El Scorcho by Weezer

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07.El Scorcho.mp3 (6.15 MB)

I got there at 9. Circled the neighborhood at least 4 times looking
for parking. If the show is anything like the the hunt for parking,
it’s sure to be epic.

I really like going to shows at the Rock and Roll Hotel. The area is
absolutely awesome – lots of dive bars and typically an
excellent-minded diverse crowd. Great place to stand outside the club
and smoke ‘n’ chat. Jaw-droppingly excellent late-night taco stand a
couple of blocks down. Free parking if you have the patience. Then
there’s the venue, itself. Great staff, small place, awesome
bartenders, clean bathrooms – good times. Moreover, when I leave RnR,
I feel excited. Like the show breathes life into me. I always walk
out of that place ready for the next thing – which isn’t going home.
…but I digress.

I got there about 10 minutes before the opening band came on. Enough
time to chat with the new (damn!) box office person, door man and
bartender. (I really like the staff there.) Got a PBR (hipster,
yeah!) and got my spot up front. Look to the left – kid with X’s on
his hands. Look to the right – similar aged hipster. OH WOW –
another person with a threadless shirt. Ah, the community.

Hipster to my left says “weren’t these assholes supposed to go on at
9?” It’s 9:15. “They’re probably doing drugs” he says. “They should
do them out on stage while they perform!” I replied. Then the band
came out. 3 dudes. Lead singer reminded me of Wurster – but not as
cool. Drummer was a few hairs better than Meg White…but without her
charm. The bassist was…well I’ll get back to that. I don’t remember
their name. Good thing I got a cd. They had 2 songs about birds.

Between bands. Re-beer.

Next up? Psychedelic Horseshit. Massive equipment failure. Cable
coming out of the back of the drum machine had a loose contact.
Generous member of the crowd leaned in and pushed the cable up and in
to hold the contact. I’m not sure it helped. Well, that’s not fair.
The drum machine made consistent contact. Whatever. They were
unprepared and the tunes were underdeveloped. Thankfully it only
lasted 25 minutes. I hope they keep working on their sound.
Appropriate name, at least.

Intermission part 2. PBR me.

Long wait. 35 minutes. People trickle on stage. 1 band member, 2.
3 band members 4. 5! 5 band members, aaaaha ha ha ha ha. I miss
Sesame Street. Anyway, so the band is on stage. The bassist is the
same bassist as from the first band. Weird. The guitarist looks like
Ricky Schroder except slightly less douchey. The other guitarist is
cool, I guess. Whatever. “ADAM! HEY! ADAM! CAN I BORROW YOUR
LIGHTER?!?!?” Suddenly the drummer jumps up and over his drumkit.
Hands the guy a lighter and hops back on stage. He’s really uppity.

Then there was Deborah. Not knowing nearly anything about The
Swirlies, I thought Deborah was the lead guitarist. I see a lot of
bands. I’ve got a soft spot for female musicians. Especially female
vocalists. ESPECIALLY beautiful female vocalists. Smooth, silky
vocals. Intentional, consistent guitar accompaniment. Awesome sense
of humor (she kept making jokes and talking to me between songs). She
even played the piano. This woman is a goddess. Is it gender
discrimination to call her a goddess? Whatever.

There were many moments at the show last night where I could see the
direct linkage between Swirlies and Sonic Youth (and subsequently
every other shoegaze band ever to exist). There were other moments
where I was just damn happy to be at a fantastic fucking concert. I
didn’t know any Swirlies songs before the show and I doubt I’d
recognize any of them right now. One things for sure, though – I
loved every last drop of sound. I’ll be at the next Swirlies show in
town – without a shadow of a doubt. Hell, I want to drive to Philly
for tonight’s show. But I won’t. Tonight is Ted Nugent night.

Swirltastic!

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Soundgarden (7.46 MB)

The other day, one of my favorite concert buddies of all time asked me
a question. It was a simple question having to do with the concert
I'm due to see on Tuesday. Soundgarden. "How do you think it will
compare to that Audioslave show?" I've spent the last 50+ hours
thinking about this. Comparing and contrasting various previous shows
and looking at reviews and setlists of the shows leading up to
Fairfax. Finally, I think I have an answer: I don't know.

I've seen Audioslave twice: once on their inaugural tour in Atlanta
and again on their third (?) tour when they came through Tampa. The
first show was a novelty act. I hadn't seen any of the members of
Audioslave live but was a sizable fan of all their other bands. I was
hoping they would play a few Rage songs late in the set but other than
that, I was going to be happy with whatever I got. What I saw was 4
musicians existing on stage. All 4 doing their own thing which just
happened to work well together - not unlike The Big 3 of the Miami
Heat (when they had 'on' nights, that is)…but i digress. It was less
a band as much as 4 amazing musicians jamming the hell out. They
played everything I could have wanted and Cornell even ran a
ridiculous encore. It was, in a word, mind-blowing.

The second show was a last-minute event. I stumbled in, sat down and
stumbled out. I had no expectations or prior thoughts. I was
unimpressed with the Audioslave songs and the Rage songs seemed
uninspired. And then. Aaaaaand then, they played Rusty Cage.
Opening guitars. Drums. The lights. The beautiful thing about
Audioslave is that it's 3 amazingly talented musicians topped with
Chris Cornell's exquisite voice. That was my first experience hearing
any Soundgarden tune performed by a live band. His screams. His
yells. Shook me to the bone.

I left that show and, literally, ran across USF campus back to my dorm
and threw on Badmotorfinger. Listened from start to end. Repeat.
Again. Again. Hearing the music live and hearing Cornell belt out
about his rusty caaaAAAAAAAAAAAGE unlocked something in me. I
listened to that record all night. Till the sun came up. Over the
next few weeks, I went through a similar series of events with
Superunknown and Down on the Upside.

So, how do I think it will compare? I don't think it will. The way
that Cornell's screams enter your body through every pore, stretching
the microscopic openings to rock and roll size, can't be denied. This
paired with the other 3 people who created the tunes. The other three
people that are a *part* of the music, the sounds, the pauses, the
beats, the tempos. The Audioslave concerts were just that - concerts.
This? I don't know what this will be. I'm damn excited to find out,
though.

Soundgarden destroys Viriginia with The Mars Volta this Tuesday at The
Patriot Center at George Mason University in Fairfax. You can buy
tickets here.
See you at the show.

Juice