Don't loan out CDs that you don't want to lose...

In the fall of 1994 I got to spend a few months in a magical, mythical place called London, England.  Our group from St. John's & St. Ben's were staying at what is now known as the Florida State University London Study Centre.  And in flat #... hell, I don't know.  One second I think it was 14, then I think it was 10, and suddenly its 8.  It really doesn't matter.  Anyway, in flat #whatever was me, Pete, Frosty, Ryan, Chad, and Andy.

Our flat was narrow.  First floor, small kitchenette/living room, bedroom, narrow hallway and handicap accessible bathroom (which is amazing, because given the aforementioned hallway, I'm pretty sure there's no way a wheelchair could access the place). End of the hallway, you basically do a 180° turn and go up the much more narrow staircase, at the top of which you could go into four places; the bedroom on the right, the shower, the toilet, or the bedroom on the left.

The upstairs bedrooms were a highlight of the place, and a sore spot.  A highlight because they had the most space, and each had a skylight window that gave both rooms plenty of natural light.  A sore spot, because Andy and I were supposed to room together.  But because I didn't get into the flat quickly enough, that went right out the, well, window.  Pete and Frosty grabbed the upstairs bedroom on the left, and Ryan and Andy grabbed the one on the right.  That left me downstairs with Chad.  And, yeah, in the grand scheme of things that was probably for the best.  Chad and our other roommates didn't quite click.  And I didn't mind rooming with him.  

Of Andy's many unique & distinguishable personality traits and habits, the one I enjoyed sharing with him the most was his habit of staying up all night creating characters for his Star Wars role playing game, listening to music, drinking cokes, and watching TV.  I could never hang with him, and usually ended up falling asleep.  He'd yell at me to wake up and go to bed. (Yeah, I've written about this before.  But when remembering somebody, you get to tell the same stories as much as you want.)  The one I didn't?  His propensity for making sandwiches in his boxer shorts.  But anyway...

On this particular night, ITV or one of the BBC channels were broadcasting the Pink Floyd concert from Earl's Court in October of that same year.  Andy was a fan and I knew very little of their catalog other than a few obvious tunes.  A couple of things we found remarkable about British TV, how much we enjoyed watching American shows we'd never watch back home, such as Baywatch & Sesame Street, and the type of programming you could find on broadcast TV after 8 PM.  Like a complete Pink Floyd concert.  

As I remember it, we came across this accidentally.  We got done watching one show or movie, and then the Coming Up Next... previewed the Pink Floyd concert.  Not that I needed to be persuaded, but I remember Andy assuring me it should be pretty good.  And it was, it really was.  I seem to recall he was particularly pleased that they performed Dark Side of The Moon.  These are some of the songs I remember enjoying.

Shine On You Crazy Diamond

Another Brick in the Wall

Comfortably Numb

Run Like Hell

It was a good night.  Just hanging out with your buddy, talking, watching a concert, goofing off.  And of course I eventually fell asleep.  How I did with such regularity on those couches, I don't know.  They really weren't coaches, more like glorified love seats.  Your head was bent forward resting on one arm rest, and then your calves were draped over the other armrest and hanging off the couch.  Andy was usually sitting at our dining room table, working on his nightly collection of pop cans.

A few weekends later, I found a bootleg CD of that show at one of the markets I usually hit on the weekends (And have also written about before.  Seriously, folks.  Because of the digital age, you'll never know the simple joy of buying these things). Of course I grabbed it.  Broadcast quality sound was the gold standard of bootlegs.  But it was also a recording of a show I hung out and watched with my friend.  And Andy thought it was cool that I found it.  Of course I grabbed it.

A couple of years later, I loaned that CD to someone.  It was the second of two CDs from that trip that I lost.  One, I'm pretty sure was stolen while I was still at school.  By someone I loaned it to.  This one, I think this person just lost it.  The lesson, though?  Don't loan that shit out.  

A few years ago, the show was remastered and released on DVD as The Pulse concert DVD.  The Pulse CD unfortunately is not entirely of the same show, but is edited from various shows from that tour.  Still, thanks to things like the above links, there's plenty out there for me to still watch, listen to, and enjoy and remember that night.  The fact of the matter is, that CD isn't even necessary to enjoy the memory of that night.

It's been 14 years, buddy.  Wherever you are, shine on man.  Shine on.