Wish I Was There

Time for a new addition to the repertoire that I am going to call "Wish I Was There." Quite simply: Talk about some events that I wish I could have witnessed firsthand. Easy enough, right?

Alright. Let's do this.

--Samson and the Jawbone
I don't revel in gore, but how crazy would it have been to watch a man kill a thousand others with the jawbone of an animal? If jazz is the penultimate of improvisation, and MacGyver is the golden standard for resourcefulness, then Samson -- in choosing to take on an entire army with, of all things, the jawbone of an ASS -- solidified his status as some sort of Miles Davis/MacGyver hybrid of ancient hand-to-hand combat. Braveheart, Maximus: Get out the way, yo.

--The Battle of Marathon
The Persians tried to invade Greece, blah blah blah. Not really what I'm concerned about. What would concern me is stopping that stupid messenger from running the ~26 miles between Marathon to Athens. Stopping him would have done myself and humanity a favor, because marathons as we know them would not exist. (And yes, most of this is myth & legend, but this is my blog -- and dammit, fictional events are just as fun to speculate about being a participant in as real ones)

I haven't decided if "stopping" the messenger involves me mugging him or explaining to him the concept of a relay. I'll mull it over.

--Jimi at Woodstock, 1969 (suggested by JH)
Hopefully we're all familiar with Hendrix's improvised rendering of the "Star-Spangled Banner" at Woodstock. It is legendary. I personally would have been slightly uncomfortable around all of the "free love," drug-smoking/injecting/snorting, and overall lack of proper hygiene at the festival, but to see Jimi in his element would have been other-worldly -- with or without the drugs.


Thanks to those who have already submitted suggestions for future "Wish I Was There"s. Keep sending me events -- real or fictional; historical, literary or cinematic -- that you wish you would have been there for.