on April 3rd.  After that they would hang up their guitars, go back to England and never tour again.  Hollywood Palladium?  Cancelled.

Flash forward to the year 2000.  Luckily for me the band still put out albums.  They had disappeared off my radar after 1982 but I found them again a few years later.  Now they were going to be in L.A. again promoting their latest release at the (late) Virgin Megastore at Sunset and Crescent Heights.  This band, which has my favorite songwriter, favorite bass player and favorite guitarist, rarely left England.  This band whose songwriting craft and production I studied so intently was going to be just a couple miles from where I worked.  Hell if I was going to miss out!

So after work I drove to the Virgin Megastore and waited in a long line for a couple hours with one of those disposable drug store cameras in hand.  I finally get my turn to meet two of my all time favorite musicians in the world!  I was beyond cloud nine!  I knew an autograph wouldn't be enough for me, I wanted a photo with these guys.  Thankfully, someone graciously snapped a photo of me with each guy.  And I got to genuinely thank them for all the music they created that brought such joy to my life.

When I got back to my car in the parking lot, I had to sit there for a minute.  This had been one of the most thrilling moments in my life.  I was so happy.  I couldn't f*cking believe I met them.  I drove off with my camera planning to get the film developed soon.

Some time after that I'm finally getting the film developed.  I couldn't wait until those pics were ready!  But when I picked them up from the drug store...there were no pictures of this event at all.  WTF!?  Maybe it was the other disposable camera I had laying around.  But now I couldn't find it.  Somehow, after this most magical event in my life, I lost the friggin' camera!!!

To this day I have no idea what happened to that camera.  I never got my pics.  These guys went back to England, recorded one more album and then disbanded for good.  But you know what, I'm glad I did it.  I'm glad I summoned up the courage to even meet them.  I'm glad I got to tell them how much their music meant to me.  I just wish I had a photo of it lol!