The first time I met Telli from Ninjasonik, he probably should have punched me in the face. Instead, he gave me drugs. Late one night at Daddy’s, I was in an aggressive state of inebriation, owing to my female companion not wanting to make out with me. Ignoring my provocations, Telli joined our table, informed us it was his birthday, shared his party favors, invited us to an after-hours and generally acted like a stand-up dude.

Fast forward to Friday night in the Earth Science room of the American Museum of Natural History, which served as the backstage area when the band played one of the museum’s One Step Beyond soirees. I figured I’d bump into Ninjasonik back there and explain to Telli that for my article to come full arc I needed him to once again give me free drugs. Instead I ran into Jah-Jah, who was happy to share his Red Bull and vodka and talk to me in front of billion-year-old space rocks. Was he worried that things would get hectic during the show and priceless artifacts would be destroyed? “We get active, but we respect it,” he said, later adding, “We’ve played in front of a Picasso!”

I told him the Telli story and informed him that the young lady was in the audience that night. Without hesitating, he slipped off his wristband and handed it to me to get her backstage. I bumped into Teenwolf outside, who reiterated Jah’s stance, saying it was an honor and privilege to play there.

Underneath the planetarium surrounded by crazy lights, Ninjasonik proceeded to tear the place up, though this crowd, different from the usual, didn’t seem ready for it. There was stage diving and chaos up front, though, as Ninjasonik rapped their way through Matt and Kim and Death Set songs.

Also, security was extremely lax. Thanks to Jah, I got my friend back stage, and then snuck into cordoned-off areas, dodging security while making out in front of dioramas of large mammals like a drunken Thomas Crown. I caught glimpses of the other bands, but had more urgent matters to attend to.