HARD TO BELIEVE SUCH A CALAMITY

The first rock concert I ever saw was Aerosmith.

It was the tail end of their first wave, I was 14 or 15, and my brother gave me a couple of joints to smoke at the show. A life of unvarnished cool was surely ahead.

A year or so later, I found myself at Nassau Coliseum, sitting center stage but a mile back, for the Paradise Theater tour. I even walked away from the show with a black-sleeved Styx baseball shirt.

Cool, it seems, would prove to be a slippery fish.

I'll be sure to let you know how tomorrow's Styx/Foreigner/Def Leppard show goes...