The dichotomy of a weekend. Went to see the Circle Jerks and Dillinger Four Saturday night. Two old (In the Circle Jerks case- really old) school punk bands. And then last nite, I was planning on seeing Phil Lesh and Friends.The D4 are midwestern (Minneapolis to be exact) punk rock motherfuckers. Fat, old and kick ass. Perfect. The between songs snappy patter was great (as their lead singer stated "I'm fat and I'm 36, I need to rest") and the kids were moshing and diving. What a beautiful thing.
The Circle Jerks were very good, not great. Whaddya expect, they're in their 50's! But after a 23 year break from seeing em, it was wonderful. Lead singer Keith Morris has got long ass dreads and a nice bald spot. And he is quite the Alter Kocker at this point! Between songs, asking the crowd to not hurt anyone and to be careful. Oy vey!
The train ride home sorta sucked, since the train was packed full of drunken assholes who went to see this douchebag at Central Park. Yecch. But I was good, I did NOT get into a fight on the train.
And then yesterday I was gonna go see Phil Lesh And Friends at the Beach. I got all the way to the parking lot figuring I'd buy a ticket off some head, but it was such a nice day (and the amphitheater at Jones Beach sucks such huge balls) that I ended up hanging in the lot and listening from there. I ran into a couple who had tickets and, after hearing my reasons for not going in, decided to join me outside! And they HAD tickets! They even asked me if I wanted to have one for nothing and I decided against it.
Ah well, the setlist looked great, lots of old Dead tunes, but I just couldn't get my head into walking into such an oppressive venue.
Part of that decision was due to the early afternoon rehearsal for the reformation of my old Punk Band. Yep, we're gonna get together and play some shows and maybe even do a live DVD (this of course, according to our insane guitar player... we'll see!). And I was amazed how quickly the songs came back to me. The Rush tune was a little flaky, as I was trying to teach em the Overture to 2112! What's more Punk Rock than 2112? Um... I guess everything. But that's what makes it Punk Rock!
So after a nite of Punk and an afternoon of Punk, I was a little too full of three chords to sit in a seat and listen to long jams. Especially in a Nazi Police state.
So... old school Punk Rock wins over old school Dead. Again!
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4 comments:
Well, you know I'll come and see Dirty Pillows! Just keep your insane guitar player far away from me!
I think you and I are from the same area. So I gotta ask, where did you see the Circle Jerks & Dillinger Four?!?! And how did that show not pop up on my radar?!?! D4 is one of my favorite bands and the Jerks...well...what can you say about them that hasn't already been said. I saw them during the spate of final shows at CBGB's a couple summers ago with the Adolescents, DI & CH3. Just an amazing show. Speaking of D4 and their awesomeness, have you heard the new Hold Steady record? The song 'Constructive Summer' references D4:
"Me and my friends are like
'doublewhiskeycokenoice'
we drink along in double time
I drink too much, but we feel fine."
Great blog you have here...keep up the good work.
fk- thank you for the kind words.
The Circle Jerks/D4 show was at the Highline Ballroom on 10th avenue and 16 street this past Saturday. It was part of something called the F Yeah fest (or something like that). A couple of other bands played too (including hipster fave's Matt And Kim). But we were drinking and didn't get in till the D4 were about to go on (planned it that way).
The D4 played "doublewhiskey" and I happened to remark to a friend of mine at the show that the Hold Steady mention the tune.
The D4 were great and I hope they come back again soon.
even at 50 years old and balding, it'd be awesome to see the Circle Jerks after so many years. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for them to play Miami, though...
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