Friday the 13th to Mars

Friday the 13th (one week ago from yesterday) for some is a very ominous day full of dread and bad luck. For the other less paranoid folk it is just another day. As for me, my wife, my brother, and a "friend of a friend", Friday the 13th defined "Provehito in altum". If you understood that, most likely you are Echelon. Put simply - we attended the taping for MTV Unplugged featuring 30 Seconds to Mars in good ol Harlem!

Echelon Family

 Now you know the "who", "what", "where" and "when". As for the "how"; we were not "caller 100" the "one thousandth customer!" nor did we find a golden ticket wrapped around a candy bar. We simply replied to a call out to the fans on facebook and sent in our mugshots. Jokes on casting as we actually participated in the performance and my singing voice is the kill. oh and not to forget the "why". "Why" is because we were the kings and queens of the selection. Also, we got to paint our faces with "war paint" as per email request and any chance to act a fool - we'll take it!

The email also requested we print out attached lyrics and learn them so the whole ride into Harlem we were reading and singing the songs in the car. We were determined, like soldiers on a search and destroy mission to get the songs down pat. It was pretty interesting at stop lights when people would look into our car at 4 face painted strangers in a strange land singing songs while reading off of lyric sheets. Only thing weirder is if we had ourselves an L490 singing bowl in the car.

Garage rehearsal

Upon arrival we caught Tomo on a little escape outside for some fresh air. We checked in and got our cool MTV bands and were led down into the bowels of the building right into the garage. I wondered if the MTV people thought "ok these guys look crazy - let's lead them out the back way and hope they don't come around to try and get in again". Fortunately we were in the right place as there was a group of other crazies (echelon) in the garage "rehearsing". By "rehearsing" I mean everyone was grouped around a radio playing the songs and queued  when to sing certain parts by the sophisticated method of someone holding up a piece of oak tag with lyrics written in sharpie. Not gonna lie it was kinda cool especially since Tomo stopped in a bit for some guidance on what exactly to do and expect at the taping to come.

Tomo from Earth

After the garage session and the vox populi was prepped, we were lead up to a staging area aka mini cafeteria aka the sweat lodge. It felt like 100 suns. We did a little bit of "rehearsing" in there as well while everyone took bathroom breaks in groups grade school style. Not too many people cared to go until it was announced that once taping began there would be no breaks and immediately there was a surge and "this is war" was written on everyone's face as they fought to get to the front of the pack.

When we were finally lead up to the studio there was one final rite of passage. This is the part when the casting director points at people and the final set pieces to the stage are put in place - Us! This is also the part when everyone was separated to give the proper crowd balance. It was a beautiful lie. I was too cool so I got to go in first...well 3rd but I still got to sit right up front...on the floor...by a candle stand that probably hid me from view from any cameras. The important thing though was I was up front lol. The set was tiny so everyone was pretty close (closer than you would be than front row of a regular concert), but being up front, I was closer to the edge.

I was sitting right next to that candle stand!

In fact I was so close I could touch Tomo's pedals and he had the distinct pleasure of enduring the hurricane that was my singing voice the entire evening. I actually reached toward him to demonstrate to my brother, who was a bit behind me, how close I was only to have Michael Clarke Duncan aka security guard menacingly shout "Don't touch him!" from behind the set. I had no alibi and just laughed.

Groupies

Aww yea I got the pick!

The performance itself was pure awesome. The energy was crazy - everyone was ready to attack. We've seen them live before and heard these songs but the acoustic versions they performed were amazing. Jared was a little sick and we thought that maybe he would sound a little off - wrong. It was the best we've heard the band. It was such an experience to literally perform with 30 Seconds to Mars and have the band react and guide us through the songs and enjoy some idle back and forth chatter between sets. They also messed around with other songs like The Cure's "pictures of you" to Eminem's/Rihanna's "love the way you lie", and even some "message in a bottle" by the Police!

The end was a real treat as the band brought out a choir to finish with U2's "Where the streets have no name". Joshua Tree was one of my all time favorite albums and I remember writing about it for a project in the 3rd or 4th grade. The cover of "where the streets have no name" definitely resonated with me and brought me back (as if I am an old man now). The whole performance was epic and it was a trip to really be a part of the show rather than just sit and watch. That night WE were part of the band. It was a night of sublime adrenaline - A night of the hunter.