Sugar Ray 6/26/98

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I really wanted to go to this show to see Loudermilk again. They were a local band that in my opinion were second only to the Ladybird Unition. I went to school with the drummer, Isaac Carpenter and bass player, Shane Middleton. I met all of them at one point or another because I had friends that knew them and they had all been in different local bands prior to that. They also used to practice in my first girlfriend Daisy’s barn. They ended up getting a record deal, moving to Seattle, then Los Angeles and changing their name to Gosling. The problem with this show is that I misjudged the time that they would go on stage. I was out in the parking lot of our local fairgrounds drinking beers until the time I thought they were about to go on. When Jason and I started walking toward the entrance we spotted Isaac. I went up and asked him when they were going on. He said, “we just got done.” Shit! The good news is that it wouldn’t have been the first time I had seen them and would not be the last. We did stay for Sugar Ray, which were about as good as the first time I saw them. Nothing to write home about but I did hear a rumor later that Mark McGrath was downtown asking around for some cocaine…