Show Journal 2008-11-07
Weirdest show ever. There’s a lot to cover so I need to go through this quickly. Dustin was arriving late and Justin was impaired due to knee surgery, so Dave, his wife and his wife’s friend had to unload the van. Weird how two small women can unload the van faster than four dudes. The opening band was the Wayne Gacy Trio. They soundchecked with a cover of Ring Of Fire. Immediately afterwards someone wandered over to the merch table and asked when the next band started and displayed his dissatisfaction that a band played a one song set. Apparently he wasn’t familiar with the idea of a soundcheck. Wow. I wandered over for my first Voodoo doughnut of the evening (one of two trips) and on the way back was accosted by a homeless man who informed me he wasn’t homeless, but rather a professional standup comedian who works for tips. Uhmm, ok. His opening joke was as follows “What is the coldest part on the male body? The balls, because they are always two below.” I was prepared to offer him a buck for that gem of a joke, but he kept talking and got sent away by the bar staff. You can tell the economy is tough because the life of a professional standup comedian sure is hard these days. Afterwards I came back inside the bar and sat with Jeremy and Jeff. We were soon joined by a drunken older man in a wheelchair who insisted on giving us hugs and raising his glass. After trying to decipher his drunken ramblings and watching him hug Jeff for a little too long, he accidentally spilled a full pint glass of beer onto Jeremy’s lap so we quickly made an exit to the back of the club. The Wayne Gacy Trio (actually a quintet) started playing and sounded pretty good. Kind of catchy, kind of fun and the clown faced singer was a creepy twist. Nice to hear a “put the lotion on it’s skin” reference in mid-set. About half way through their set people are starting to get a little rowdy. Lots of awkward dancing, some bumping, some grinding and then we notice a commotion on the floor. Sure enough Mr. Wheelchair is on the ground, taking his shirt off and unbuttoning his pants. Although we had noticed him in the wheelchair we hadn’t noticed he was missing his legs just above the knees. So, to clarify, there was a legless man on the floor of the Ash Street causing a ruckus. One girl continued to dance with him (ie – grinding his head with her ass) while curious onlookers took pictures with camera phones. It was funny, sad and utterly bewildering all at the same time. Eventually a bouncer asked him to put his shirt on he “stood up” on his stumps, extended a middle finger and told him off. Within minutes he was back in his chair and being escorted out the door. Later we found out he accosted some of our friends insisting on hugs and asking for kisses on his neck. Needless to say it had been an interesting 30 minutes. WGT finished up and Dreamkiller went on. They were energetic, tight and fun to watch. I was pretty impressed. The only sad moment was when the drummer mentioned he had seen us when he was 14. Damn I’m old. I really wanted to tell them I enjoyed their set but never got a chance to, so their props will reside here in cyberspace. We were up third and were all a little ancy about Justin who had knee surgery a mere 3 days before. We put him on the side with the railing just in case but he held strong. We played a lot of new songs and it went well. I was stoked to see some people already knew a few of the words. Our set wasn’t too eventful, except in the crowd where a biker gang, some sailors and a gypsy selling roses came in and had words with some of the people. There was also a guy who kept punching Dave in the leg for about half the set. I once saw someone try to light Dave’s pants leg on fire at a show and Dave kicked him square in the back and dropped him to the floor. I’m surprised “the leg puncher” didn’t receive such a treatment. Anyway, I was very happy with the show and the warm reception. The Independents were up last. They didn’t play as long as I had hoped but were excellent as always. The crowd thinned out a little around 1 but everyone who stuck around seemed to enjoy it immensely. It’s hard not to as they are so charismatic on stage. Thanks to everyone to showed up and hung out late!
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