Lost and found. Stumbling across memories online

Clicking around YouTube this afternoon to entertain my two-year-old (who sings Sleater-Kinney's "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone" much to my delight), I stumbled across a concert memory I'd almost forgotten. In May of 1999 (the clip says 2000, but that's clearly the Butchies, who opened that tour, on stage and I lived in Arizona in 2000) I had tickets to see Sleater-Kinney in Chapel Hill. Around 8 p.m. when my roommate's boyfriend, who said he wanted to come with me, didn't show up I left Charlotte and drove two hours by myself to a sold out show - not something I'd normally do. Luckily at the door I ran into a girl who I'd been a bridesmaid with the month before. I sold my extra ticket to her friend.

Just last week I was telling my husband that I'd seen Sleater-Kinney cover Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son." When I clicked on the video of the trio's rendition on YouTube I was surprised to find the performance of that song was actually from that same show.

What a treat to relive it. Watching the band frolic with members of the Butchies, Flin Flon and others on stage, it all come back to me. Although the sound sort of deteriorates, when they immediately roll into the first notes of "Dig Me Out" it's like I'm there all over again. I remember where I stood - center, midway, Corinne Tucker's tank top, the orange t-shirt I bought. I'm not sure, but that might be me whooping at the end.

The band broke up following its fine 2005 swan song "The Woods" (we saw that tour at Ziggy's in Winston-Salem). Guitarist Carrie Brownstein went on to "Portlandia" fame with S-K fan Fred Armisen and Tucker has released two solo albums. Janet Weiss remains a busy time keeper in groups like the female super group Wild Flag (with Brownstein).

My point? My husband complains about his memory, but you never know. Maybe a YouTube clip can jar your's and brighten your (overcast) day. You can watch the clip here. There's a blip of profanity, but I didn't even notice it the first time. Maybe you were there too. If you were lucky.