Queens, Car Alarms, Stomach Bugs…My Weekend In A Nutshell

There’s never really a great time to get sick, but the day of your first concert in a year is especially not a great time. Months ago I was lucky enough to snag a couple tickets to see Queens of the Stone Age down in Indianapolis at the TCU Amphitheater for the boy and I. First I saw that they were going to be in Indy, so I sent my son a text asking him if he’d be interested in seeing QOTSA. His immediate reaction was “YES!” I mean, we like a lot of the same music but we’d never really talked about QOTSA. Knowing he was a fan I was able to get us a couple decent seats under the roof of the amphitheater, so in case it rained we’d stay nice and dry.

The show was Friday September 22nd. The night before my stomach started bothering me. I chalked it up to maybe just excitement, or something I ate. By Friday morning I was good and cramping. I still had my appetite, but every time I ate within 15 minutes my stomach would get that feeling when you’d swallow a pill on an empty stomach. That kind of queasy, cramp-y feeling that says “You might thrown up. You might not. Stay tuned and find out.” Fantastic. Just what I needed on a 2 1/2 hour drive there and back, with dinner and 4 hours in a crowd with people rocking out.

Let the games begin.

We left about 1:30 pm and within 15 minutes of the drive I was yawning every couple minutes. I’m supposed to be pumped up and ready to rock with Josh Homme and Co, yet I’m yawning like a kid in preschool right before nap time. About an hour into the drive I ask my son if he’s hungry and he says he is, so we stop at the Golden Arches for some fries and a shake. We needed something to tide us over before we got to Indy for the pre-main event, which was dinner at Shapiro’s Delicatessen. Shapiro’s is a famous and historic deli in Indianapolis. Cafeteria-style dining with the best Reuben sandwich you’ll ever eat. They’re the number 4 rated best deli in the country, so you know that pastrami is tender, yo. I was looking forward to the meal about as much as the concert, so of course I’d get a stomach bug.

The food woke us up, but as I’d feared the stomach started getting cramped. It subsided a bit, but as we hit traffic in the big city there was some anxiety flaring up a bit, which made my stomach return to Def Con 3. After some Pole Position maneuvering on 465 and I-70 we made it to Shapiro’s. It sat in the shadow of Lucas Oil Stadium, which is where the Indianapolis Colts play(and where my wife will be seeing Taylor Swift next year at some point.

The last time we’d eaten at Shapiro’s was back in November of 2011, when we’d celebrated Thanksgiving in a cabin in Brown County with my parents. The boy barely remembered, but seeing it again he recalled where we sat when we ate with my parents. He’s got a gift for remembering those sorts of odd details. Anyways, we got in line and ordered; I of course got the Reuben, potato salad, and we grabbed a piece of chocolate cake to split. My son got baked chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans. It was all excellent, but I could barely eat half the sandwich. Visions of running to the restroom at the concert as QOTSA barrels through “Regular John” or “Misfit Love” haunted my brain. I decided I’d chase dinner with Tums instead of the cake, for good measure.

We got to the venue a good 45 minutes before showtime, so we had plenty of time to hit the bathroom and find our seats. Jehnny Beth opened the evening. Beth was in the band Savages, and her solo output is almost industrial in sound. Her band consisted of herself on vocals, another woman on keys, and a guy on bass. It was like PJ Harvey mixed with NIN’s Pretty Hate Machine. They were phenomenal. Completely blew me way.

Next up was Viagra Boys, a Swedish band with an American singer. They were incredible. Punk, post-punk, art rock,…whatever their trip I’m all in. They were loud, fast, and full of attitude. Think Iggy Pop with touches of Protomartyr, Dead Kennedys, and The Tubes. Consider me a fan.

Finally up was Queens of the Stone Age. What an unbelievable show. They opened with the one-two-three punch of “No One Knows”, “Sick, Sick, Sick”, and “Smooth Sailing”. They covered ground from all of their albums(though, I can’t remember anything from their debut.) A big surprise was “Better Living Through Chemistry” off Rated R. Was not expecting to hear that one. And during “Make It Witchu” they slid right into the Stones’ “Miss You”, a flawless transition. The band was on fire. They closed the night with “A Song For The Dead”.

As far as concerts go, this was a top five best concert for me. We saw NIN almost a year ago to the Queens gig and my son said he thought overall the Queens show was better than NIN. As a whole I’d agree, but that NIN show was pretty next level. Just sayin’.

We got home around 1:40 am, which was actually earlier than I thought it’d be. Only needed to stop once, which given the state of my digestive system was a miracle.

Next day I was on a mission, and that mission was to repair my car. The day before my drivers side window wouldn’t go down. There was no noise or anything, it just seemed to stop working. I knew it wasn’t the motor, as the button to control my window felt loose and was sitting higher up than the other buttons. It had broken. After a little research at work I found out you can buy the whole master switch and swap it out in less than five minutes. They sold them on Amazon for the low, low price of $26. Seemed to good to be true(and you know what they say about those sorts of things.)

So on Friday I ordered this part and Saturday morning it arrived. I pulled up my Youtube tutorial video and rewatched it, then headed out to the garage. The fix was indeed about five minutes(probably less.) And within minutes I had a working window once again. I was thrilled, as I know I saved myself a TON of dough. It would have cost my $75 just for someone to look at my car, let alone have it fixed.

The wife and I headed into town afterwards to grab a couple things. We went to Meijer first, and when we came back out I unlocked the car and when I opened the door my car alarm went off. So here’s something you need to know about my car, it’s a 2008 Honda Accord EX-L. I bought it two years ago for a very good price. The key fab never worked. I changed the battery, I tried getting new one but could never get the fab to connect to the car. There was something causing the fabs to just not work, so this whole time I’ve had to manually lock and unlock the door. So when the alarm went off I had no way of turning the damn thing off.

After thirty seconds of looking like a deer in headlights I closed the door, locked it, and the alarm turned off. After some frantic Googling my wife got the idea to pull the fuse from the fuse box under the hood for the horn. We did that, I unlocked and opened the door, and no alarm. The horn even worked when I pressed it. But the check engine light came on. Great. So we got in the car, finished our errands, and headed home.

I’m pretty sure the check engine light is on because we think the fuse my wife pulled was for the fuel injection and not the horn. We put the fuse back in and no horn. I “think” the error just needs erased and it will be fine. As for the window, well I got what I paid for. I’m planning on replacing the master window switch with an actual Honda part instead of a knock off.

The fun just never stops.

So yeah, it was an exciting weekend of stomach pains, car mishaps, and rock and roll. Oh, and fine eating establishments. I wish I’d felt a little better for my first concert in a year, but you don’t choose stomach bugs: They choose you. Despite that, my son and I had a great time Friday. Road trip, food, and one hell of a rock and roll spectacle. And despite the stress of the car issues Saturday was even okay.

How was your weekend?