OK Go. The band whose treadmill video launched them into a level of fame that is so niche that being a fan feels like you're a member of some secret (and very nerdy) society. Many know who they are or have heard a song or two of theirs. But true fans possess the patience necessary to endure the large gaps of time (sometimes that of several years) between the band's album releases, filming of music videos, and tour dates. You see, Damian, Tim, Dan, and Andy do their work according to their priorities: family first, creative output second.
They never rush their creativity. These independent entrepreneurs of the music world don't quit. They commit to their work until they reach whatever artistic goals they have set for themselves while engaging in humble acts of humanitarianism. Of course they make a fabulous living doing what they do. But they're not flashy or boastful, and they always think of those beyond themselves.
I cannot put my finger on the memory of when OK Go first entered my listening rotation. There was likely exposure to their sound in my undergraduate years. But it's more likely that I was part of the crowd that paid attention when their low-budget YouTube release of "Here It Goes Again" held the world in a state of awe in the mid-aughts. Many asked what kind of professional band expects to gain fame by doing a goofy dance on 8 treadmills in someone's basement?
Except that it worked. And when they performed the treadmill dance live on the MTV Music Video Awards in 2006, they had added substantial numbers to their fanbase.
They didn't do what typical artists do when suddenly finding themselves "seen". OK Go kept their work to their own independent record label so that they could produce songs that fit their vision instead of someone else's deadline. When they came up with an idea for a music video, they networked to find exactly the right directors, choreographers, engineers, and even cosmonauts. With Damian's sister, Trish Sie, being a director for films and that aforementioned video (yeah, they did that treadmill dance at her house), she has gotten behind the camera to help with their creative endeavors several times.
In my mind, this band is the complete package as far as celebrities are concerned. I could talk for hours about all the cool shit they have done across their career. Just ask my boyfriend. He not only humors me by listening to me jabber on about OK Go, he also goes down various rabbit holes to learn more himself.
But let's get closer to the point of this piece.
What I do remember in my OK Go Fan Girl career is when I started using their music videos in my classroom. In 2016, they made the first (and still ONLY) zero-gravity music video, "Upside Down & Inside Out". At the time, I just happened to be teaching 5th grade science and history. So I tied it to the Space Race in my history class and loosely to my electricity unit (we built potato clocks and named them "Spud-niks"). When I showed the zero-gravity music video to my 3 rotations of students, dozens of jaws dropped. I had kids who were instant fans. They begged me to play the video over and over. We learned how the band used parabolic flight to create zero gravity (which tied in math--we were so very cross-curricular with this one video) and how they filmed it in small sections to be stitched together for a one-take effect. From then on, I hung on every release of every subsequent music video, watching and rewatching before taking them to my students.
And I have never stopped showing their videos in my classes.
Now I teach K-5 STEAM where we engage in brain warm-ups before class starts, and once a week, that warm-up is based around an OK Go music video. We have a poster on our classroom wall of the band members with their names and birthdays. The kids draw fan art and ask a multitude of questions about the band members, how their videos get made, and what I would do if the band walked into our classroom (the answer is to give them a tour of the kids' fan art--after I wake up from passing out). We even have a frame that contains a print-out of where the band liked a comment I made on one of their TikTok postings from August 2023. The framing was my kids' idea. I just paid the folks at UPS to make it happen.
Then this past spring, OK Go announced that they were going to be doing a short tour. Yes, I screamed. Yes, I told every one of my classes (I had 29 of them). And yes, I did get tickets during the presale for their show in Nashville. It was my students' turn to scream, in support, naturally. They instructed me to take the print-out along with...you know, in case I met the band and could get their autographs. I knew in my heart how low that chance would be. But I abided because it was my kids asking.
Fast forward to the weekend of 13-15 July, the weekend of the concert. Yep, it was also the weekend of a major piece of US news. I was riding high on the fact that I was in a music town with my boyfriend where I was going to see my bucket list band. It was even my best friend's birthday that same weekend. So it was one of those times where I felt that nothing could spoil my mood. Everyone was loving life. And then our phones started dinging with texts and news flashes about the incident in Pennsylvania.
I will be leaving out my opinions on the election because they have nothing to do with this piece. What I will say is how incredibly exhausted I am over gun violence in the news. How every defense for someone who is assaulted, kidnapped, or murdered while they are out living their best lives with love and vigor is: "Wouldn't have happened if..."
I. Am. Tired.
And here it was again. Gun violence. In a big way that was instantly politicized. Again, I am so tired.
I sat with it for a full 24 hours before it pulled open an emotional portal to all that had been steadily swelling under the surface. It was just a few hours before the doors opened to the Basement East, which is where OK Go would have their last show of the tour. I was dressed in my turquoise Chuck Taylors and the T-shirt that all of my students had signed so they could feel like they were at the concert with me. And there I was on the couch of our rental, sobbing. Sobbing about how the news was too much and too little, all at the same time. How I don't want to have this conversation about gun violence right now, but also trying to figure out how I will talk to my child (yet again) about it. How the heat was affecting my garden back at home. How I was missing my annual trip to Tampa. How other folks were affording nice things like massages and backyard pools and going on vacations where they don't have to crash on someone's couch to be within budget while despite my credentials and veteran status as an educator, I'm struggling with bills and home repair because the cost of everything just keeps going up.
It was everything, all at once. My sweet boyfriend, Craig, just held me while I bubbled over like the unwatched pot, and I was trying to figure out how to get back into the headspace of being excited for an event I've been wanting to happen for the better part of a decade.
So he led me gently through each step to get there. Kleenex went into my shorts pockets first. Then the Lyft ride where it was ok to exist in silence. Then a light dinner at the brewery a block from the venue. Conversations about off-topic things, like the wall art, how to pronounce the names of the beers on tap, and if it was Tim Nordwind (the band's bassist) we could see on the venue's back porch from our barstools. (It wasn't, but it was a good distraction). The bitter and angry emotions started to subside. Joy was trying to take over again.
When we realized we didn't have a Sharpie marker for the chance at getting the band's autograph, Craig offered the bartender cash for one, giving her an explanation as to why we wanted it. She cracked open a brand new box and let us have it for free. As a former server who hated when patrons often walked off with my pens, I felt like we were somehow complicit in an act of petty theft.
Then we crossed the street to the venue. Joy was there. Quiet, but present. We saw the band's tour bus, which had pulled a trailer that looked like it had exploded confetti all over the parking lot. Those of us in line started grabbing small handfuls, assuming it was some sort of mistake in transport and collected the souvenir.
Once inside, we took our place right up front. We were just to the side of the stage where the roadies were set up. We tolerated the opening bands. I figured we were just too old to understand their sound and energy. From where we stood, I had the perfect view of the hallway that led backstage. Which is where I DID see Tim Nordwind, taking pictures of the members of the first opening band for their posterity. And then he stood there in awe, just another member of the audience, nodding his head to the beat from his protected spot mere feet from the stage. Then I could see Dan Konopka (drums). Much later, there was Andy Ross (guitar, keyboards). And some guy running all around back stage that looked like Damian Kulash, but his hair wasn't right in his silhouetted profile. A woman behind me jokingly called him "Not Damian", confirming the same confusion. When Damian finally did peek out with the correct hair cut, there was rejoicing. Joy was here in watching the members of OK Go be real people backstage. Sitting on a couch or hugging a loved one. It was crazy considering that a $35 ticket was already providing memories beyond expectation, and they hadn't even stepped out yet as the headliner.
It was finally the moment. The four walked out on stage and delivered a show that intimately delivered to its niche community. For starters, their entire families were in attendance, and Damian let us know that his kids were seeing him perform live for the first time. They performed every song with a video that I share with my students, interspersed with several new songs that will be on their next album. Confetti came shooting out of two cannons throughout the whole show, one of which was just beyond my arm's reach. Damian even came out into the middle of the audience floor and performed solo on an acoustic guitar under a spinning disco ball, a moment so stripped down and beautiful that it created a core memory.
They stopped to do three separate Q&A sessions with the audience. With the quality of the questions that were asked, you could tell that every person in attendance was a loyal and devout fan. For one of those Q&A sessions, Damian ran to our side of the stage for fear that we might be feeling left out. When he stood at the edge of the stage, I smiled and waved at him. I swear he looked right at me and said, "Hi!" I convinced myself it was my imagination. But Craig verified it by spinning me around and asking, "Did Damian just say hello to you?!?"
I figured the metaphorical icing on the cake was when they ended with the one song I wanted them to perform ahead of any other: "The One Moment". I cried through the whole song, Craig filming the performance so I could live in the moment. I had experienced all I needed to experience to make the night feel complete.
The show was over, the confetti a foot deep in the center of the venue's floor. Folks were making snow angels in it, and I grabbed more for my pockets. Craig got a set list for me from one of the roadies. Now it was complete, right?
Then band came out to talk with their family members, and Craig saw opportunity. He got out the Sharpie from the bar and the print-out from my classroom wall. He first approached Dan, the drummer. With the biggest smile and not a moment of hesitation, Dan signed while Craig explained how this was for my students to see in my classroom. He also almost walked away with our Sharpie cap because he was so caught up in the connections with family and fans. Then Tim was right there, sporting his bucket hat and now-grey beard. We handed him the print-out, and he signed it. This time, I remembered to say something about my shirt and my 500+ kids. He thought it was so cool that my kids had "attended" the show with me.
Andy wasn't out on the floor. But he's the quiet one. He was most likely trying to unwind with his wife and kids backstage, purposefully staying away from the chaos.
And then we noticed a line forming in front of Damian. He had come out beyond the roped-off area to talk to fans. We joined the line. Damian was trying to be kind enough to take a minute with each person in line, but also communicate about keeping it brief because he had his wife and kids there, too. I feared in being toward the back of the line, we were going to be told to leave.
But I got my turn. A moment I never believed would be possible, and it was my turn. I went the professional route, sticking out my hand to introduce myself. He engaged in the shake and said, "I'm Damian." (Insert fan girl squeal here). I told him I was a STEAM teacher near Athens, Georgia, and then HE squealed at ME because he fan boys for science. Craig filmed this interaction as I showed Damian the print-out, fumbling over my words because I didn't have enough time to say how much their band's work means to me and my kids. So it came out, "My kids are obsessed with you!" I did show him my kids' signatures on the back of my shirt. I'm just hoping the point came across in my flubbed moment. He signed the print-out, and then he wrote "STEAM!" across the top and drew a heart around it.
I won't go as far as to say that the OK Go concert cured me that night. Clearly, I still live in a crappy economy where I'm going to need another source of revenue in order to be comfortable. But it is important to recognize how necessary it is to take the time to be with the things and the people that bring us comfort or a sense of peace. This felt like the kind of night that I can look back to as something that healed a little piece of me, that brought me a dose of joy when my soul needed it. I lived in the moment, and it paid me in full.
Once we got back to the rental, I spread the spoils from the concert across the floor. It brought me back to the sense of gratitude I would get after opening all the gifts on Christmas morning as a kid. These gifts just hit a little different from Barbie dolls and Huffy bikes. Maybe it's because what I walked away with isn't just for me. I cannot wait to show my students the recording I made of their top-requested song ("I Won't Let You Down") and tell them all about the concert. I had to give the old frame a new purpose since I can't fit all these extras into it. Just imagine how their faces are going to light up when they see the new frame.
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