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by Bobby McCarthy
Copyright (c), 2003, My Daily Driver -- All Rights Reserved 
In 1985, I was the guitarist for a Post-punk-unwave-grarage-esq-power-trio band (God, I miss the '80's
pseudo categorization of music). We were based in Pennsylvania, however as with all bands of that era;
we had our eyes fixed squarely on the Big Apple. In an attempt to establish ourselves within the New
York City music scene, we embarked upon a road-trip. Armed only with demo cassette tapes and an
unyielding passion that only youth can maintain, we headed into the bowels of Gotham.This was my first pilgrimage into NYC, and to say I was overwhelmed would be an understatement. We were on a limited budget and also tight time constraints. We weren't Rock Stars yet, so we were under monetary obligations to return to our "Day Jobs" on Monday. We arrived in NYC on an oppressively hot Saturday morning and I assumed there must have some sort of sanitation strike going on for quite some time. One of our pre-determined missions, besides being discovered, was to capture photographs of the band in "gritty" New York backdrops. We even brought a friend who not only owned a good camera, but also had taken a photography class at a Community College. Our photographer had an idea; he wanted to shoot us with the WORLD TRADE CENTER in the background. We thought that was a fine idea. 
That photo shoot had been uneventful, in the sense that nothing particularly bizarre occurred (I can't
say that about a lot of band shoots I was present at). The heat combined with the lack of a single
bonafide lead to escalate our musical career, resulted in us going our separate ways. Most went back to
the absurdly over-priced single hotel room we would all cram into, while the drummer and myself headed
towards the Twin Towers.We patiently waited in line to board the elevators to access the observation deck. Once on top, we did what any "kids" would do, we spat over the side. The images broadcasted on September 11th catapulted me back to 1985. Not to the road-trip, or my band mates, or even the photo shoot. No, it was visualizing standing atop one Tower and spitting. All the trips I'd taken to NYC since then, I never had the "time" to re-visit the World Trade Center. That particular band self-destructed not long after the trip to Gotham. I have formed, reformed, joined, quit only to rejoin more bands than I care to count since 1985. Needless to say, through many relocations and the lack of a central filing system, I have lost countless photos and demo Tapes. However, the photos of the band with World Trade Center in background... Man, I really wish I still had those. 
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