moshed by association

when we were at the paradise the other night, the husband threatened to stage dive and then mosh through the crowd if there was an opening band. i told him that being "moshed by association" was really crappy and that he should really refrain from such activities. he laughed when i said "moshed by association" and then i told him this story:

high school flash-back *insert magic time machine dust here*

i was at a ducky boys show in western ma. (yes i understand that there is a lot wrong with that statement to begin with) the venue was some weird coffee house type of place with no stage and several sofas lined the walls. the crowd, while underwhelming in numbers, had several crust punk types, a group of skin-heads and myself and two friends (teenage girls from the burbs).

here is where i should mention that if my mom ever reads this she will say "i never never knew about this" and i will respond using the best 17 year old sarcasm i can muster, "of course you did! i totally told you that i was driving my friends out to springfield in a borrowed minivan to see a band play and hang out skin-heads" and she will the give me "the look" that she now reserves exclusively for my brothers and times when i say shit like that just to rile her up.

that night i was standing off to the side, next to one of the sofas during the band's set. my friend marianne was standing on the sofa next to me. suddenly, the skin-head dudes started using the whole venue to mosh it up and essentially beat the crap out of one another. this is when i was "moshed by association" and got pushed down on the sofa where i lay unable to move while a group of dudes in steel-toed boots moshed themselves all over my feet. eventually, marianne grabbed my arm and pulled me up to higher ground. had she not saved me i think that i would have been "moshed into oblivion" becasue those guys didn't care who they were moshing on. i remember having some seriously bruised and swollen ankles the next day.

10 or so years later i realize that i am lucky that i didn't get hurt in some way (beyond a few bruises). a woman i work with was moshed by association last summer and had to undergo knee surgery to fix a torn acl. i've seen the embarrassment creep over her face when she explains what happened to colleagues and board members. it's especially embarrassing because i know those people probably think it's called "monching".