Man, I've been waiting over a week to write this. This has been a very eventful Double Day Weekend (DDW) and I'm glad that I'm blogging during this one because I feel it deserves to be chronicled.
So, I guess the most logical way to start this off is by answering the obvious question: What the hell is Double Day Weekend? To answer this, we have to go back. Way back. Back to high school...
Origin:
It was sometime in September of 2000. "MoonMan" wasn't what I was called, but it was the nickname everyone knew I had. With the return of D-Generation X in the WWF (it was F then) and the formation of DXI (D-Generation X of Iroquois, my welding group that also loved wrestling), an X was added to the "MoonMan" symbol and a nickname to the nickname was born. That name was "Double MX" - No, no one was to call me that, but it's how the symbol went. It was shortened even further, more so abbreviated, to "2MX".
While looking at this one day in class, I looked at the "2MX" and thought "Roman Numerals". If I was to convert the numeral, it'd be 2010. If I looked at it with a two-place decimal (yes, this is the nerdy weird shit I did) it would become 2010.00. If I was to look at it as a date, adding a dot between the "20" and the "10" and read it as the Europeans (and everyone else, really) do, it would form the date of October 20th, 2000, which was only about a month away. It was then that I decided to declare October 20th, 2000 "Double Day" or "The Day of the Doubler" (look, creating nicknames and monikers were my thing. I had an ever-growing and evolving personality and the nickname variations really helped separate them. Helped me understand me.)
The First:
It would turn out that Double Day was on a Friday. I had talked about Double Day for about a month and my friends thought the idea was pretty cool. The day generally started off normal, with a pretty normal start to our four-block classes school day. I had a bit more attention because it was Double Day and people were kinda just asking, "So, what do we do for Double Day?" I had no clue. My only answer was that it would be our day and we'd own it, "we" being myself, and my group of friends that I blanketed under the name DMC, The Degenerate MoonCrew.
Yes, I was THAT big of a fan of DX and wrestling.
Still am.
This was my Junior Year of high school and Double Day just happened to be the day the Juniors ordered our Class Rings. Juniors had to go the smaller gym to pick out what we wanted and place the orders. This was done during our lunch breaks, but took so long that we had to take a different lunch period. It was kinda like we got two lunch periods, but only got to eat in one. During the one I got to eat in, I got to eat with my best friend Clarissa, who I never got to really see. That was a plus. The second plus with extra time out of class being the first.
After lunch, it was time for my Jr. English class with the really strict teacher. When I got there, I could see the look on his face and, being one of the "good students" I walked up to the desk like, "Hey, you okay?" he said he was tired and just not feeling it. So, riding the high of my holiday, I just said, "You know, you should just take it easy today. Just put on a movie and call it a day." And it worked! We ended up watching the Lion King. No assignment. No test. No nothing. Just a movie to sit and chill to.
The rest of the school day just kinda coasted like that and then it was over. I thought that would be the end of the day, but I got a call from my buddy Bryan. His church was doing this "Coffee House" thing for teens and he wanted to invite us to it. I was like, it's Double Day! I gotta go! So we went to the Coffee House thing and.... bruh, let me tell you! Videos games on multiple systems. Sodas. Pizzas (lots of pizza! boxes and boxes of pizzas!). Chips. Candy. And basically free reign over the church (minus the sanctuary) from ... like 7 to midnight. What!? We were in heaven (no pun intended) and it was all free. All free! It was a thing to give the teens something to do in a trusted environment.
That capped off the first Double Day and left a lasting impression. We still talk about the first Double Day from time to time.
Double Day Weekend:
The following year, my senior year of high school, after the grand success of Double Day, we decided to do it again! Only problem was, it was still kind of a "school holiday" and Double Day 2001 was a Saturday. However, the Friday before, October 19th, was Homecoming, complete with laxxed day at school, pep rally, football game, and homecoming dance. It was because of this I opted to expand the celebration of Double Day to the entire weekend. Officially, Double Day Weekend extends from the Friday before Double Day, through Double Day itself, to my birthday, October 22nd. (See, I tell people all the time, the selection of Double Day's date had nothing to do with my birthday. Just a lucky coincidence).
The first Double Day Weekend was mostly homecoming stuff, but by October 2001, I had a pretty close-knit group of friends that hung out outside of school and we would continue cleebration Double Day Weekend for a while after this.
Since Then:
As the story goes, life tends to get in the way. Work schedules, kids, breakups, moves... Life happens. And honestly, I always recognize Double Day and Double Day Weekend, but it's rarely celebrated and never to the degree it was. Based on the rule I gave it, DDW can be anywhere from three days (if Double Day is a Friday) to nine days (if Double Day is a Thursday, with the Weekend starting the Friday prior) and it's fun to make plans throughout the Weekend to just give a nod to good times gone by.
This year I was determined, if even just for myself, once again celebrate DDW. So I did and this is how it went:
October 15: Double Day Weekend this year is eight days long officially and began on the 15th. When I asked my friends about what I should do during Double Day Weekend, my buddy Adam C. Thomas ( adamcthomas.com ) reminded me to take time for myself. I remembered this that day and after paying some bills, I went to KFC, bought myself a meal, pulled over in a parking lot, and ate. Nothing special. Nothing flashy. Just a quiet moment for me, with me. I gave myself the chance to not worry about anything else around me and I just enjoyed a simple chicken meal. Couldn't beat that moment.
Later that night, my good friend Rob Lyon ( roblyonmusic.webs.com), who I really should see more often, was putting on a show at Mag Bar, here in Louisville. With all of the shows that I've seen in town, I've never once caught a show at Mag Bar. But it was Rob and it was DDW so I thought, if there was ever going to be a first time there, it'd be tonight. So I went.
Rob Lyon, who specializes in comedic music, went first and it was a typical Rob Lyon show, but please, if you look at the word "typical" and write it off as something basic, plain, or ordinary, you will miss out on a great fucking time! I say typical because it's Rob being Rob and that's a wonderful thing. Anyone who has seen a Rob Lyon set knows what I mean and if you haven't, you should find out.
Next, was this band out of Chicago called The Weekend Run Club ( www.theweekendrunclub.com ) I have to say, all Moons being honest, that the sound was just way too loud. I don't mean in a "metal music is too loud" kind of way. They weren't metal. The volume itself was just too high. The sound was great for Rob and the third band so I'm not sure what the deal was, but the music itself was good, just loud. I knew I was going to kinda review the show in a blog and I wanted to be super fair to the Weekend Run Club so I bought their CDs. It's in my car right now and it might be a while before I take it out. I want to compare them to The Killers, but I don't know the Killers well enough. Either way, it's really good music. The band plays so well together, the mix on the CD is excellent, and the vocals are on point!
A spot in this set worth noting, for me anyway, as they were closing their last song, the band was playing to that big ending beat, you know? The drummer (as I'm looking at their website) Bridget is going so hard on the drums (she's great) and with the last beat, she drops the sticks and walks off like a badass! I'm sure she was leaving to go to the bathroom or something, but the visual of drumming your ass off and just being done at the end and walking away - classic and I'll remember that moment of the set as the positive!
The last set of the night I didn't get to see all the way through, as I'll explain in a bit, was the band Kinni Moon ( https://kinnimoon.bandcamp.com/ ) and I have to say that I didn't know what I was getting into. The first member of the three-piece band got on stage with no shoes. Then, I saw the second guy on stage with no shoes... I was really for anything, so I thought. What I wasn't ready for was the journey that the vibe of their music was going to take my soul on! Man, if you EVER get to see this band live and in person and you enjoy just good energy music, SEE THEM! Rob was standing next to me and told me this was only their second show ever. I couldn't believe how composed they were on stage for just the second time ever. This band is going somewhere if that is their goal. It all made sense. The 60s groove was just.... you have to check them out. Just do it because I said so!
I noted that I left early. I was trying to catch a couple of old friends that I hadn't seen in a number of years. I'm not going to be all their business out there, but they went through some things and I was happy to see them out and re-connect. I walked into the bar where she was to "Total Eclipse of the Heart" - anyone who knows me knows how I feel about that song! If you want to know, Watch the movie "Urban Legend", or at least the opening kill scene.
By the way, an "Opening Kill Scene" blog/project might be in my future. More on that when it's available.
October 16th was a pretty chill day. We went out and ordered my birthday gift - a brand new camera! So, yeah... maybe more pictures to DwanLHearn.com coming soon!
October 17th we went out and did our weekly shopping and I decided that I wanted to try a new recipe that I got from the Vincenzo's Plate Youtube channel ( https://www.youtube.com/c/vincenzosplate ) who does Italian recipes. I tried to make Cacio E Pepe. It was pretty good and I was happy that I tried this ultra-simple Italian dish.
Also got some dope-smelling candles from Bath and Body Works!
October 18th was also a day to just sit back and relax. I was hunting down Guanciale, a cured pig cheek used in genuine carbonara, as the Romans do. The Main Event of Double Day Weekend was going to be making Carbonara with my friend Heather.
... at least it was.
On October 19th, while taking my daughter to the doctor's office, my wife got a call. Her father, who has been battling dementia and in a nursing home, has been taking a sharp turn for the worse. The family had been called to the nursing home. Later that evening, my father-in-law, Steven Edward Dalton passed away with his wife and children at his side.
The rest of Double Day Weekend was focused on handling the business surrounding the funeral.
It didn't end the way I expected. I wanted to be home with my family who was grieving from the loss of their husband/father/grandfather. I didn't feel right going to my friend's house to cook, or my buddy's show in Shelbyville, or my friend's wedding. I apologize for missing out, but, all things considered, my place was at home with them.
Double Day Weekend, to me, is a time to celebrate the beauty of life. I have no problem celebrating the life of Steve Dalton this year.
Now, with the success of DDW 2021, you can bet yo' ass I'll be celebrating Double Day Weekend 2022 which will be the Nine-Day Double Day Weekend from October 14th to the 22nd officially. Who knows, I might travel next year for part of the Weekend!
Thank you everyone for reading this blog and any other blog you've caught on my website. Please celebrate the beauty of life all year long. I hope to have a few pictures on the website soon from DDW 2021!
- The Moon
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