Northampton, MA is a very lesbian-friendly place. Last night as Jeff and I dined and walked the streets of the cool little arts haven before a tremendous Pernice Brothers show, we saw plenty of them. Fat lesbians, skinny lesbians, lesbians that climb on rocks. Tough lesbians, sissy lesbians, even lesbians with… Well, you get the point. I joked that we should have had a lesbian band back in the Tar Hut Records days when several of our bands were from the NoHo area. “They also could have been called ‘the Ex-Husbands.’” One of our bands actually was called “the Ex-Husbands,” but they were three guys from… Nevermind.

The line into the Iron Horse for the 10:00 show was about 87 deep, but it moved reasonably quickly and soon we were looking for a seat in a room that was like one big game of musical chairs. We spotted two chairs in the second row of tables dead center in front of the stage. “Hi, is anyone sitting in these two chairs,” I asked. One of two women sitting at the table looked indignantly at me and said, “My feet are on one of those chairs.” I see… “Well, do you mind if we sit in them?” “My feet are comfortable. There are other chairs.” At that point, Jeff said, “Let’s go,” and mumbled something about “evil.” I said, “Hey, thanks” and walked away, but I was really pissed at the rudeness.

About an hour later, as Jeff and I were perched perfectly in the front row of the balcony and sitting on a cushioned futon, I noticed the two women embracing and doing the “goo-goo, ga-ga” thing, and I thought, someday that hater will turn her invective on the girlfriend and it won’t be a pretty sight. I don’t really care about someone’s personal preferences, but damn, how about a little simple courtesy? Maybe she was angry about lesbian jokes…