Everyone I Know Is Coming Down

A Squirrel Nut Zippers song came on the stereo at the bar I was drinking at the other day. Funny. 

Remember that time when people started swing dancing a lot? I think we could probably give the movies Swingers some credit for the revival. My friends and I got all dolled up to go to this show and danced with each other the whole night. 

Jesus Lizard

Since I've been so bad with the blog lately, my friend Jon sent me an entry. It's out of order but well worth it.

June 10, 1995

I had been booking shows in Peoria for less than six months. This was my biggest to date, and the first to warrant advance tickets. I was 19 years old, operating out of my dorm room, and was soooo excited to head to Lum’s on Knoxville, where we all drank coffee and smoked cigarettes, and announce it to my friends.

The Jesus Lizard had released Down, their fourth studio album, the previous fall. It would be their last great record, and their final one for Touch & Go. They’d just signed to Capitol, and the Peoria show was a warm-up gig for their slot on Lollapalooza that summer. 

When the band showed up, they seemed a bit surprised (pleasantly so) that I’d actually purchased ALL the liquor requested on their rider. More than $200 worth.  I wasn’t 21—I didn’t even drink at the time...I had to get someone to buy it all for me. They drank. A lot. And afterward, hauled a vanload of alcohol with them back to Chicago.

Slightly more than 500 people packed into the American Legion Hall at 406 NE Monroe in downtown Peoria. The building’s no longer there— they literally tore it down to make way for a parking lot, next to a shiny, new Catholic Diocese building, where the ghosts of back in the day still roam the hallways. In my head, at least.

Sidekick Kato and Nora Hate opened the show, and both were in peak form. And then…watching the Lizard file on stage and launch into “Destroy Before Reading,” the crowd bobbing up and down, I rubbed my eyes in amazement. Here was one of my favorite bands, playing a legion hall for a bunch of (mostly) underage kids in Peoria. How did this happen? They were probably wondering the same thing.

The band played beneath a banner that read, “For God and Country.” This would become the theme of the evening—as the madman patriot, David Yow, would not let us forget. “This next song….is for God and country”… he proclaimed that evening, more than a few times.

It was classic, no-holds-barred Yow, prowling the stage back and forth, hurling himself into the crowd, all sweat and spit and scratches all over. When the band went into “Lady Shoes” from Goat, he spotted a large wooden pulpit at stage left, lifted it up and carried it out onto the stage. Now he was a reverend, preaching to the awed congregation, and perfectly illustrating the song’s creepy tension.

As a fan, I was thrilled. But as the promoter, I held my breath, watching that pulpit teeter back and forth, just waiting for it to fall, thinking I’m gonna be paying for that after the show. Sure enough, it toppled to the ground, but when the song was over, it was still in one piece. Yow dragged it back where it came from. I exhaled.

David Wm. Sims was his usual menacing self, glaring at the crowd, daring them to get close enough to kick in the face with his steel toes. Duane Denison was cool, calm, collected, the jazz player. And Mac McNeilly was the workhorse, pounding away, holding it all down.

We’d all been wondering if Yow would perform his trademark “tight and shiny” act (Just google it.)  He did…as did my friend Stan! Later that July, after a Lollapalooza date, Yow was taken into custody by Cincinnati police for the same deed; a writer at the Journal Star got wind of it, and the paper printed an editorial decrying the moral decline of western civilization…

After the show, some guy came up to me and started asking a bunch of questions. Said he was a reporter. After five or ten minutes, I asked him who he wrote for. “Rolling Stone,” he said.

“As in Rolling Stone magazine? THE Rolling Stone?” I asked incredulously.

Indeed, several weeks later, a feature on the Jesus Lizard ran in Rolling Stone. “America, You’ve Been Warned,” announced the blurb on the front cover, right next to Hootie & the Blowfish. Inside, in big, block letters, the article opened with “For God and Country.” Naturally.

A video crew came down from Chicago and filmed the show for a documentary on the Chicago music scene. It was called Out of the Loop, it came out in 1997, and it’s long out of print. I’ve had a VHS copy of this show for years.  It’s amazing…and recently digitized. I will be sharing soon.

This show was very special.

Consciousness, Unconsciousness

I fell asleep at the show, not during Pigface but during the opener. I drove up from Peoria and went to this show with my friend Matt. I was so tired and cranky that I just sat down in back against a wall and took a nap. I felt a lot better afterwards and enjoyed Pigface. 

You're On Your Own

Another show, another remember nothing post...

Under the best of circumstances I would remember very little about this show but this week is certainly not the best of circumstances. I will use stress and lack of sleep as the excuse for me knowing nothing about this show.  I have a world's worth of respect for the Skatalites. If I had to guess I went to this show with my college best friend and we had a great time. That's all I've got. 

This Is The Time (maybe?)

That time I shook Vince Vaughn's hand....I think

For the life of me I can't figure out if the following story happened at this Hepcat show or the next one, which was a year later, but I really feel like it was this one. Regardless, this happened at a Hepcat show. I swear. 

 

First of all, my enjoyment of ska when I was younger has not really carried into adulthood.  That being said, I still really like both Hepcat and the Slackers, who opened for them at this show. 

While watching the Slackers (or if it turns out this did happen at the next Hepcat show then it was during Deals Gone Bad) my friends and I noticed a very tall man, basically hovering over everyone in the crowd. My friend was the first to notice that this giant man was Vince Vaughn. Swingers had come out not long before this and we were all HUGE fans. She basically ran over to him before I even knew what was happening and by the time I got over there she had shaken his hand, talked to him, something, and he was off to make his way back stage. I was not about to let my chance to meet him slip by so when I saw him standing at the side of the stage (with Joey Lauren Adams) I wormed my way up to the front of the stage by the speakers. I waved to get his attention and he waved back. I then shook my head no and put out my hand. He actually bent down and shook my hand. Satisfied, I found my way back to my friends.

I would never do that now. I guess I did force Eric Bachmann to shake my hand and talk to me a couple month ago when he played at my work but I felt like a complete jackass when I did it. Back then, this was a proud moment. 

It's Gonna Take You Years To Find Out

The third time...

The Warped Tour was nice enough to put these posters up on their flickr account so I actually know the bands who played.  In case you can't read that small writing it says:

Descendents, Royal Crown Revue, Blink-182, Pennywise, Sick of It All, The Vandals, Lo Presher, Social Distortion, Millencolin, Bouncing Souls, The Suicide Machines, Face To Face, Lagwagon, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Less Than Jake, Hepcat, Reel Big Fish

Other places on the internet say that the Alkaholiks, Limp Bizkit, Murder City Devils, Orange 9mm, Snot, Strung Out, Sugar Ray, Vision of Disorder, Hi Standard, Latex Generation, White Kaps and Jimmy 2 Times were also there. They're probably the names too little to read at the bottom. 

If I had to guess the bands I watched I would say Descendents, Pennywise, Social D, The Suicide Machines, Hepcat, probably Lagwagon, maybe Millencolin, Orange 9mm but really who knows. You probably could have found me at most of these bands. I just have no memory.

Can't You Hear It Calling

This causes me no shame.

My brother worked at Pine Knob this summer so I'm pretty sure this was free for us. Say what you will about them but I've always liked Queensryche...you know, for what they are. They are a group of very talented musicians and you will never convince me otherwise. My brother and I both enjoyed this show very much.