No. 927 – Driven

Performer: Rush

Songwriters: Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neal Peart

Original Release: Test for Echo

Year: 1996

Definitive Version: Different Stages, 1998

Shortly after the NFL announced that Cleveland would get another football team, it was announced that the new stadium would be built on the site of the old stadium, so Municipal Stadium—The Mistake By the Lake—was going to become Lake Erie reef. The city had a huge auction of stuff from the stadium, and after that the sale of what was left was open to the public.

Even though, regrettably, I had never seen a ballgame there, I had to have a seat to go along with the one I already had from Comiskey Park in Chicago. The cost was only $100—a steal, if you ask me. At this price, I had to see if Dave wanted a seat as well, and he gave his enthusiastic assent. My only demand: He had to come down and get it. No problem.

Well, almost no problem: Stadium pickup had to happen on a particular day of the week, and I was out of vacation time. It was going to have to be a windsprint up-and-back before work. So, I got up as early as I could and still get about 6 hours of sleep, popped in a new homemade tape of Test for Echo and headed north. I arrived at the stadium about 11 at the east gate behind the Dog Pound—the infamous end-zone bleachers. I paid my money, and the guy said, “OK, go ahead and drive on down. You’ll see the seats down there.” Really? I get to go down on the field and pick out the seats myself? How cool is that?

I pulled down to the end of the drive and parked the Happy Honda right at about the spot in the end zone where Red Right 88 broke the Browns fans’ hearts in 1981. There were a few trash piles of seat debris. (The seat backs were all connected and had to be cut apart to get individual seats. A cut had to be made on one side of the iron support, which rendered the next seat on either side as junk.) But at about midfield, chairs in allotments of one, two and four were lined up in neat mustard-yellow rows.

I picked out two singles that seemed to be in pretty good shape with no paint chipping and loaded them in the trunk. The seats had been bolted to the concrete, so I’d need to build a base to get them to stand up for use at home—an easy enough chore. I took a big, long last look around, noting the history of the place and the two concerts I had seen there and finally headed out.

I got home about 2:30, which was plenty of time to unload the bounty, clean up and get to work with stories to regale of my day’s adventure.