Beneath the Valley of the Underdog

The weekend before last I got to relive my Seattle days, catching two shows with quintessential "grunge" band Mudhoney. I used to always say that I didn't need to see them every time they played, but I needed to see them at least once a year. Seeing as this was their first Cowtown visit since I moved back nearly four years ago, I was long overdue. I pretty much had to go both nights.

The shows were at the Larimer Lounge, and the first night sold out in advance. Talking to people who chose Friday over Saturday, the main reason seemed to be the warm-up acts. Friday night featured The Geds, a good local band that hasn't played out in a couple of years. The warm-up act Saturday was Machine Gun Blues, who are on way too many bills, and who are god-freakin-awful (but, it must be said, they do have their fans - really, really stupid fans). Friday for me was especially fun - a friend had a pre-function at her place, and then we all met up at the show. It was the rare D-town show where I seemed to know a lot of people in attendance, and I spent a good bit of the evening wandering around chatting. It was nice to see The Geds back in action, they were good that night. On Saturday I didn't leave the house until 11:15. When I arrived I ran into some friends on the back patio who told me that I'd timed it just right - Machine Gun Crap had just finished playing. That was by design - I love it when a plan comes together. The dump was pretty packed that night as well, but I don’t think it quite reached sellout status.

So, how were The Mudhoneys, you ask? Pretty damn great! They didn’t play the same set both nights, although a handful of tunes were repeated (then again, can you have a Mudhoney show without Touch Me I’m Sick, You Got It, Suck You Dry, or In ‘N’ Out of Grace?). I was thrilled to hear Here Comes Sickness on Friday, and my personal fave Who You Drivin’ Now? made an appearance on Saturday. They ended each show in their now classic fashion, covering The Dicks’ Hate the Police. I thought both nights were really good, but I think Saturday’s performance may have had a slight edge. I was just happy to get to see them again, and so were all of the idiots smashing into each other in the mosh pit. Some things never change.

For me, the shows brought back a flood of memories from my post-college life. I moved to Seattle right after graduating from college, and caught my first Mudhoney show less than a year later. They bring to mind that uncertain time in my life of trying to find my way around a strange city, and slowly meeting people to hang around with. There was something comforting about a Mudhoney show - no matter how much the rest of my world changed, Mudhoney pretty much always stayed the same. I saw some great shows, and a couple of really awful ones. I bought pretty much every record they put out – some great, some not so great. I went through a period of not liking them very much, around the time of Piece of Cake, only to be drawn back in by its follow-up My Brother the Cow. I made friends at their shows that I’ve kept to this day. We’d all get together and drink way too much beer before, at, and after their (or, indeed, any band’s) shows. We’ve all grown older, gotten married (or will soon), took on mortgages, scattered to different cities, and kids are increasingly part of our shared experience. I guess that may have been the only thing missing at the shows – those old friends. Maybe we’ll get a chance to do it again someday.

X Marks the Spot

Two Sundays ago found me and my buddy JT exclaiming “to Hell with sleep!” and heading over to the 3 Kings Tavern. The occasion was the first ever Denver landing of extraterrestrial rockers Zolar X! I saw them last February in Seattle, and loved them, and there was no way I was going to miss out on the chance to see them again.

We got there a little before 9:30, and the club had posted a starting time of 10pm. “Cool,” I thought, “I’ll still be home at a decent hour.” (I believe that these are what are known as “famous last words.”) We paid our admission and settled into the sparsely populated bar to grab a few beers. Around 9:55, the band came out and did a quick sound check – I was a bit confused as they weren’t “in character,” and I mistakenly thought that they were starting their set. After a quick tune they left the stage…and we waited. Maybe the club was holding out for more people to show up, but Zolar X didn’t hit the stage until a few minutes after 11pm. We were getting tired of waiting, but all was forgiven once they started playing. As good as I thought this band was last February, this show was even better. They played quite a few older songs from the Timeless collection, but I wasn’t expecting that the set would be so heavy on new material – all of which was really good. Apparently, they have a new album recorded that will be coming out in 2007. Personally, I can’t wait! They played for a little over an hour, which passed way too quickly. Hopefully their saucer will land in Denver again when the new album comes out.

When we entered the bar, I noticed that the only person on Zolar X’s guest list was “Jello Biafra!” (Yes, the exclamation point was there.) Not that surprising, really – Timeless was released on his record label Alternative Tentacles. Plus he grew up in Boulder, so seeing him around Denver isn’t unheard of. He did a stage introduction for the band, and spent the entire show bopping around with the rest of us nutjobs. I brought my camera with me that night, something I rarely do, as I wanted to get some photos of Zolar X. I took several pictures of them performing, and then JT thought it would be fun to get our pictures taken with the band. They were very accommodating, and really fun to talk to. JT then decided we should ask Jello if we could have our pictures taken with him. Funny what a few beers can make you do… So that’s how I got the picture of me and Jello from my last post. Anyhoo, he was incredibly nice about our ridiculous request. He kind of laughed and said “make this quick guys, Thor is about to play and I’ve never seen him before.”

Oh yeah, cheesy Canadian metal legend Thor was headlining that night. We hung around for a few songs, and it was pretty hysterical. During the first song alone Thor brandished a giant hammer, a battleaxe, and two huge swords! By the third tune, he’d changed masks and helmets a few times as well. Plus, they had the fog machine working overtime. The music was awful, of course, but Thor was a hoot – he apparently doesn’t take himself all that seriously. We would’ve stayed longer, but it was 1am at this point…so much for getting home at a decent hour!

Plastic Surgery Disasters

Check it out! I got my picture taken with Jello Biafra! More on that later…

On Saturday night, I was heading out to a show kind of late. I had the radio tuned to the local “oldies” station, which does an all 70’s program on Saturday evenings. Right before going to a commercial, the deejay announced that he would be playing Gary Glitter’s Rock & Roll, Pt. 2 when he returned from break. He then went on about how the song used to be played at Broncos games and, indeed, sporting events all across the country. He continued that sports teams had stopped using the song, due to Gary Glitter’s recent child molestation charges. At this point, he paused, and you could tell that he was thinking “oh crap, why in the world did I even bring that up?” Instead of just ending it there and going into the commercial, he started mumbling more comments about how you’ll never hear this song anywhere else anymore, but that he’s going to play it after the commercial. I think he was attempting to put a positive spin on the whole gaffe, but the guy was flailing. It didn’t help that he must’ve said “child molestation” about three more times in the next 30 seconds.

My guess is that he won’t be playing Rock & Roll, Pt. 2 again next weekend.