Showtime #1 - Lambchop

Know what i love about summer? is nobody reads this shit, hell nobody reads this shit anyway but in summer it's even less and so i can really be a fuck-up and no one will even know it amirite? of course i'm fucking right but since i've been a bit behind and a bit unmotivated i'm trying like to motivate myself and shit before i get shit-canned out of my gig and have to re-arrange my schedule or figure out how to function on a new one but if there's one thing i'm adept at it's adapting haha...

and so sometime this spring i went and saw Lambchop in a tiny club and from what i remember it was pretty fucking good, of course that's from what i can remember cuz you see i decided early on that saturday that this was gonna be a whiskey drinking kinda show and so the Furious one and i went on down to the South Side and began tipping beers at Jack's, famous for being open early and having cheap drinks and we sat around watching the hockey playoffs and examining the scene, see the gig was next door where the drinks would be 3 or 4 times as much so a little pre-gig cheapness was well in store and we tossed a few back and i went to see if there was on opener and there wasn't so i figured the show would start roughly what it said on the ticket and we finished our drinks and headed next door...

of course i'd be remiss not to mention the graduation party taking place at Jack's, i do believe an ex soon to be back stripper had got her vet tech license, of course i don't know if this fine young lady was a stripper but she had the tattoo's and thong riding up her back that led me to believe that might have been her previous vocation and before you go calling my some sexist asshole remember i've spent more time in strip clubs than priests do studying in seminary, in fact i'd have two PHD's in the sex industry i've put in so much time but let's get back to the story okay, of course given the choice i'd have much rather bought this fine young lady a drink than the ones at the next table who were doing their best to try and attract the attention of every male in the bar by Journey at the top of their lungs and talking about how they were gonna kiss or some such shit, all to the consternation of their rather moneyed dates, hence slam beers head for door to see a brilliant band...

and Kurt and the gang did not disappoint, started by running through a few on the new album, an album inspired by the late, great Vic Chesnutt, an album that i'd read Kurt speaking about and talking about how his friends and him were getting older, most in their late 40's to early 50's and how they'd been shirking responsibility and it was starting to catch up with them and the stupid things they did, the drugs and drinking were taking their toll and shit, of course being only 41 i couldn't fucking relate to that but it made me think a little you know but probably not enough as i sauntered to the bar and began drinking glasses of Tullamore Dew, see i'm not supposed to drink whiskey, bourbon makes me an evil fucker but for some reason the Irish variety just makes me very drunk and happy sorta, and since i prefer Power's Gold Label which is hard to find in most non-Irish bars the next best thing is Tullamore Dew, i being one of the few who think Jameson's is highly over-rated (sorry Sybil) and so i began in on the whiskey with one hand and the Guinness with the other and the band did their thing...

A superstar Dj i know who was attending with his wife and expensive coat commented about how difficult it must be to play that quiet, meaning it'd be easy to spot the fuck-ups and he'd be right if this band fucked up at all but these guys were on their game and quite simply played a gorgeous and laid back set, playing most of the new album and if i can remember correctly: My Blue Wave, New Cobweb Summer, Slipped Dissolved and Loosed, Sharing a Gibson with Martin Luther King Jr., A Hold of You, Up With People and in an interesting move the played Give it a Day twice, they opened the show with a stark and stripped version and then closed the show with a rocking version that tossed in the Talking Heads lyrics, basically cuz Kurt said they had really enjoyed themselves and since someone up front requested it why not? and why not? the place was well into it in a respectful fashion and though the show was mellow the vibe was good...

of course by the time the show ended i had the mouth sweats and was visibly wobbling from all the whiskey and it's one of those nights that i was more than lucky, it's that feeling when you wake up and realize that you are in your own room and in your own bed and the reality sets in about just how fucking stupid you can be and that article you read about Kurt and his friends comes flooding back and you realize you are not that young and that you do have responsibilities and 2 very big ones to be exact and you stumble to the bathroom and deposit a portion of your liver in the toilet and brush your teeth and see if the guts will let you hold down some water, stumble towards your own private medicine cabinet and swallow down some big pharma followed by a one-hit blown out the bathroom window, look in the mirror and actually speak the words "don't ever pull a stunt like that again you asshole", take a deep breath and slink back towards you bed humming some of the tunes you heard the night before...