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It's official. My name is Sally and I am the mother of a two year old groupie (nods of sympathy all around please). And no, not a Barney Groupie. Or even a Teletubby Groupie. Oh no, my daughter is a rock star groupie. And she hasn't even got her first pair of Docs yet (Doc Martins for those who weren't teenagers in the nineties). It must run in the genes. But I guess I am the only one to blame…
It all started when I was pregnant with her. I would crank up the volume on my car's stereo, listening to U2 singing Elevation at full blast, while Megan kicked in time with Larry Mullen Junior's drumbeat against the insides of my tummy. Forget Baby Mozart, my unborn child was going to listen to the good stuff. But of course when she was born, as many of you know, she had a bad case of colic and sensory issues to boot, so that was the end of her rock education… for the time being at least. Then it was CD's of heartbeats and whale sounds, but her favourite for many months was “DJ Radio Static” – probably the most annoying sound in the world but we learnt to live with it – anything for sleep.
And finally, one glorious day, the colic was over. Megan took her first big steps into the big wide world, and like any responsible parent we booked tickets for her first rock concert – a local band called Flat Stanley who were playing at Kirstenbosch. We were of course apprehensive about how she would handle the loud music and all the people, but she absolutely loved it. And this was only the beginning… A couple of months later she heard a few snippets of a song on the radio, and would sing “Do-Bee, Do-Bee” to me over and over again, and it took me a while to actually hear the whole song on the radio to figure out which band was singing it (Freshly Ground) – and of course I rushed out to buy the CD, thinking I must be mad to spend R120 on one song (and Afro Jazz at that, not even proper rock!). But needless to say after a few plays in the car she started singing along to every song on the album, which was a far sight better than “Head Shoulders Knees and Toes” over and over again! But after a while I got tired of Do-Bee-Doing and decided to try her on something new… and so began the Avril Lavigne fanclub for minors. To hear a two year old singing along to Avril from the backseat is priceless.
A couple of months later we heard that Freshly Ground was going to be playing at Kirstenbosch, so we got Megan all excited that we were going to “see Do-Bee”! That turned into a complete disaster – tickets were completely sold out and the traffic was horrendous. We ended up going for a picnic at Groot Constantia with a group of friends, but Megan wasn't too concerned as she had her two best boyfriends there to play with and terrorise (see? What did I say. Two boyfriends already. I'm going to have problems.) But before we knew it, it was that time of year again – Flat Stanley would be back at Kirstenbosch, so this time I got tickets way in advance and off we went. Being a year older, and wiser, and having had a year's worth of listening to the CD in the car, Megan was ready to roll. Once again she had a ball, dancing right in front of the stage, letting the main singer know she was his number one fan in no uncertain terms. I am sure she was nearly ready to throw her nappy onto the stage. For the next week Do-Bee didn't get a mention in the car – it was “no Mommy, more moozak” – which was her term for Flat Stanley.
And then we told her we had tickets for Freshly Ground – all the way out in Stellenbosch mind you but we were going to get there no matter what it took! So we packed up the car one Saturday afternoon and cranked up the volume, singing to all their songs on the way. Thank goodness my husband is a good negotiator and the security guys were sympathetic to my “condition” and allowed us to park really close so that we didn't have to walk miles – being pregnant does occasionally have its advantages! This allowed us to get a place right up front (although miles from the toilets – not a good thing with a baby on your bladder, but save that for another episode!) and so the night's events began! Megan had seen Freshly Ground on TV before so she knew what they looked like, and I just wish I could have captured the awe on her face when she saw the band come out, and start with a song she recognised! She sat quite still (quite a feat for a two year old) and just watched – for about two seconds before she dragged me to the divider fence at the front to dance with the rest of the underage groupies (and their mommies). By the time the show was coming to an end Megan was on her dad's shoulders, singing every word and clapping after every song, and instead of being ready to pass out after the concert (like any good groupie would) she chatted the whole (long) way home about Do-Bee – although she did redeem herself when she asked for a quick swig from her bottle – a girl's gotta keep her reputation, even if it is milk and not Jack! |
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© Sally Hetherington .
