Post-Bright Eyes show

Lights: HDS B42XRGT, SureFire L2

It was probably about 3am on the morning of March 11, 2007, and Samy and I were back from the Port O'Brien/Bright Eyes show at the Great American Music Hall. We were staying in Oakland at Van & Cammi's apartment, sleeping on the floor of the living room with Liana and one or two other guys. Everyone else had passed out after a very long and hard day, but I—being the most accomplished nightowl, the most obsessive detail freak, and the only one who had not inhaled intoxicating smoke from burning leaves—was still up getting the night's gear stowed and preparing for bed. I was able to do this very silently, except I found that I needed to turn my light on and off quite frequently for some reason, and the polite click of my B42 turned into an obnoxious crack when echoing through a dead silent room with wood floors. After a few embarrassed and silently apologetic clicks were needed, I gave up on the clicky switch for the sake of the others sleeping all around me and switched to my SF L2 with red filter. So this is actually more a story of a light failing to provide what was needed and being replaced by another. I record it here for the memory more than the story.

At the show itself, I carried only the L2. I didn't want to go into an environment with unknown security loaded down with too much gear, so I picked one light, which was the one that would be most valuable if I ran into trouble in the shady neighborhood surrounding the hall (100+lm and 6" of bludgeoning force). With the red filter, it was quite perfect for lighting up my recording gear, which I had to keep stealthy since the hall did indeed have some security.

Interesting little side note, just for my amusement: That show was the first place I went without my new G2Z, which I'd gotten a week or so before. That doesn't matter, but I just remember well how much I liked that light, how I made a point of carrying it everywhere, until it came down to choosing only one. In hindsight, I should have taken the B42 along too. It would have been no trouble at all and I see it as a little sad that it wasn't with me for that night; that light, more than any other, is like a friend to me.