I.D. FLUX

Bonham's subtile funk on Lotta Love

04 Drums Right

The Go! Team - Milk Crisis

Two Cow Garage @ Comfest

titles from Death Proof

Makes a nothing day in Austin seem epic.

mbv

You were either there or you weren't.

I missed it. I regret missing it. Guess I got to get on with my life.

Italy Saves Rock

memories can't wait

I took a few days off work to enjoy some crisp autumn weather

and bright colored leaves,

 

but I ended up with some gloomy gray skies. Once in a while, the sun would illuminate the day with that special, glorious shine that only happens when it's Fall. In the mornings, I'd drink coffee and read. Most afternoons, I played records. I had time to think and even figured out one of the reasons I love this time of year.

 

I seemed to have thought one day I'd recreate the

 

Lake Minitaka scene in Purple Rain. You know, when Prince takes Apollonia out to woods and tricks her to jump in the lake?  Well, apparently I've been always hoping to

a) ride a motorcycle,
b) get some exotic woman wearing a sexy leather outfit, and
c) ride her to a colorful forest.

This must of been the carrot dangling in front of me. Go to school, show up to work, pay the bills, and do the right thing. Then one day, some Apollonia would be holding me tight. She would be grinning.  I would be grinning. Upon further pondering, I realized I've had that experience years before (without the motorcycle) and that wonderful afternoon became a very faded memory. This whole realization happened when I was driving in the country and "Take Me With You" played on the radio. Behold!
The power of pop music!

The Zombies - Time of the Season

 

cheap thrills from the dollar bin

  Went to the record store with a 10 dollar bill.  More later....

Tom Waits Show at 1:30 a.m.

It was like seeing some mythological  icon, like Abraham Lincoln or a werewolf. I knew people who caught the shows in Memphis and Nashville. They told me stories of impossible set lists made up of my favorite songs. Even Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello are taken back by Tom's prose. His tours are so rare that I resigned myself to the fact that I'd never ever see him. When the whole tour sold out in 20 minutes while I was at work, I was lower than the Monitor and the Merrimac. I first saw him as a kid singing "The Piano Has Been Drinking (not me)" on TV. He was a chain smoking beatnik hanging  out out in bars and diners. Years later, Frank's Wild Years and Raindogs was the soundtrack of my late night gig at Larry's Bar & Grill ( on the antique jukebox that actually played a whole side of a LP for 50 cents). The best we could hope for is that he'd make an appearance on Letterman.

Out of the blue, I get wind that after the Akron show there was a secret suprise show in Cleveland. The whole tour wasn't sold out after all. Half believing it, I dialed T master on my lunch break and got lucky. Two days later I was riding up to the partial ghost town which is Cleveland. There was waiting involved. Since we arrived early and snatched up a great parking space, we were stuck in downtown and night was falling. Shot billiards with a midget until the rain stopped. Talked baseball with a lieutenant over a Singapore sling. Then we got in the will call ticket line and got gouged by a big breasted femme fatale selling a bottle of water for four friggin' dollars. Once inside the House of Blues, I realized what an intimate place it was. I was going to be way too close to the man. We were in for more waiting, accept this time we had to watch commercials for The House of Blues merch. This was on a loop and played over every 5 minutes endlessly. The worst part was seeing a clip of Eric Clapton over and over. He was wearing a golf shirt and shorts. Actually his whole band was too and it looked like they were going to play tennis afterwards.  After the fiftieth time, we started making fun of what song he was playing. Maybe "I missed the putt" or "Waitress got my order wrong". It was getting late.  It dawned on me that some in the crowd didn't know the songs and shouldn't of been there.    

  At 1:30 in the morning the curtains parted, Tom strolled out and launched into Goin' Out West. The crowd went wild.  It's really hard to write about this show. I was so happy.  I ignored the annoying members of the audience, calling out and not shutting up enough.  The startling thing was that someone would yell out and since the venue was so small, Tom could hear and understand what was said. One drunk kept babbling and Tom said, " We should make an appointment to talk about this later".  His only monologue was on bowling shoes and the strange concept of renting shoes. He said it was like renting underwear and that the germs were so strong that they laugh at Lysol. Some say that Cleveland's set list was the best of the tour. He shocked many by pulling out oldies like Blue Valentine, On The Nickel, and Heart attack & Vine.  November was ominous and gave me shivers. Singapore, Cemetery Polka, and I Wish I Was in New Orleans were personal highlights. Tom's son Casey was on drums and the band got into some pretty strange grooves. The climax was singing It Rains On Me along with Tom himself. The only thing that bugged me was that a roadie brought out a guitar that implied Tom might finish off with a quiet one like Cold Cold Ground or Time or something. It looked like Tom was spent from the Akron show at 8pm and probably cut a song or two off. 

On the way to the car I realized how many songs he didn't play. I loved the fact that Cleveland was sound asleep and while Big Black Mariah was wailing out. His songs were more magical at three in the morning.

Here's the set list.
Some are even linked up to video on You Tube. No extra charge.
Goin' Out West
219 (My Baby's Leaving on the)
Way Down in the Hole
November
Blue Valentine
Big Black Mariah

On the Nickel
Cemetery Polka
I Wish I was in New Orleans
Johnsburg, Illinois
Metropolitan Glide
Heartattack and Vine / Spoonful

Make it Rain
Circus
Singapore
It Rains on Me
Don't Go Into that Barn
Ramblin' Man
Whistling Past the Graveyard
Buzz Fledderjohn  

making due with pirated video & memories

  As I wait for Melt Banana to return and make my life meaningful for a brief moment, the next best thing to being there in the summer of 2006 is to search You Tube. That band is like confronting a mythical being like a unicorn or a werewolf.  Insanely fast punk, avante guarde style blending, as well as abstract beat lyrics. I've also have been downloading avi files of gigs as well as buying bootleg videotapes on Ebay. No one plays like this. Here's three versions of Shield for your eyes, A Beast in the Well , which is their only song with a groove. I can hear

influences from The Chemical Bros. to Zeppelin and ska.  They used this as an opener a tour ago.

Take 2 ,  Take 3

also enjoy Chain-Shot To Have Some Fun ( which might  spontaneously form a frenzied mosh pit and thunder storms),  Lost Parts stinging me so cold ,  and their short song medley.

UPDATE:  U.S Tour in the spring!