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As the year 2000 approached, many were in an apocalyptic mood. The dreaded Y2K was referenced and written about as a time when the entire world would somehow stop and all technology break down. The hysteria led some to write sensationalistic books about the end of the world. My prediction, however, came true: Entering the new millennium was pretty uneventful.
In my world, 1999 was formative. I'd been in a relationship with a woman for a year who asked me to propose to her. I only needed her father's permission. His response? "Not until you go to school, make $50,000 a year, and have at least $10,000 in the bank." Knowing I'd suffered from an incurable pain and fatigue disability that ensured I couldn't be a career man, my girlfriend informed me that love wasn't enough. We broke up on Valentine's Day.
I was 23, and made a decision: I was going to live a bohemian life and look for an eccentric woman who wanted to live a creative life with me; someone who didn't care about the American Dream--a house in the suburbs, career, and kids.
In April of 2000, I started working in a heavy metal T-shirt shop on the north side of Chicago called "The Alley." There I met a woman who used to live in a commune also on the north side called Jesus People USA (JPUSA). They ran the infamous Cornerstone Festival, was home to Cornerstone Press, Cornerstone Magazine, and GRRR! Records, made band merch, and the community was filled with hippies, scenesters, punks, goths, musicians, and creatives. She took me for a tour, and that summer, I moved in, volunteering to work at Cornerstone Festival and hoping to start a band. When JPUSA got to cultic for my liking, I left.
When I moved out of the commune back home to the south side of the city, my friends and I started working on a band--a project called eXpelleD. We were meant to be a nu-metal band with some heavy breakdowns influenced by Project 86 and Living Sacrifice. We bought gear and messed around, but had no drummer and weren't terribly committed, so nothing came of it. Still, we spent the year going to live shows and seeing metal bands for inspiration, as we would the next few years.
Due to my disability, and unable to get my life off the ground by 24 after struggling since high school, my mom advised me to apply for monthly Social Security, food assistance, and medical help from the government. This was going to be my life--getting a check that was hardly enough to cover rent and working entry level part-time jobs to make ends meet. I mourned, believing my life was over, and with the help of a lawyer, won my case.
It was in 2000 that I discovered the underground scene of punk, metal, hardcore, and emo bands playing in VFW halls and church basements. I found myself at home in the scene. Suburban kids were in Vans, band shirts, and hoodies, shopping at Hot Topic. This was also a year in which Nu-metal music exploded in popularity, often featured on MTV's Return of the Rock.
In politics, there was a hotly contested election between Al Gore and George W. Bush, which was so close a recount was needed in Florida. George W. Bush was declared the winner, and debates erupted about Democracy, the electoral college, the accuracy of voting machines and the voting system, the role of the Supreme Court, and other such mechanics that determined the election.
In the coming entries will be the sights, sounds, and journal vignettes of 2000 as I experienced it.
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