October 13, 2004 - 8:30 PM - This was the first band of my assignment - the Rock-n-Roll Soldiers, who were playing at CBGB, the legendary punk club. I had never been there before, so it was fun to actually go see a show there. I have to say, it looked awesome on the inside. Floor-to-ceiling covered in stickers and sweat. It looked like the whole place was some sort of Mexican cantina that had been carved out of a building somehow and had been allowed to organically drip into place. It felt like a place you couldn't design or make, it had to have evolved over 20 years. In any case, these guys were quite good - full of spazzy little rock moves and posturing but done in such a way that you just knew that they Loved to Rock. Plus their songs were plenty catchy. I jockeyed for position with people whose cameras looked way more professional than mine (though mine can blend in if it needs to). I have to say I didn't feel like I needed a whole lot more camera than I had with me, but people always seemed to show up with three cameras and some gigantic flash attachment. And some unnecessarily big sports photographer lens. I mostly tried to suppress my gear envy and concentrate on taking pictures. Incidentally, I also dunked my knee in some big wet puddle at CBGB so I felt all rock and roll and dirty for the rest of the evening.