I have no idea what made me look at the metal gate and the linebacker-sized bouncer scowling behind it and think, “I like my odds here.”

The bouncer was guarding the stage at the Birch Hill nightclub. He was one of a line of big, unfriendly giants we in New Jersey used to call “peacekeepers.” Behind the peacekeepers that fateful night in 2003 were the seminal Jersey punk rockers, the Bouncing Souls. I was not a member of the Bouncing Souls, but that night, I felt very strongly that this fact should not exclude me from joining them on stage.