Saturday, May 26, 2007

Live Music, Written Words and a Bunch of Pirates

I should've know yesterday would turn out pretty well when I was volunteering @ my son's field day & his friend's mom, quite the MILF, was there too. His friend was freaking out for a minute and pulling on his mom's shirt at which point her left tit popped out. A random tit shot like that always ushers in a good day (not to mention, none of my friends got shot in South Central LA). Last night, Stacey & I went to the Ark last night to see Blanche, a really cool, indescribable Detroit group. They're lead by Dan John Miller, formerly of Goober and the Peas. He has a weird David Byrne meets Bob Wills feel to him, & he seems pretty cool, despite that fact that he was drinking Rolling Rock Light. (I didn't even know such a useless beer existed.) They play a really strange mix of country, rock, rockabilly and goth weirdness. They play vintage instruments and most of them wear cool country suits... except the bass player who wears these vintage dresses she apparently reworks to add a spookiness to them. For instance, last night she was wearing an old wedding dress to which she'd added black lace and ribbons. She had also, apparently, dropped a little too much acid because during a couple of her songs she just kept laughing and was completely unable to sing. It was cool though, & even the sound problems during the encore didn't bother me. (The band seemed to be pretty pissed off by them though.) Before they came out, two other local groups opened for them: Jawbone and Sunshine Doray. The latter featured a woman on drums & a woman on piano and they were really cool. Goofy lyrics and an oldtimey, ragtime sound. They even covered "Whiskey Bar" w/ the original Kurt Weill/Bertolt Brecht setting (rather than The Doors ridiculous rock version) from The Threepenny Opera. The former, Jawbone, is a one-man-band from Ferndale. He seemed to really get the crowd going, but I wasn't very impressed. I've always felt that you're not a true one-man-band until you have a horn strapped to your neck and some cymbals between your legs. He had neither. What he did have was a rather repetitive song selection & a poor vocal mix. My other issue w/ him was that he sounded like the White Stripes. Stacey liked that about him, but I've never been a fan. Part of the issue, I think, was that his drumming, as he only used his feet, was simple and boring... not unlike what's her name from the White Stripes. All-in-all we had a great time though (aside from lunch-box who was sitting next to us & had to walk passed us every few minutes and step on my toes. After the show, we hit Leggs Lounge where we had a nice long conversation w/ a pretty cute stripper who had a really cool tattoo above her who-ha. It was a Gloria Steinem quote: "Men are taught to celebrate their strengths, women to apologize for theirs." I don't know if I buy it completely, but it's cool none-the-less.
In book news, I've been reading Searching for the Sound, Phil Lesh's autobiography. It came out a few years ago, but @ the time I thought, "The last thing I need is another book about the Dead." It turns out (mark your calenders) I was wrong. I found it at Borders for 5 bucks and have been tearing through it this week. He spends a lot of time discussing his influences in jazz & classical; it's like a crash course in Western music. He also spends a lot of time relating crazy drug stories which always make me think, "It's been 15 years; maybe I should try some acid again." (Mark your calenders again... 2 wrongs in one post.)
Finally, it's PIRATE WEEK here at Visions of Ypsi. I watched Dead Man's Chest again the other day in preperation for seeing At World's End today. I'm going w/ my Dad and my Brother, but 1st we're hitting Olga's for some lunch. I smell another good day. Be sure to check back all week for more pirate info including a list of Swashbucklers you need to see & some memories about my first time on the ride at Disneyworld when I was a kid.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just looked up Pinwheel bakery in Ferndale, the one that the bass player mentioned as Jawbone's wife just opening, and I know her! It's Ann St. Peter, I used to work with her a long time ago and she's the sister of the custodian at Perry. I haven't seen her in years.

Just had to share that.

I didn't notice the Rolling Rock light. Dan John Miller is pretty skinny, maybe drinking that beer is the key. I'm still not doing it, though.

It was good to cleanse ourselves of the foo foo Ann Arborness of the Ark with the divefunk of Legg's even the music was too loud this time. A fun, fun night!

Anonymous said...

A. When is it NOT pirates week?
B. Megg White - not really that hard to remember, at least the White part.
C. It's definately time to try acid agin.

Anonymous said...

Josh wanted me to ask you...
Did you play for bones?!!!

The White Stripes suck. I agree with you there. Way overrated.

Anonymous said...

Theorretically, every week is pirate week, but this this week is special. With the release of the new film, it seemed right to celebrate it fully.

I knew her last name is White, but I couldn't remeber her first name.

I knew you'd say that about acid.

I expected a "butt-pirate" comment from Jason. You're really letting me down.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and that was a nice compliment from the stripper (I wish I could remember her name, I hate referring to her like that) when she said she sat with us because we looked like the least threatening people there. Not that the you-know-who lookalike contest going on behind me looked threatening but I wouldn't have wanted to hang out with them either.