Red hot chili peppers concert in chicago | Ramblin' & Amblin' | Oct 26, 2026

So when I was in 8th grade I had already started listening to the Red Hat Chili Peppers Freaky Stiley was not my first ever cassette that I purchased but it was an early one B ucky Fellini by the Dead Milkmen there was a Weird Al cassette in there I want to say it was his self-titled I was buying the first album with my My Balona And the Red Hat Chili Peppers Freaky Stiley was one that I got and I would listen to it on my Walkman when I skateboarded or I walked to school or I walked wherever I was walking because I walked a lot as a kid too And at high school, I mean at junior high at the Homer Town ship junior high circa I don't remember when the tape came out but this is like 1987, 88, 89 but it's not 1990 yet I had a pair of vision street wear high tops that I had bought because at Marshalls, not Marshall Fields, Marshalls , so I think TJ Maxx or Ross, Burlington Coat Factory now The shoes were too big for me I couldn't actually skate in them and they were red leather with black toes and a black ollie patch Vision street wear high tops that were two sizes too big for me but they were skateboarding shoes And I couldn't afford them but I could afford this pair or at least I can convince my mom to buy them for me Um, and I would wear them to school And the jocks Because they were jocks, that was the division Um Called them clown shoes, the popular kids, whatever Who would call my shoes clown shoes And skateboarding was not cool That's the other thing, it's like Man I don't begrudge the kids And I'm glad that they got, man they are so good today But it's also like, man Like It's like what people are feeling with AI these days That It's like I had to build my own ramps and things like that Or if I wanted to go find a park I had to like Go to a ditch And everybody had to like Find this ditch And Somebody would know about it And then Tell everybody else Um And it was all word of mouth There was no Anything So we had to talk to other people And the other skateboarders We all knew who each other were And we let each other know Where these parks were Not parks, but Spots Where we'd meet up there And the spots were usually janky As you can tell The owners or somebody nearby Would regularly call the cops Or come out and yell at us Um Or Or damage the Location So we couldn't use it anymore Um There were A few parks Like Roland Um And uh Warp There was one up in Wisconsin I never got to go to It was a cement park But It was like There was a period Where I remember Going to a park And The owner was Like ready to close shop Because there were so few skateboarders Just a few years later Um So there was kind of Dark ages of skateboarding Um And I was part of that And So that means that In junior high Being a skateboarder It meant you got called What we call the F slur A lot Um That was Um Considered Effeminate To be a skateboarder Um Which was really funny But That's why also This whole Arc Was such a big deal for me It said The Red Hot Chili Peppers Alright So it starts off I'm wearing my clown shoes And I'm Listening to Freaky Styly And then Somebody would ask me Where you go from Newhall And then I I said Red Hot Chili Peppers And then They weren't known They weren't popular At the time Um Outside of like Skateboarder subculture In the Midwest Remember Homer Township Junior High Um Circa 1987 88 89 Um They would make fun of it They would call it The Red Hot Chili Peppers F slur Kind of Level of Cleverness There was this one Really mean kid That we got I got into a fight With him in 8th grade You know He was I mean Like these These guys weren't Like nice They were belligerent They were real Assholes These were Some mean people And they would support The meanest kid And I Had made myself I did not like this person And he didn't like me either And we both kind of Were the only ones That had The stupid rage To fight each other But uh That's another story Um But uh He would Carve FAQ Into the back Of his hair And it would cause All kinds of consternation The teachers were all So upset But the thing was He was a rich kid And his parents Were connected And uh They were all Friends With the Administration So He could do that He had FAQ Which we all knew What that meant And it was not Frequently asked questions Because that wasn't The concept at the time So That's all the color Of the painting That I'm going to do For that Is that The Red Hot Chili Peppers At this time Were not a widely loved And recognized band They were not popular And I got called All kinds of things And it was just One of the things That was in the mix But I always remembered Red Hot Chili Peppers Because of those Same kids Those very same kids Later In high school I'm a senior And I've never had Much money I've been working Since forever But Life has It's own ideas For me and money And bills And expenses And Support Systems How much That is my own Flood That's not the point That I'm getting here I'm not pointing A finger at anybody But That the situation Was That I'm Aware That there's a concert Coming to Chicago And For the Red Hot Chili Peppers And I can't afford To buy tickets And I have to work And it doesn't matter anyway But I'm in a CNA class Because I was training To be a CNA I did that To build up For my Being a In preparation For being a medic I took a CNA course Ultimately I decided Not to go that path But I did complete the course And did get the certification But I didn't pursue The field Because Just Reasons The I'm in the class One day I'm sitting there And then there's One of the girls Who was part of that group From my junior high years Is Talking with her friends About their plans For the weekend And that they were Going to go see The Red Hot Chili Peppers And I just remembered You know Like The injustice Of it all That I had been If not a fan An avid listener Since my junior high days When I was getting called The F-Star For it To now It's the rich kids Who were going to drive Their Mustangs And they're all going to go To see The Red Hot Chili Peppers show I still don't know What to do With all this information But god It was frustrating It's just that When They didn't know What it was They made fun of it Because it was new And strange And not From them But eventually One of them Picks it up From wherever It's now hit Pop culture Whatever And now They've always been fans They're so excited To go see The Red Hot Chili Peppers In concert In 1993 Maybe 1994 In Chicago And I can't And I'm trying not to think about How many times This girl's Boyfriend Gave me Shit Or slammed my head Into a locker When I was looking down And he was passing by Behind me Or how he Joined in with the Miserable Miserable Social studies teacher Who was a Basketball coach And Way too friendly With the kids And But Would make fun of me For drawing the Ninja Turtles Because at the time That movie had been out And I was pretty good At drawing them And people would ask me To draw them I would get like Little commissions But I would do it for free Because I was an idiot I would do commissions You know Somebody would say And these very Girls Were the ones And the boys Were also Asking for These pictures to be drawn And then one day This teacher Doesn't like That I'm drawing in class And whatever He takes the drawing Away from me And that That would have been It I wouldn't have had A thing to complain about But then he Takes and he shows Just a picture To the whole class And it's just a picture Of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Kind of from the front on You know Mask And kind of a scowl And he's making fun of Drawing this And that it's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles You know Kind of stuff And They were all laughing At me And he's He's leading it But those kids Those very kids Were in the classroom The same ones I would ask For the drawings Later in high school I was pretty good At drawing people's names And big Like graffiti Like letters And I would get A lot of Mexican kids Like that one That isn't A statement That is a statement It just was The way it was I was probably Friendlier with them Than I was With white kids At the time But That's just a different story But the Thing was Is that These very same people Who mocked The Red Hot Chili Peppers Later Were All getting together To go To a show Together And enjoy This This new artist That they've just Discovered And It's so cool now And The same people That were asking For pictures To be drawn Of A comic book character Because it was popular At the time When I was Getting Called out For drawing You know When I shouldn't Have been drawing I should have been Paying attention Class Again If he had just Stopped there Then I would have No story But You know He decided To keep it going And mock me In front of everybody And they all laughed This is seventh Grade probably Because we had Sixth, seventh, and eighth That was the last year That they had six So that was also The other thing Is that There was a joke And I wasn't alone In this But all the other kids Were involved Is that they built Hadley Middle School And I was the last Year of sixth grade I was My Cohort Was the last Instance of sixth grade At Homer Junior High Middle School Homer Township Junior High Middle School I mean Not middle school Homer Township Junior High And then they built Hadley Middle School And that's I won't say it was Hadley Middle School But it was Hadley And they moved To sixth grade Over there So it was two years Where I was The Part of the Youngest class And You know The Eighth graders Like Took advantage of that That was stupid That was stupid But Because it was Like Hazing Oh we get to do it again Because you're the youngest Again It's like Yeah you guys suck But Yeah the same people That will mock you Because you did something new And different That they didn't come up with Will Possibly Eventually Come around to those things But They never recognize Who was there first See Because The point was Is That would mess up The whole Narrative That They are the cool ones And they always Are the first one And that People like me Who Early Adopters Bringing this to Farmville Nowhere Podunk Yeah it's all built up now But You know At the time I'm not impressed It's still Homer The I don't care How built up it is And They'll Just Pretend like You never existed And then Pick up And go off On their own And act like It was Their idea All along And then You'll be cut out Because If you don't have The money Or the connections To be able to Participate What are you going to do I don't know Oh cardinal Anyway Just a story About A long time ago And that The stuff that Seems like So commonplace And cool now Skateboarding Punk music Um Funk Rock All these Things Once upon a time Strange and weird To everybody out here In Podunk Midwest The The same people That Rejected the first time On second encounter Love it And it was their idea All along Which makes me think About something That happened At my last Big place Where Um I was an early Person bringing Open telemetry And observability I Was actually The first person To bring Local LLMs Into Into Into The conversation Via The training Program That I was doing For free Um On my Own Recognizance Because I just Wanted To have Something nice And that this Not just the drag Of Boring meetings But Geekfest At OMF Is that Somebody You know Leadership Position Talked about The Problem Of being A first mover And that it's Almost always The first mover That fails Um And then Somebody Observes What they were Doing Learns the Lessons And then Um Of Of How And And lets the First one Take all the Hit Uh For the The adoption The Um Normalization Of getting it Into The idea Into people's Heads And Um Then they can Step in And be the Second mover Who's just Filling in Um In the Wake And they're Kind of Drafting in After the First person Who is Kind of Breaking the Water Breaking the Air Current Uh In the Race And they Just Get up Behind them And just Ride on Into Glory And they Get to Go see Red Hot Chili Peppers But the Thing is Is I Think that I appreciate This Not getting To see Them In a way Is more Punk rock To me More Hardcore Because The loss The lack Of it I I knew I had This narrative In my Life Before Before The concert And They Even though They don't Know this And would Never Admit it Because it Just Doesn't even Register It's like I can Go get that Cardone I was Looking at And I'll Try to Explain Telemetry To it And it's Going to Just poop And go Eat a Berry It's not Even going to Understand that I was talking About it Because I Don't even Register on Except Except My existence In their Space They Aren't Ever Going to Recognize That Yeah You were The first One You were The one That led The way You're The one That introduced Us to That Mike Thank you So much Let's Let's Be cool Be friends We're so Sorry We're so Sorry We were Mean To you Never It's not Happening Because it's Just not Even registering It's not Even Conscious They probably Don't even Remember how They were In 8th grade Or 7th grade Or 6th grade Or 5th grade Or 4th grade Or 3rd grade Or 2nd grade And Etc But I do So Yeah Alright anyway This one's long enough Alright thanks Bye Thank you.