7/01/2003 Saint Vitus @ The Double Door

For any SST label completist or one of the few paying attention to mid-late 80s dirge metal from L.A., a true dream came true on the first day of July. And that dream was a St. Vitus reunion. All the original members (well, Wino instead of Scott Reegers, but they were both pretty on par with greatness) were together once again. But to see St. Vitus after attending shows by Spirit Caravan and Debris, Inc. and getting indication of what sheer force could be envoked by this once great powerhouse easily sent chills down the spine. The sound was perfect. Extra sludgy underwater sounding guitar riffs lumbering along at molasses speed with the brutal impact of a forged steel hammer. Did I mention all of the hair in the audience? It was enough for 8,000 sweaters! The band was tight, as if they'd never been apart. They opened with Clear Windowpane and from there, it was hit after hit. Or favorite after favorite, I mean. Though the crowd was small, it was an army of Vitus fans. Quite content to rock hard and later set some things on fire. I think you get my point. If you were there, carry on my brother.

6/29/03 The Fall @ Empty Bottle

The Mighty Fall finally made it back to Chicago last week. I was pretty hesitant to go, for the simple fact that I'd been burned by The Fall a couple of times already. The first time that The Fall gave me the hi-hat was in 1993 on the Infotainment Scan tour. I was a new Fall fan at the time, and certainly more into their older (and uh, better) material. I was happy to see them nonetheless, for the simple fact that I was a huge fan. It was in Cleveland, Ohio at the Agora. The show lasted for what seemed to be 6 hours, mostly pre-recorded beats and drum machines and occasional keyboards. It was quite cool to see Simon W. mulling through the crowd before the show, as well as witnessing the superb drumming of Karl Burns and the commanding bass of Steve Hanley. But MES was pretty absent in his delivery, and let's face it - he's The Fall. I bought the $25 shirt (which I later traded for a bunch of bootleg tapes) and left during a wretched encore version of New Big Prinz. Upon leaving, we ran into MES outside by the busses, cursing to himself. I asked if I could get a picture with him, and I asked if he would put his arm around me, like I was his brother. To that he answered, "My brother?". Oh, and he had a giant icky scab on his neck. Much later, The Fall scheduled two shows for one night in Chicago, both at the Empty Bottle. This was probably two years ago or so. I bought two tickets for both shows each, and after all of the fees and ticket prices, it came out to something around $150. I didn't mind terribly, I was into the new record at the time and was happy to see them before MES was dead. Even tough he had kicked out all remainders of the original group. And they didn't even show up! No, apparently MES was arrested for clobbering his wife and was kinda barred from entering the US. And I sort of understand. I wouldn't want some aged limey wife-beater spouting off about citizen-band radios all up in my country either. But on the 29th, my opinion changed. I'd heard that the set list hadn't strayed from show to show, but I was happy anyway. The songs were played well, MES commanded attention and they played a few old tracks that were done very well. Really, it was quaint. Like seeing an old friend, whom maybe you'd lost track of because they's gotten all mixed up with coke or had a really cummy girlfriend. And then you saw them again. And they looked a little better, and they were kind of back to their old self. Oh, did I mention that they played 'And Therein'? Because they did! And it totally owned! Jen and I left early because I didn't want to run into old scabby-neck outside. So my memories are preserved as good. So perhaps now MES shoud die, so he doesn't go and muck it up again.

3/15/ 03 The Gossip, Tijuana Hercules, Sweet Heat, Miss Alex White @ Empty Bottle

Venue: Empty Bottle (Sucky). First Band: Miss Alex White (Missed 'em). Second Band: Sweet Heat (Sucky). Third Band: Tijuana Hercules (Real good). Fourth Band: The Gossip (Total suck-fest).

12.19.02 Peralta, Stillwell & Some Other Band @ The Fireside Bowel

I went to this show for two reasons. It was Geoff's last show and Julia made me go. I mean, I like the Beralta and all, but I simply don't like to leave the house. I want to stay home and eat cookies. Tonight I watched It's A Wonderful Life and absolutely cried my eyes out at the end! No shit! And I do it every time! Ok, so I had to pick Julia up from work and then pick up 9 other people at various points in the city. And nobody even offered me any money, BECAUSE NONE OF THEM ARE MY REAL FRIENDS. When we got there some teenagers were playing some music so I went into the bar and sat on a stool for a little while. Then some other band was playing so I fell asleep on a bench in the back. Then Peralta played and I read a magazine in the back. The magazine was ok. After the show I drove all of the people home and went home and ate some tacos. It's ok though, because I went jogging today.

10.29.02 Sanford's Bachelor Party @ Brian Sowell's House

Not a rock show, unless a naked lady jamming all sorts of stuff inside her helps you to rock. Don't ask me, my best friend didn't get past 6 o'clock. I showed up way early and had some beers with the other early arrivals. It was Old Style in cans. There really is no other kind of beer. We watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre and waited. I went to the ATM at the Amoco so I would have smaller bills to barter with. It was my first pay-naked lady, I was quite excited! Soon before 11pm, there was a knock at the door. In comes a goony guy and an oddly unassuming girl. He hangs out and has a beer. She changes in somebody's bedroom. Eventually she comes out all sheer and goes into the kitchen to get Sanford. She drags him out onto the already-stained blue sheet that she has on the floor. It's in front of the couch which is already covered with suitcases full of items. I'm struck at how tasteful the performance with the groom-to-be is. I don't think anything that happened to him would upset any rational girl, however few and far between those are. Later, somebody probed her with dildoes connected to a mixer and a power drill. She made lots of fake sex noises and shot a pickle out of herself and knocked down some bowling pins. I really wanted to get a picture of her with me holding a sandwich. She said I'd have to book a private shoot and it would start at $500. I figure that jamming all of that stuff in your body must just make you absolutely fucking insane.

10.13.02 Joe Franco & Andrea's Wedding In Chicago

Not a live show, but a wedding that I had to DJ. I mean, I didn't have to - I offered. I did it because Joe is an old friend from college, and I was pretty excited about him getting married. Anyway, the night before I was drinking double martinis and lots of beer, to the point where I was apparently having 'tunnel visions' (something I said according to DP). We put a 5 gallon pyrex bowl of chocolate pudding in the street to get violently run over by a car and splattered over every nearby car. Pyrex everywhere. Giant choco-pudding stain on the street. This was after we had exploded bottle rockets in the bowl and splattered pudding all over the ceiling in the kitchen. Then we played a game called 'egg-pocalypse now' in which eggs are hard boiled and then mixed with one not hardboiled and everybody smashing them onto their face at the same time. Julia got the smashing. Totally covered. We were up until 5am and had to wake up for the wedding at 9am. I was still totally drunken when I woke up. I had the shakes and a lot of trouble shaving the next morning. I had to drive Kori Wiltz to the train stop the next day on account of the Chicago marathon going through Pilsen and the Halsted bus not running. It took 45 minutes to an hour. I got back and Julia and Jen helped me load the stuff into the car and we went to the wedding hall. The entire ceremony and reception was in a really cool banquet hall. It was nice to see Bobby and Rebecca, as well as Drew and a few other characters from my distant past. Otherwise I had to talk to a lot of clods and one of my turntables broke. I had to play some fucked up requests from Andrea's dad...I think it was George Strait and some horrid swing dancing music. I didn't play any of the Fall, because I totally respect newlyweds. Overall I was a pretty shitty DJ. Hungover, sloppy transitions. The best part is when this girl that I went to college with said, "We're going to go to the Intertown Club to dance". What the fuck? You can't dance at the Internet Pub. Asshole. Last wedding I'm going to.

9.20.02 Dead Moon, Baseball Furies, The Goldstars @ The Empty Bottle

Hmmm, I guess I don't hate this shithole as much as I earlier stated, because it seems to be the only place I go to rock it. This night started out pretty weird, we went to Racquel & Jeff's with Julia, Hong Shick, Kooten Kori Bear, and D.P.We all went to the rock show, but I had to drive Hong Shick back to Pilsen because he left his passport at home. But, he's from Korea, so it's totally cool. I saw some of the Baseball Furies, and they we're ok. Just rock & roll, I guess. Of course Dead Moon was Smurfuckingtastic as they raged through all the hits and then some. 54-40 Or Fight, Dead Moon Night, Play With Fire - and a slew of others. They played for like 6 hours. I had to go home because I was totally drunk.

I'm going to see Dead Moon next month, owww!

9.5.02 Love Of Everything, The Zincs, Bosco & Jorge @ The Empty Bottle

I found this show to be pretty boring all around. I did get to hang out with Joe Franco (not the same as in that link, but boy that's a hoot!) & Eric Mortensen, which is always a pleasant time. Oh, and I also saw one of the girls that John Brearley had a threesome with, and she wasn't even that bad.

8.24.02 Duvall, Watchers & Chinup Chinup @ The Empty Bottle

Man, I'll tell you what. I hate the Empty Bottle. I think that place is total shit. And I never liked the Smoking Popes. Never-ever. Looked like a bunch of vietnam-era clods on their record covers. Of course, that Gar guy from Johann's Face is pretty rad. So I guess that's something. Regardless, let's get on to the shiz-nit. First off, the cover charge was $10. Holy flying fuck! $10 - that's crazy! What am I seeing, like DRI at some suburban sports bar? I'd think twice about paying a $10 deductable to get my teeth fixed. Let's get one thing straight: I WAS MADE TO SEE THIS SHOW. I can't give you the reason, but it involves this girl. Plus, Ethan from Hi-Fi is in the Watchers, and he's got pretty good taste in music. We tried to get there late so we wouldn't have to deal with the first band, with a name like Chinup Chinup, you'd try to avoid that kind of thing. I'll tell you what, though. They were REAL GOOD. I couldn't tell at first, but it turned out that the guitarist was Jeremy from the Hertzsprung Gap, who played drums in the Beauty Pageant for about 6 or so hours. I never really liked the Hertzsprung Gap very much, but Chinup Chinup was fantastic. And the drummer had a Genesis 'Trick Of The Tail' shirt on! How fucking cool is that? Good gravy! So, the next time they play, I'll be there...no fooling. Hot grooves, great music mastery and trecherous drum licks. True ragers, I can't say enough good things. And don't forget about the Genesis t-shirt! Ok, the Watchers. The came out doing some sort of tribal chant or something, and then there were some female back-up singers that apparently had been hobbled by somebody. I think they were called the 'Action Squad'. They were kind of like a cross between the Contortions and Make-Up. The singer even looked a bit like Ian Svenonius. The bass and guitar were my favorite parts. All of the songs were real crowd rousers...everybody was yipping and yelping and what-not. At the end some guy in the audience was giving them the UK 'two-fingers' and said that they were phonies or something like that. The singer didn't call him a silly blockhead, which is what I would have done. I like Ethan a lot more now that I know that he's such a raging axe-man. I'll be sure and go to Hi-Fi and purchase the $40 sealed copy of Yoko Ono & The Plastic Ono Band now, for sure. We had to leave after the Watchers, because we were going to some Chicago Underground Film Festival after-party with Kris Grubbs & Vic Huff. I wanted to see at least one song by Duvall, which I guess everybody else did also. I figured they would have sucked pretty bad, because they looked pretty stupid, but the first song they played was real good. I know that the singer kept saying 'one by one', like castles in the sand being blown over by tornadoes and then they fall into the ocean, one by one. Totally hokey emo stuff, but it was really pretty good. I'd pick up one of their records, if I could get it really cheap and there was nothing else to buy that day.

Fuck this, let's get back to derekerdman.com