In August of ’97 I moved to Columbia, South Carolina. On my first night in town as a Gamecock, the day after seeing Rage Against the Machine with Wu Tang in (Columbia) Maryland, I went to the Elbow Room in Five Points to catch a band from Florida named Spider Monkey. I had met them at a festival that summer and I found out about the Elbow Room show when my brother, visiting from MD to help on move-in day, asked, “Hey, don’t you know these guys?”

Almost instantly, Todd, Tony, Garrett and Randy welcomed me into their scene in Columbia. I believe Todd got our money back from the door when he found out we paid. This was my introduction the only place I’ve called home as an adult. Blame them.

In those years, Spider Monkey was playing back-to-back sold out nights at the club (a sister venue of New Brookland Tavern) with 2 Skinnee J’s, flip-flopping headliner status. I had access to a TINY “green room” to stash my camera bag and sneak a beer.

The Elbow Room closed sometime around 2001 and it was about that time that our paths stopped crossing.

Yesterday, after Spider Monkey performed at the St. Pat’s Fest in Five Points, I snuck into the hospitality tent. “Hey man, I’m Sean and y’all used to let me hang out back in the day at Elbow Room,” I told Todd.

It took him a few seconds to remember, but in the process, Todd made all the facial expressions I once knew him for — as he tried to remember.

“You’re like - grown up!” he said with a huge smile and laugh, “You’ve got a beard and it’s better than what I can grow. You want a cold beer?”

I started the morning by running in the Get to the Green 5K. I’ve been running for about as long as I’ve been using cameras. Here’s what that looked like:

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