in which we get the band back together

Last night, Anne and I took our friend out to dinner for his birthday. We invited Nolan to come with us, but he said it would be "boring grown-up talking" and even though he loved us, he’d rather hang out at home.

Allow me to translate: "Wait, I can go with three lame adults to a restaurant, or I can stay home, listen to music as loud as I want, and play Xbox the whole time? You guys have fun, and don’t worry about hurrying back on my account."

When we pulled into the driveway after dinner, I could hear very loud rock music coming from the house.

"That sounds like Wave of Mutilation," I said. "I love that he’s listening to the Pixies!"

I opened the door, and saw that Nolan wasn’t just listening to the Pixies. He was playing the Pixies on Rock Band. The song ended as I closed the door behind me and walked into our living room.

Anne said, "Will you come back to our bedroom and help me fold clothes?"

"Yeah," I said. "I’ll be right there."

I turned to Nolan.

"What the hell?" I said.

At this point, I should back up a little bit. I ask Nolan to play Rock Band with me every day, and every day he says he doesn’t want to, because it’s not that fun for him. I know, I know, I’m doing my best to correct this egregious defect in his personality, but I think we all remember how clinically insane we all were when we were his age.

"What?" Nolan said, innocently.

"I ask you every day to play Rock Band with me, and you always say you don’t want to play because it isn’t fun."

He put the drumsticks in his lap — oh, yeah, he was playing drums, which is my instrument — and deadpanned "Well, I’m not having any fun."

"I’m personally hurt," I said as melodramatically as I could. I put my hand over my heart. I sniffed. I pushed out my bottom lip.

I sighed, heavily.

"Would you like to play together?" He said.

"Heck yes I would!"

I ran to the back of the house.

"Hey," I said to Anne, "Is it okay if –"

"Did you want to rock out together before we put away the clothes?"

"Yeah," I said, "Nolan and I were — wait. Together?"

"I need more cowbell," she said.

And that is how, for the next hour, the three of us played Rock Band. Together. On a school night.

59 thoughts on “in which we get the band back together”

  4. What a great story, Wil. My son does the same thing with guitar hero. I don’t think I’m cool enough to partake with him. Looks like you had a ‘breakthrough’. And laundry can always wait.

  9. Cool story!
    The Mrs (MrSpock) and I are hooked big-time on Rock Band, after having it for a couple weeks, and she hates video games!
    We had some friends over on the weekend and we played for hours. We were pretty HAWESOME by the end of the night. I played Creep on Hard guitar, without practicing and got 88% (Go me!)
    The Ghost Town Rödents <-- Shameless plug, and play on The Boomtown Rats

  10. That was like a “The More You Know” moment (rainbow star flying behind Wil). Way to bond buddy! –Don’t forget the Sock Mod on those drums– 🙂

  13. Never been that into video games, to be honest. At least not since the days of the NES. But stories like this really make me want to get in on the action.
    My girlfriend has an 8 year old son. Who I know is really into video games. He has yet to stand still long enough for me to get to know him properly, but I hope one day to be able to tell a story similar to this one. Rockin’ out with the whole family… sounds awesome beyond belief.

  14. Wonderful, heartwarming post, Wil. I want you to be the official (paid!) spokesperson for Family Game Night. Who do I gotta talk to about that?

  15. My brother-in-law is 17 and he has a similar “I won’t play it because it’s not fun” attitude. I’ve discovered that he won’t play anything with us until he’s had a chance to play it on his own so he can master the game before he’ll even consider playing with us. He won’t just play a normal have-fun game, he has to be the best of the best. But once we break through that barrier, he’ll play with us as much as we want – all we did for Thanksgiving this year was rock out with Rock Band for 5 straight days 🙂

  16. We just got Guitar Hero about a week ago, and it’s a total family addiction. I can’t get over how cool it is watching my daughter wail on “Story of My Life.” She called me at work the other day – it was spring break – just to excitedly say, “Daddy! I beat Slash! On my FIRST TRY!” (Girls don’t play video games? WhatEVER.) Now we gotta get a second guitar so someone can play bass…

  18. As I read this, I’m waiting for it to be my turn to sing in Boston’s “Foreplay/Long Time,” which my Small One is now rockin’ out to on the drums as our pasta dinner is cooking.
    Serendipity. ;-}

  20. I have to say, that sounds like every night at my house… and I play drums too!
    … except, we unlocked Foreplay/Long Time and Ballroom Blitz, which I sing.
    We have *got* to get the six of us together.

  27. My students think it’s hilarious that my husband and I play Rock Band. So today the high school drama club had their wrap-party for their play and I brought in Rock Band. My cool quotient just shot way up!

  31. This is completely awesome for me to read. My mom was never the geek type, and we’re both girls so we bonded pretty naturally. My dad and I, however, bonded over Nintendo, comics, over science museums and Star Trek: TNG (Wasn’t born for TOS).
    The other day I was looking over photo albums and I saw a picture of my dad before I was born, playing Atari 2600 with a big grin on his face! I have that picture on my bulletin board now, to remind me how important my geek heritage has been to me. I only hope I can share my enthusiasm with my children the way you have, Wil. 🙂 *snif*

  36. Awesome Wil! I’d love to visit just one evening with you all , you sound like good people! *Drops Dark Side of the Moon hat with a wink to my lady Molly out there and head bangs picking up a cowbell , tapping like a man possessed *

  38. The family that plays together, stays together!
    I did not get the luxury of growing up with gaming consoles, so I’ve been catching up in college, thanks to my boyfriend. We have what we’d like to call “Rock Band Thursday,” where we have a set in the lounge and rock out.
    And this past weekend, my boyfriend and two of my friends completed the endless set list on expert. It took them almost six hours, and they were absolutely thrilled at their accomplishment.

  40. Speaking of cowbell, you should do what my good buddy did. He actually attatched a cowbell to the rockband drum stand…if someone playing gets really frustrated, or just completely screws up and gets knocked out of the song, the use the cowbell to help them get on top of the beat. That way when we go through it again, the person is ready to go and likely happier.
    Give it a try. You’ll like it.
    http://www.livingwithanerd.com

  43. “I’m personally hurt,” I said as melodramatically as I could. I put my hand over my heart. I sniffed. I pushed out my bottom lip.
    You see here the perils of living with an actor.

  45. Hey Wil,
    I know this is off topic, I just wanted to thank you. I’m a sophomore English Major at Northeastern University and taking a creative writing class. We were assigned to do a non fiction piece, but we have to have a model to work from in whatever style we choose. I couldn’t decide for a really long time what I wanted to write about and was looking through my bookshelf for any non fiction I had and picked up my copy of Just a Geek. I actually went to my livejournal from high school found an entry to work with and used a similar style as you use in your book in reflecting on the entry. I got it back today and got an A (my first A in that class) so I wanted to thank you for writing your book in such an awesome style for us studying English to get inspiration from. Thanks Wil!

  46. Based on your Keynote at Pax and your multiple ruminations on playing guitar hero, I finally last christmas went out and bought a Wii for the family. I finally found Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii a couple of weeks ago and along with an extra guitar we spend plenty of quality family time rocking out. My 14 year old daughter is gaining an appreciation to old school rock and when she is away for the evening and my wife and I have the house to ourselves we do that special thing mommys and daddys do. Drink wine and play guitar hero.
    I ‘Wasted’ the entire weekend sitting on the couch with my daughter playing Lego Star Wars arguing like ten year olds over how to solve the puzzles. Great times and right when I stand the biggest chance of losing her interest with hanging with dad.
    Cheers

  49. So it turns out that Still Alive is not actually available on XBL today. I mean, the song is there, but when you download it you actually have to play/sing this song.

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