Live music in a college town: A young boy's quest to be hip

Sometimes I really want to be hip. Like indie, skinny jeans, greasy hair hip. But then I look in the mirror and the relatively normal guy that looks back at me silently screams, "You can't be. You're not cool enough." So I don my polo shirt and my not skinny jeans and go on about my daily life.

But every now and then, I try to push myself into hipper territories. Certain films and stores often catch my eye as a chance to be a little bit more like the cool "I don't give a crap" kids. Heck, even my wardrobe takes momentary lapses into the hipster world. Occasionally a pearl snap shirt. Never skinny jeans though. I tried them on once. Seriously though. Not a good look for me.

While I want to be cool like this, it's hard to just do it without people noticing that you're trying a bit too hard. So normally I just sit at home and drink my Pabst and listen to my obscure bands by myself and pretend that I'm cool. But often my roommates or my girlfriend or my friends feel it necessary to kill my cool buzz and remind me that I'm not.

So when opportunities arise, as they did last night, for me to dip my feet in the indie waters, I usually jump.

Last evening I ventured to the Square of my quaint little college town to check out a band that's getting a good deal of press amongst some pretty influential hipsters these days. Blogs, satellite radio, magazines, the whole nine yards really. I had sampled a few of their tunes on the world wide interweb and just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. And I wanted to be cooler.

Wavves is a duo. A guitarist/vocalist and a drummer/psycho. The front man is under 5 feet 5 inches tall. Supposedly he has Napoleon syndrome. He's short and likes a fight. Word on the street is that he whacked the lead singer of The Black Keys with a beer bottle not more than a week ago. But a rumor can't be proved, despite what Wikipedia might tell you.

I arrived at the bar 45 minutes before the opening band goes on. A good friend accompanied me, one who is more hip and cool than I, and one who is in with the other hip and cool people of Oxford. By going with him, I could get some real insight into this scene I feel so attracted to.

We milled around. Mingled if you would. And finally posted ourselves up at a table within view of the stage. As the band began, we decided that a standing view will probably make for a better evening, and thus made our way towards the startlingly slim crowd of 60 or so. Within minutes, we got separated and being in no hurry to reunite, I decided to take in the concert by myself.

Unfortunately, I got a little distracted by the people around me. So many people to watch. Such a good chance I will look creepy. What's a wannabe to do? Well I stared at people anyway. And I laughed out loud. By myself. In a bar full of people. Yes. I laughed.

There were no more than four or five dozen people in the small venue, but so many categories of people were present. You had the "really into music" types that smiled their big goofy grins and danced like crazy men to the music being played, the words of course being inaudible. Then you had the uber-hipsters that were too cool to show emotion, but were probably just as pleased as the aforementioned music buffs. Also present were the local celebrities, the townie musicians or producers on the cusp of making it big, arms folded, critiquing every move those on stage were making. And then you had the girls. The ones that are in love with rockers or writers and just want to be near them in some capacity. Alt-groupies if you would.

(Three fellows that had obviously come in the bar trying to find a party made a brief appearance but unfortunately found no welcoming arms for their giant Abercrombie logos and gelled hair.)

And then there was me. Three Coors heavies in. Not very indie. Not very hip. Yet happy. And entertained. Not necessarily by the bands, but mostly by the people around me. The ones I think are so mysterious and cool.

I'll never be that cool. But that's OK.

For insight on how to be hip or at least listen to cool, obscure music, check out Hipster Runoff, a blog that will tell you everything you need to know.