Menos El Oso
So, the website says "show starts at 6." Normally on a Friday I gotta work til 8, so I arrange to get off work early and give myself a whole hour and a half to get Racecar over to my ex's and get across town to the show on public transportation (a bus and a train).
Turns out the whole trip only takes like 20 minutes. So I'm like what the hell do I do for an hour? The venue is near the gayborhood, so I go to the only place there might be any patrons at 5 in the evening, Sidetrack. Turns out there's some fellas there and also my friend Norbert is working so we shoot the breeze and Nine Inch Nails is playing so it's pretty OK.
So, about 45 minutes go by and I have a jack and diet so I take off.
Get to the venue and Brian Peterson, the main dude who organizes these show since like forever, is standing in front. There's no one around and he's talking into his cell walkie-talkie like. He goes, "Can I help you?"
I'm already laughing cuz I know he's gonna tell me it's later. "Doors open at 8. Show starts...after that."
OK, so now I have two more hours to kill. I stop by this resale place called Land of the Lost, because I've found out recently that an old high-school friend works there, but she's not there. Then I go to Reckless Records to see if they have the new Sufjan Stevens album used, which they don't. I kinda have to pee at this point so I leave and take a whiz at the Cariboy on Broadway. No one's there that I know. The bathroom has a sign that says the bathroom is for paying customers only, and I think "I'm a paying customer, just not paying today."
After that I decide to walk back to Sidetrack. Only now it's all showtunes and I'm sitting next to this birthday party of total drama nerds with homos and chubby chicks. They're having a really good time, so it was nice to be in such a positive energy environment, but showtunes don't really turn my crank.
1 1/2 hours, three jack and diets and one shot of jack later, Norbert's telling me goodbye and telling me to come back after the show so I can "help out with this guy from Colorado," that's supposed to show up later. Yeah, Norbert's a dirty dude. What a silly.
I get to the venue (Bottom Lounge) and there's a line forming. Fortunately there's a seperate line for will call and it's only about 20 deep. It's all these young kids and I'll tell you, I'm getting tired of thinking about how I'm older than these, literally, teenagers. So weird. They're all being obnoxious and youthful and it's really actually fun to be around them.
It's a pretty rare occasion that a show has four great bands who all put on an excellent show, but that's definitely what happened last night.
First up was City on Film. City on Film features Bob Nanna formerly of Braid and Hey Mercedes (not to mention Friction and a bunch of other short-lived early emo bands). They put on a pretty good show. Backing Nanna up are the three guys from The Felix Culpa. Gosh darnit, Tristan the bassist is super cute!! There's a chick on stage too and she's playing violin, but most of the time I don't hear it too well. I don't know if that's cuz of the sound or because her parts bleed too much.
Next was Thunderbirds Are Now!, about whom I'd heard great things and with whom I was not disappointed. Really good energy, tight, slightly dancey. Me likey.
Third was These Arms Are Snakes about whom I'd only just recently heard there was a, gasp, queer member. I have to say that at this point the drinks must have begun really taking effect because I remember the experience of being in the crowd, rocking out to the music, even going into the pit for part of a song, but I cannot for the life of me remember what any of the guys look like...OK, so, going to their site on Jade Tree records and looking at pictures only slightly jarred my memory. How ridiculous am I? Anyway, they were awesome and I wanted to buy an album of theirs, but Dawn promised me she'd burn me copies of all their albums and I told her I'd get the Thunderbirds CD and burn her a copy of that, so we're (makes square shape with hand) square.
Finally, Minus the Bear. Their set was more energetic than previous shows I've witnessed. I think it was a combination of having the previous bands being kind of heavy and the fact that the venue was pretty full probably upped the ante a bit for them. During most of the show I had remained toward the front with my friend Kris (into whom I ran, which was a most unexpected, yet pleasant, surprise. Kris was my paduon learner when I was in college. A young, budding homo also pursuing a degree in writing. He probably knows more about me than nearly anyone, or at least, knows more specifically unknown information about me than anyone else, as he's read all of my journals from Grade 8 on to nearly present. Weird, huh? Anyway, I stayed back and swayed 50% to the music and 50% to my drunkenness. I ended up buying three CD's, one of which was Minus the Bear's new one and I didn't realize til I was ripping it to my hard drive just an hour ago that it's entitle Menos El Oso. I love that name!
I did make it back to Sidetrack and ran into Norbert. The Coloradoan, though quite handsome, I did not "help out" with. I left Sidetrack and walked toward Belmont and found myself at Berlin. Got to see a bunch of people I haven't seen in a gazillion years. Stayed for a drink. Had a Mind Eraser shot with my friend, the bartender, Gary Gonzalez. The mind eraser shot is our little tradition and it never fails to actually erase my mind. I actually have no recollection of my cab ride home, but I'm pretty sure that's how I got home. Maybe I should call it the "Cab Ride Home Eraser" instead.
Turns out the whole trip only takes like 20 minutes. So I'm like what the hell do I do for an hour? The venue is near the gayborhood, so I go to the only place there might be any patrons at 5 in the evening, Sidetrack. Turns out there's some fellas there and also my friend Norbert is working so we shoot the breeze and Nine Inch Nails is playing so it's pretty OK.
So, about 45 minutes go by and I have a jack and diet so I take off.
Get to the venue and Brian Peterson, the main dude who organizes these show since like forever, is standing in front. There's no one around and he's talking into his cell walkie-talkie like. He goes, "Can I help you?"
I'm already laughing cuz I know he's gonna tell me it's later. "Doors open at 8. Show starts...after that."
OK, so now I have two more hours to kill. I stop by this resale place called Land of the Lost, because I've found out recently that an old high-school friend works there, but she's not there. Then I go to Reckless Records to see if they have the new Sufjan Stevens album used, which they don't. I kinda have to pee at this point so I leave and take a whiz at the Cariboy on Broadway. No one's there that I know. The bathroom has a sign that says the bathroom is for paying customers only, and I think "I'm a paying customer, just not paying today."
After that I decide to walk back to Sidetrack. Only now it's all showtunes and I'm sitting next to this birthday party of total drama nerds with homos and chubby chicks. They're having a really good time, so it was nice to be in such a positive energy environment, but showtunes don't really turn my crank.
1 1/2 hours, three jack and diets and one shot of jack later, Norbert's telling me goodbye and telling me to come back after the show so I can "help out with this guy from Colorado," that's supposed to show up later. Yeah, Norbert's a dirty dude. What a silly.
I get to the venue (Bottom Lounge) and there's a line forming. Fortunately there's a seperate line for will call and it's only about 20 deep. It's all these young kids and I'll tell you, I'm getting tired of thinking about how I'm older than these, literally, teenagers. So weird. They're all being obnoxious and youthful and it's really actually fun to be around them.
It's a pretty rare occasion that a show has four great bands who all put on an excellent show, but that's definitely what happened last night.
First up was City on Film. City on Film features Bob Nanna formerly of Braid and Hey Mercedes (not to mention Friction and a bunch of other short-lived early emo bands). They put on a pretty good show. Backing Nanna up are the three guys from The Felix Culpa. Gosh darnit, Tristan the bassist is super cute!! There's a chick on stage too and she's playing violin, but most of the time I don't hear it too well. I don't know if that's cuz of the sound or because her parts bleed too much.
Next was Thunderbirds Are Now!, about whom I'd heard great things and with whom I was not disappointed. Really good energy, tight, slightly dancey. Me likey.
Third was These Arms Are Snakes about whom I'd only just recently heard there was a, gasp, queer member. I have to say that at this point the drinks must have begun really taking effect because I remember the experience of being in the crowd, rocking out to the music, even going into the pit for part of a song, but I cannot for the life of me remember what any of the guys look like...OK, so, going to their site on Jade Tree records and looking at pictures only slightly jarred my memory. How ridiculous am I? Anyway, they were awesome and I wanted to buy an album of theirs, but Dawn promised me she'd burn me copies of all their albums and I told her I'd get the Thunderbirds CD and burn her a copy of that, so we're (makes square shape with hand) square.
Finally, Minus the Bear. Their set was more energetic than previous shows I've witnessed. I think it was a combination of having the previous bands being kind of heavy and the fact that the venue was pretty full probably upped the ante a bit for them. During most of the show I had remained toward the front with my friend Kris (into whom I ran, which was a most unexpected, yet pleasant, surprise. Kris was my paduon learner when I was in college. A young, budding homo also pursuing a degree in writing. He probably knows more about me than nearly anyone, or at least, knows more specifically unknown information about me than anyone else, as he's read all of my journals from Grade 8 on to nearly present. Weird, huh? Anyway, I stayed back and swayed 50% to the music and 50% to my drunkenness. I ended up buying three CD's, one of which was Minus the Bear's new one and I didn't realize til I was ripping it to my hard drive just an hour ago that it's entitle Menos El Oso. I love that name!
I did make it back to Sidetrack and ran into Norbert. The Coloradoan, though quite handsome, I did not "help out" with. I left Sidetrack and walked toward Belmont and found myself at Berlin. Got to see a bunch of people I haven't seen in a gazillion years. Stayed for a drink. Had a Mind Eraser shot with my friend, the bartender, Gary Gonzalez. The mind eraser shot is our little tradition and it never fails to actually erase my mind. I actually have no recollection of my cab ride home, but I'm pretty sure that's how I got home. Maybe I should call it the "Cab Ride Home Eraser" instead.
posted by Brian at
10:28 PM
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