Thursday, March 24, 2005

"Who'd win in a wrestling match, Lemmy or God?"

Chris Moore: Lemmy.
[Rex imitates a game show buzzer]
Chris Moore: ... God?
Rex: Wrong, dickhead, trick question. Lemmy *IS* God.

A truer comment there may not be. Last night was Motorhead at First Ave and they fucking rocked!! Lemmy is 59 and can still rock like that! Amazing! They didn't miss a beat. Motorhead were Motorhead and Motorhead never disappoints. I have a rock and roll hang over and I'm so damn happy. The crowd kicked ass as always. Anyone out there who has never seen Motorhead live needs to do it NOW!

Also Zeke is loud fast hard rock. From start to finish they don't stop the rock. Its quite the combination. It would be even better if Zeke went on right before Motorhead but they had COC in between whom I'm not a huge fan of, but it worked. Motorhead and Zeke, fucking great!

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

I"Dance Alone In Nightclubs Every Other Day Of The Week"

Yeah thats right Achin To Be was playing while I typed that. Anyway the title works because all I do is go see bands. Not necessarily always alone but it happens often. Since the last post I've been to three different shows.

On St Patrick's day was Plate O Shrimp and All American Cheap Shots at Big V's. There were others but I didn't get there til later so these were the only bands I saw. Wonderful time because Plate O Shrimp is so great to see live. Afterwards it was the viewing of the ever entertaining "End Of The Century" Ramones documentary. That took us til about 4 am and unfortunately I had to be to work at 8 for a meeting instead of the normal 11:30 start time. Yeah it was a slow day for me.

Saturday I took the drive to Moorhead to see the Midnight Evils and Six Six Crush play in Ralph's bar. A very interesting place that Ralph's is. Would be better if I remembered it more. Take $3 pitchers of high life, mix in some green leafy material and loud rock and it tends to make for an intoxicated state. And being in a nothing town didn't help as someone did try to take advantage of my intoxicated state, but thanks to good friends, I didn't embarass myself too much.

That brings us to last night. A friends birthday and we bar hopped our way to the 7th St Entry for the Hot Rod Hearse show. What a great time. My friend was drunk enough by the end of the show to get up on stage and sing herself the rockinest version of happy birthday I've heard. Follow this up with a trip to the Leaning Tower of Pizza and her falling off the bar stools drunk, I think she had a good time. She's a rockstar! I hope my birthday is half the event that hers was. And being that it should be a lot of the same people I'm sure it will be.

Tonight is Motorhead with Corrosion of Conformity and ZEKE in the First Ave mainroom. What a show this will be. I love Zeke and they're just nuts live. Rumor has it that they've stopped doing speed so their songs may last more then 10 seconds each, but it should still be a moving experience. And Lemmy will never die. At his age he's still rockin out more then most stars in their 20s. To say I'm excited is a bit of an understatement.

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

My Hair Is Black Because I Taint It

I absolutely hate getting my hair cut. Mostly because I never get anything exciting or new done. Just clean her up trim her a bit. I like my style I just need to get it refreshed every once in a while. So I go on Sunday for one of these cuts and get the guy that gives me the usual line. "I take it you color your hair yourself?" Damn straight I'm not going to pay you $60 for something that costs me $8. "What color do you use?" Black, what the fuck does it look like? Its not 4 different shades with highlights and shit like that. Its straight black. And yeah it was time to color the roots again but thats why I was getting it cut. So there's a little less to deal with this time around. Gosh, idiot!

So tonight its Black Pearl Clairol Hydrience and Jim Beam (straight cause I'm out of anything that would be good to mix that with). Throw in one part Hootenanny** and its actually a pretty good time in. Mr. Whirly, please don't call me. I've been drinking alone. I just hope this doesn't equal bad dye job. Anyone have a home remedy for black hair dye on white bathroom walls?

**Anyone who has no idea what I'm talking about when I mention Hootenanny, run don't walk, to your local music store. Cheapo's open for another half hour. Call them and tell them you're having an emergency and you need Hootenanny waiting for you at the register STAT.

Love,
Kitten

Rock N Roll Teeth

Ok to recap the last week. Thursday night, Flogging Molly show at First Ave. I'm not the hugest fan of this band. I don't own any cds but their live shows are generally really fun. The band dedicated a song to the mom of the person I was with. We ended up getting to hang a bit with them after the show at O'Donovans across the street. The drummer from the band was hooking up with a girl I worked with when I was in high school. She left before he did and needless to say, 20 minutes later there was a new girl in her spot. That guy has skills, he didn't have to approach either of these girls. And to me, he's not the best looking one in the band either. Go George (I think thats his name).

Friday night was spent at Big V's. I'll have to say Big V's is a fun place to see a band. Just wish they would advertise more. I saw the Panty Huffers, Six Six Crush, the Menstral Tramps and Dirty Sanchez. There may have been one more, by the end of the night I had consumed a mass amount of beer and wasn't paying as much attention as I should have. Dirty Sanchez was pretty bad and on the verge of nu metal. The singer had long nasty hair and was wearing a GUnit shirt and fashionably untied timberland shoes. Oh the humanity! My friend and I spent the entire time they played ripping on them. We were not happy with their contribution to the evening. The Menstral Tramps have an ok sound and the potential of being a pretty fun punk band. They had a new bass player who was really not doing it for me though. It was obvious she hadn't played in front of anyone before and couldn't really get down playing and adding a bit of back of vocals. Six Six Crush as usual rocked, they have a lot of energy and I enjoy their loud fast punk sound. Its great. Panty Huffers were fun. Their singer is all over the place and I really got a kick out of his helmet that was labeled Tard Guard on the front and Ouch on the back. By this time the attention span was getting low so I can't comment entirely on them but it was a good time.



Saturday was the Chariots release party in the Entry. I dig the Chariots sound. They're loud, quick and tight. Die Electric was cool as always but Askeleton played in between and I'm not as into them. I didn't think they fit the bill as much. Not horrible but there are other bands I'd prefer to see.

Sunday was back in the Entry for Six Six Crush, Rent Money Big and The Deaf. Rent Money Big is from Lincoln, NE and I'll have to say rocked pretty hard. I was impressed. I wish I had more cash on me to have picked up one of their CDs. The Deaf was also sounding good. I like how they mix up the vocals, some songs with the deep voiced guy and others with the chic bass player. She's pretty good just doesn't exude much excitement while singing or playing. But overall good show. I'm sure the maybe 20 other people there would agree with me.

Now its staying in to save money for Fargo this weekend. Most people will laugh at the idea of driving to Fargo but hey its going to be a good party. A couple of great minneapolis bands will be playing Ralph's and we'll all be showing Fargo how to party. There will be stories later.

Ok now to the people watching comments. Along the lines of the holiday sweater comments, I'm really not a fan of people over the age of 10 wearing clothing sporting kids cartoon shows. There's a woman I worked with that was wearing a massive yellow Spongebob shirt and it just rubs me the wrong way. What probably bugs me more though is the people who wear Winnie the Pooh clothing featuring any one of the characters from the show/books. I don't want to see a 33 year old woman wearing an Eeyore (sp?) shirt with some cute saying. Why do you want to dress like a child? These usually are soccer moms or wannabe soccer moms and they generally inhabit the nothern Minnesota area. Suburban hicks. Grow up, thats trying to hard to be cute (that word makes me shudder). And guys, there's quite a few of these ladies I've seen with men. What is it that attracts you to these types of women? Is it maybe that they'll put out to even the narstiest guys just to have a guy? Thats probably it. I haven't been able to find an image of one of these women in one of these shirts, but they're out there. And if I find a picture, I'll post it.

Thursday, March 10, 2005

In them glass stacked boots

Yeah last night I fell victim yet again to Das Boot. Went to go see a friend of a friends band play at Gasthofs. Turned out to be a weird cover band that did a slow emo dramatic version of I Won't Back Down by Tom Petty. It was quite the acid trip if you ask me. There were about 5 people there other then my friend Kirsten and I so to say it was dead is an extreme understatement. Well my friend and I shared 3 of these boots by ourselves. The first two we brought on ourselves but the third was bought by crazy guy who had came from a Saliva show at Star Central (god help us all). Nice guy, shitty music, but hey he bought us $20 in beer. They had taken a limo to Star Central, so they were high rollers!

Here is the boot


All hail the boot. Visiting Gasthof's is just making me yearn for a bar crawl. I need to get organizing if I don't want to wait to the family bar crawl in May. But yeah crazy Saliva fan decided he would start talking to me about music. I was wearing my Paul Westerberg sharp dressed man shirt (see below) and more then ready for this conversation.



He asked who my favorite band is and when I told him the Replacements he of course had no idea what I was talking about. But he said that didn't matter he just loved that I talked about them with such passion. So if he didn't get the Mats he sure wasn't going to get Plate O Shrimp, Six Six Crush, or the Stunning. This and a guy with a Red Stripe trucker hat were what we had to look at that night. It was an interesting evening. But because I neglected dinner that beer hit me harder then it should have and there was a whirlpool spinning around in my head. Yeah this blog really has turned into "How Many Times Can I Quote Replacements Lyrics Today." DEAL WITH IT.

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Road Maps and Bra Straps

Ok so as you can tell this blog hasn't been the highest priority on my list of things to do. I type this as if anyones reading this. One day, it will happen. But do I even care? Note to self -- stop rambling!

I think I'm starting to pick up an addiction to coffee. I never used to be much of a coffee drinker but lately I've been swallowing gallon after gallon like some cranked up Everquest addict. Must not sleep, must get to next level. But being that I don't eat much more then a snack size bag of cheetos during the day, the caffeine as been leaving me completely wired at work. And my want for interaction growing as well. So much that I'm sure I'm annoying the hell out of everyone on the Man Without Ties message board. Oh well, one day they'll understand. Bored and hopped up on caffeine makes for so many more comments. And for those of you in Minneapolis, may I post a picture of my favorite coffee shop, Bob's Java Hut. Ok bad picture and its since been repainted, but go there, check it out NOW!



So there is a reason the title of this post is what it is. The most exciting thing I did in the last two months is a week and a half long road trip. I drove from Minneapolis out to Seattle, all 29 hours of it. My friend Amanda from San Francisco met me there and we stayed with another friend of mine, Amanda's cousin Ryan. The first night was spent hanging out hitting bars and followed by wine and oreos in Ryan's apartment. Not usually much of a wine person but I'm getting used to it. The second day we walked the entire city of Seattle and it was beautiful out. That night was Paul Westerberg show #1 for me on this trip at the Showbox Showroom. Ok venue, I was pretty close to the front of the stage and it was an amazing rocking show. So tight and the band sounded awesome. Michael Bland is a monster on the drums. And despite the guitarist (Kevin Bowe) constantly looking like he was going to cry, he was great as well. Jim Boquist on bass what more could you ask for? During "I Will Dare" Paul had a cigarette in his mouth and dropped it when trying to sing. He got down on the stage and picked the cig up with his mouth without missing a note on his guitar. He rolled over pulled the mic stand down with his legs and was able to sing and play from the stage floor. A roadie later came and held the mic stand for him, but damn what a rock star! Or should I say Folk star? He also said he hates "I Will Dare" but I'm thinking he's more just tired of it.

While I was at the show Amanda and Ryan had decided to go on a quest to find Midget porn. None of us had ever witnessed such a phenomenon and they decided that it was time to change that. I am forever damaged by the image of Joey "the dude" with a dildo in his ass. Yeah don't watch it, you'll never be the same.

From Seattle Amanda and I drove to Portland. We stayed with her friend Zach, had some really good Irish food at a place called Kell's. I left them for Paul Westerberg show #2. Another amazing show but the crowd in Portland acted like they were at a damn tennis match. I think I was the only one shaking my hips and rocking out to the music. What the fuck Portland? Is this the land of no rhythm, DANCE MOTHERFUCKERS DANCE! After the show I met up with very drunk Amanda and Zach at the Ash St Saloon or something like that. I continued to drink with them never really catching up to their full stature but a good time was definitely had.

From there Amanda and I drove to San Francisco. That would be a 9 hour drive. Good thing I like to drive. The only problem I had with driving with Amanda, who is my dearest friend, we are into different music. She doesn't know the Replacements and kept asking who are you going to see, Paul Westerfield? Oh I don't know that she'll ever understand. And while I was aching to play the Damaged cd by Black Flag she put in a mix cd consisting of Stroke 9, Better than Ezra and Sublime. My ears were aching when the track went from Caress me down to Good Day by Luce (in my opinion one of the worst songs written, they should die by falling down an elevator shaft with the people from Len). But other than that music choice, Amanda is an amazing person and it could be worse. She could be into Toby Keith or new shit country like that. First night in San Fran was spent hanging out relaxing after the 9 hour drive and checking out the closing of Amanda's friend's family's (cousins, brothers uncles stepfathers best friends neighbors) Chinese restaurant. I've been to San Fran a number of times to see Amanda so this was not a sight seeing trip. Day two we drove to Santa Clara for a little hiking before the rain kicked in. That night Paul Westerberg show #3 and yes I did drag Amanda with me. She was very impressed with how much fun the band seemed to have on stage and yes did pick out songs she liked. After he smashed his guitar on his amp he said he split his fucking head open. Low and behold theres blood running down the side of his head. This was during the last song of the set. Amanda proceeded to tell me that she didn't think he was coming back out due to bleeding from the head. Much to her surprise he did two rocking encores, again proving that he is a ROCK STAR!!! Amanda was impressed.

In the morning after a delicious crepe breakfast I made my way to LA. A short 5 hour jaunt. This would be for Westerberg shows #4 and #5. While I'm not a huge fan of LA/Hollywood I'll say I had a great time and met some really cool people. The Budget Inn on Sunset that I stayed in was built for prostitution. The room was complete with one of the firmest beds I've ever slept on, a huge mirror behind the bed and free porn!!!

Shows were amazing with appearances by Lucinda Williams and even a rockin cover of I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend, one of my most favorite Ramones songs. I also attended the taping of the Late Late Show that Paul was on. It was a great weekend. But after show #5, otherwise known as LA2, I did wait by the bus to try and get my ticket stubs autographed. I had no idea what to say to the guy that wouldn't make me sound like a fricken idiot. So when it came to be my time in line I shook his hand and did this sort of uhhhh... I don't know what to say. I s aid this tour inspired a great road trip for me. His eyes widened when I told him I was from Mpls and had gone to the Seattle, Portland, San Fran and LA shows. He asked "why did you come so far?" I thought are you kidding me, because I think you're an amazing musician and I wish I could see all your shows. But I didn't say that. I took the cooler than that (which I'm not) approach and said how I had friends in all the cities and it was an added bonus that I could see his shows too. Oh he said some added fun. He signed my ticket stubs and we both kind of leaned in for a hug but I stuck out my hand, shook his, said THANK YOU VERY MUCH and turned and walked away. Not my most graceful moment but I did ok. The guy before me in line told Paul how he had to his coat and school books to buy his ticket and Paul went in the bus and brought him out a leather jacket. The guy asked PW if he was sure because it was a really nice jacket and Paul said well its a $300 jacket but you're what matters (not word for word but something that effect) he said just check the pockets, and sure enough there was a jock strap in one pocket, pretty funny.

I then left for a 29 hour drive back. The mormon dodging drive through Utah was actually quite beautiful. I made it the whole way without my car breaking down and for a 95 Buick, I was proud of her.

Now with Westerberg still on tour I'm making plans for a road trip with other Westerberg fans to hit Milwaukee and Chicago. Should be a great time. This band is on fire so anyone getting a chance to see the tour should do exactly that.