Right at the start I know he's telling a story - "when I first got to the venue". It immediately makes me wonder what is the 'second' thing he did? Did he get to the venue twice or does he have a "second" part of his story to tell? The 'second' part of his story is the trench coat mafia (Columbine) reference he has to make, so he's telegraphed that right from the start.“When I first got to the venue and walked in, I walked past the dude who was supposed to be the security guard for the backstage,” he said. “He didn’t even look at me. I immediately went to the promoter and said, ‘Who’s that guy? I want to put another dude on.’
“Right before we walked onstage, there were two dudes in shorts and trench coats, were standing, without talking, heads down in the corner,
He also says "and walked in". Why the emphasis on walking in, walking past and walking on stage? It is taken as read that when someone arrives somewhere they are usually walking inside unless they are disabled or are being carried. I also take it as read that when someone goes on stage they have used their legs to do so. Adding it in is unnecessary and is an indication of a fabricated story. It is an effort to convince. Why not simply say "When I got there I saw?" etc. The shortest sentence is the best sentence if you are telling the truth. There is no need for extraneous detail.
He then switches from "dude" to "guy" and back again. What is the difference in his mind between dude and guy? The switching indicates that the 'guy' or 'dude' didn't actually exist. The word 'dude' is also not one that I would readily associate with a security guard. For me to believe that Hughes is telling the truth I would only do so if he said "man".
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?all ... earch=dude
So the security guard was a "fastidious man", "foppish, over-fastidious male", a "city slicker"? Because that is what Hughes is implying. This also applies to the two males wearing shorts in November.1883, "fastidious man," New York City slang of unknown origin; recent research suggests it is a shortening of Yankee Doodle, based on the song's notion of "foppish, over-fastidious male" (compare macaroni). The vogue word of 1883, originally used in reference to the devotees of the "aesthetic" craze, later applied to city slickers, especially Easterners vacationing in the West (as in dude ranch, first recorded 1921).
The words we choose aren't arbitrary. They are part of our internal dictionary. Unless Hughes calls every male he ever meets a "dude" I could understand his use of it, but he doesn't. He also uses the word "guy" indicating that in his internal dictionary 'dude' is not the same as 'guy' (which is also a buddy term).
If the above quotation is verbatim then he also fails to speak correct English - "there were two dudes in shorts and trench coats, were standing" makes no sense and is possibly a typo.
Due to multiple deception markers in Hughes' account I do not believe a word of what he is saying.