Sheridan and Allen.

Actually, that’s only kind of true, but it seems like a solid title for the first post.

Purple Rain was our first dance, and it was at Raena’s Pub during an Eightysomething night.

It was in March of 2010, and Allen had performed that night with his improv group, and I had gone to the show with a pretty big group of friends. It was the first time I had seen the Focus Group perform, and the quote I remember the most was from the Rant on Health Care: “Allen Adams is made of steel!”.

After the show a bunch of us tagged along to the post-show festivities at Geaghan’s, and then went on to Raena’s. Even if you’ve never been to Raena’s, you probably know what it looks like on 80s night.  Imagine a hot, sweaty, sketchy bar with a fair amount of big haired, spandexed people dancing to covers of Def Leppard and the like. Allen showed up a bit later, with Abernethy as his wing man, and I’ll admit to being worried they wouldn’t let them in because the bar was too crowded.

Our group danced to all the fast songs together, and then the band started to play Purple Rain. The crowd parted. Allen asked me to dance. I said yes. I remember being held tightly and eventually closing my eyes. It was a good night.