Toney and I recently found ourselves in an unusual situation. The younger youngling was attending a marathon birthday party somewhere, and the older hooligan went to see some horrible movie with a friend who looks like a character off Over the Edge.
So, we had two to three hours of free time on a Friday evening. It’s simply unheard of.
“Wanna go to the yuppie bar for a couple of pints?” one of us said after dinner, probably me.
“Sounds good,” came the answer. And so we went.
The place has all manner of outdoor seating. There are regular tables out front, a large tent in the yard with other tables inside, and various chairs, couches, and coffee tables here and there. Oh, it’s quite an elaborate scene.
And on this particular night it was packed with the usual lineup of power-brokers and assholes. I assessed the situation and didn’t see a place for us to sit. Every chair was filled with guys in golf shirts and shorts with a belt, or their wives/ample-breasted mistresses. Everybody seemed to be pontificating knowingly across wine glasses.
“Screw this, let’s go,” I said.
“Hey, you guys can sit here!” someone shouted from a distance. It was a young couple on a couch, eating a plate of nachos (or somesuch) from a coffee table. There were two empty chairs there — which meant we’d probably have to chitchat. I’m not really a fan of the frozen-smile stranger chitchat… but our options were severely limited.
And get this: it turns out they were really nice, and I found myself actually conversing with them, and laughing. It was a shocking turn of events. Toney could talk to a cigar store Indian, but I generally have to know someone for two to three decades before I completely open-up. Yet it was somehow different with these two outdoor nacho-eaters.
They told us they’d just bought an expensive designer puppy from a breeder in England (I’m telling you, the place is a pretentious-magnet), and we were talking about dogs and all the “fun” they bring to life. It was a good time, and the four of us seemed to be operating on the same wavelength.
I asked the waitress what beers they had on-tap, and it was the usual lineup. They have a good selection there, but it never changes. And that’s kinda disappointing. I went with a Magic Hat #9, and think Toney ordered a Sam Adams Summerfest.
I offered to buy our new friends a round, which is completely out of character, but they said they needed to get home before their pup stripped the upholstery off their couch, full-on. Shockingly enough, I hated to see them go.
The place was still slammed with people, and we moved from our chairs to the couch. To better observe and mock the snobs, you know. Then the roles were reversed, and we saw another couple walk in, and start looking for a place to sit. Just like we’d done, thirty minutes before.
“Hey, you guys can sit here!” I shouted from a distance, as my current role demanded. What was happening to me??
Yeah, but I overplayed my hand. The chemistry just wasn’t there with the second couple. They were perfectly nice, and everything, but there were big awkward gaps in the conversation.
They said they have a vacation home in the area, and I think I actually snorted. A vacation home — near Scranton?! I see much humor in that statement. I asked where they live, and — I’m not shitting you — they said Cape May, NJ! They live beside the ocean, but summer in Scranton. I fully expected Allen Funt to walk out from behind a partition.
They asked us about local places to eat, and Toney suggested an Italian deli for sandwiches. “Oh, is that the place beside the ice cream shop? They’re horrible,” he said.
Yeah, it just wasn’t the same vibe as the first couple… and I didn’t offer to buy these two a damn thing. And when the waiter said a table had opened-up for them, I was pretty glad.
But it was good time, overall. We had three pints each, and afterward Toney complimented me on my surprising humanness. That’s not the way she put it, but it’s certainly what she meant.
Pass the beer nuts.
Metten wrote this yesterday, and it’s apparently supposed to be funny. But I don’t see the humor. It all seems perfectly reasonable to me.
And speaking of mockable, we’d like to start running reader-generated articles on Fridays. So, if you have something you’re itching to mock, send it to mockable[at]gmail.com. If we think it’s funny, and don’t believe it will get us sued, we’ll probably feature it as a Friday guest post, along with a prominent link back to yer site, or whatever. So, get to writing.
Also, only about a million t-shirts remain(gulp), and you’d better hurry if you want one. Here’s the link. Don’t delay!
And Steve and I are going to see the New York Dolls tomorrow. Or, to be more precise, the current group of people calling themselves the New York Dolls. Make no mistake, I don’t consider this to be the real Dolls. But it’s David Johansen performing the old songs, with a band that’s supposedly hot as shit. And that’s perfectly acceptable, at this point.
Have you attended many reunion shows? I wanted to see the Police last summer, and also Van Halen. But it didn’t happen. I have seen Steely Dan three or four times though, and recommend it highly.
Plus, I’ve seen the Buzzcocks twice — as well as Television(!). There’s undoubtedly others I can’t remember right now, but those are the reunion shows that jump immediately to my mind.
What about you? Do you have any experience with reformed bands on their “4th Annual Farewell Tour,” or the “We’re All Outta Cash Tour ’06,” or whatever? Tell us about it, won’t you?
Also, who would you like to see reform? Put me down for the Replacements, thank you very much.
And I’ll do my best to update tomorrow. Steve and I are gonna make a day of it, and are planning to leave early, so it might be a challenge. But we’ll see how it goes.
Have a great day, my friends.
Hey, I have never been first. Be back later.
I don’t have a response. I don’t know nuffin about bands, much less reunion bands, so I certainly don’t go see them.
whoa.
happy hump day!
Wow, I haven’t been so high in a while. (4) heh.
I’ve seen Kiss a few times, and they’re always good. They’re playing Voodoo Fest on Halloween, which is basically across the street from me, so that should be fun.
Oh, and if you can find a copy of The Wicked Lester Sessions, I highly recommend it.
Saw the Police reunion show last year, and was severely disappointed. Don’t know if it was them, or because I hate seeing concerts in baseball stadiums. I was glad I got to see the Police in their “hey day” back in ‘8i, but I felt bad for my husband who had never seen them before.
I was at the Trocadero last weekend, and there were all kinds of posters up for the Dolls show. I wish I was going!
I’d like to say that I’d see The Smiths if they ever got back together, but then I think of the crowd that would be there and quickly decide otherwise.
I went and saw Jethro Tull once. Everybody said it would be cool because the lead singer (Jethro?) stands on one leg while he plays the picolo. But they lied. There was no fancy one-legged action at all, he rolled out in a wheelchair and just sat there for the whole set.
Top Ten whew hoo!!!
holy cow I have not been on this site in months and I made top ten !
I am not a huge fan of live music, I hate the crowds, the closness everyone stands to you and the way the music sounds when it is cranked up to 11. I like smaller venues with more intimate seating. Rufus Wainwright was the last person I saw in concert, he played at the Mann in Philly.
What do you mean you haven’t been here in a couple of months? Do you have a doctor’s note?
Have seen- The Who, about 7 years after their 1982 “farewell tour”, The Cars (Todd Rundgrun, not Ric Ocasec), and Kiss several times. I also saw The Police last year, but the venue was pretty small for them (Marcus Ampitheater in Milwaukee)- They were fantastic and worth every penny. Also saw VH last year- I thought just okay. Diamon Dave is not what he once was.
onawho! Welcome back! I need the link to the singing horses if you have it.
Hump day. 1/7 of your life is composed of hump days.
Hey Jeff, the Eels are going to be on David Letterman tonight.
I just want to pass along http://www.Grooveshark.com
Any song instantly. How are they not getting sued? Am I missing something?
-Hal
Actually, every day is hump day for me.
Not really, but it would be nice 🙂
Holy crap I’ve been to a lot of shows. Off the top of my head, the most recent “reunion” shows:
MSG
UFO
the Dolls
The Tubes
Elvis Costello & the Attractions doing the My Aim is True album from beginning to end (fucking awesome)
Y&T
Squeeze
Can’t think of any more right now. All were good and not terribly disappointing music wise, but some of my old ‘crushes’ haven’t aged so well…
You’ll dig David and Syl, Jeff – they put on a great show last year here.
Happy Wednesday, Surfers!
Oh shit – I forgot Iggy and the Stooges. Saw them on Iggy’s 60th birthday last year!
the old geezer still looks good!
Jane’s Addiction reunions have happened several times and I have been there for every one. Always an awesome show. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Little River Band at Busch Gardens. I guess they had some falling out in the past regarding the singer leaving and the use of the name, but the singer was back and they, only three originals and two new guys did a pretty good job for the 100 people per show that showed up three times that day. Little River Band gets a semi-erect thumbs up.
Saw the Police reunion show. Last time I saw them was the Synchronicity Tour. First time I saw them was at a bar in South Charleston, WV called the Galaxy 2000 with about 20 other people. The first show was the best, with just three dudes. The Synchronicity show had about 25 people on stage.
Van Nalen reunion was pretty good. Never understood why they went with that Hagar thing. DL Roth is the only guy for that band.
My wife tries to make me accept complete strangers in public as well. She always tends to make friends with the female in the group and proceeds to schedule hangout times with the couple. A few weeks go by and we go to their house or they come to our house. We watch a movie or play cards. Then, a couple of weeks later, after I have gotten to actually like the spouse, boyfriend or whatever of the woman my wife made friends with, my wife decides to tell the woman what a piece of shit her husband/boyfriend is and proceeds to tell her that she can do better. About 95 percent of the time, the female agrees with my wife and dumps her guy for someone else….that I have to get to know all over again, thinking “HEY, WHAT THE FUCK WAS WRONG WITH THE LAST GUY? Anyway, I refuse to make couple friends now.
Did you know- Andy Griffith is still alive?
On IPOD right now- “Dear God”- by XTC
Hey, the dude in today’s bunker cam pic looks like he’s sporting some attire to hit a “Poison” reunion or some such nonsense.
Remember kids, as I used to say in the 80s:
“Spandex is a privilege, not a right!”
Of course I meant Van Halen there…sorry Ed, Alex and Wolfie…and Dave.
I went to see Whitesnake at the grand opening of a Wal-Mart.
Also, Kiss, WITH makeup (post Lick it Up)in the 90’s in San Antonio.
Don’t do much concert going any more. Last concert I went to was at River Front Stadium in Cincinnati to see Jonathan Butler.
There is certainly nothing wrong with ample-breasted, unless it lead to you getting the Spanish Archer.
Does Over the Edge have a kid in it who was obsessed with a Viet Nam Vet’s experience in Viet Nam until the vet snapped and told him how much it sucked?
If not, does anyone know that movie?
And as for the question of the day, this is weird:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2009%2F06%2F16%2FDD6D1873TL.DTL
Mr.Man and I don’t have any couple’s for friends either. We are pretty much loners when it comes to friends.
My friends are like me…former institutionalized maniacs who enjoy crude humor and booze.
His friends are like The Wayne…staunch and stuffy historical geeks who enjoy stroking each other’s old tools and muskets.
Mr.Man can be persuaded to go out with me and my friends occasionally but I usually have to be pretty drunk to agree to go out with his.
They’re boring….mine are fun like me and most of the time Mr.Man is NOT embarrassed to the point of crawling underneath the nearest chair.
We are complete opposites…ain’t love grand?
Jeff: Yuppies don’t bite! & according to Metten you evidently have a few yuppie traits already! Perhaps you caught “yuppie flu” whilst intermingling with the pod people:)
I saw the Black Sabbath reunion a few years back. They were pretty good despite Ozzy having completely fried his noodle on heroin. Iomi was amazing as always.
I’d like to see The Smiths, Husker Du, The Stranglers, The Minute Men, and The Clash reform. Of course with the last two there are issues with key members being dead…..
On a happier note Stiff Little Fingers and The Specials have both reformed (except Henry Cluney is not part of the SLF line up, but you can’t have everything), and The Specials are touring. I’m desperately hoping they’ll add some North American dates.
Isn’t it pretty normal for people who have coastal homes (say, Cape May) to summer elsewhere, so they can rent out their coastal home to suckers for exorbitant amounts of cash all summer long? Look the rental rates on Long Beach Island, NJ in August. Holy carp!
I’d do that if I could afford the decent coastal home in the first place…
@ Brandy – Playing piccolo on one leg may have to the wheel chair due to his bout with DVT. Or it could be the reason why he played piccolo on one leg.
Good bands Tyrosine….The Smiths and Husker Du would be awesome to see. The Housemartins would be a good reunion…except I think one guy is in prison.
Alice in Chains with undead Layne Staley would rock.
@Tyrosine- My hubby is also desperately hoping for The Specials to tour the US. I have been informed that he is prepared to travel many miles for this show!
I like going to places like that…uppity restaurants too that has a hostess/ hosterr. When they say…”Table for one/ two?…I always say…”Mind if I pick my seat?”
And I can say that with a straight face. (might take a little practice but…hey). If you’re a couple or what ever you can say “Mind if we pick our seats?”
Found it’s a pretty good way to start off the fun of being out amongst ’em.
@onawho…I would be willing to provide you with a doctored note after a comlpete examination. My rates are quite reasonable and usually don’t exceed the needed change for the parking meter for my van.
Walk-ins welcome…Dr. Fatnbald
If a place doesn’t have a “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service” sign (and many of them don’t) the first thing I do when I’m seated is take off my shoes and shirt. Then I rub my stomach and/or pop my toes while talking to the waitress about what I’ll have to drink.
@tadpolegal:
He may have to to travel to England to see them. By all appearances they have no interest in touring anywhere else for a while. I would dearly love to see them, but they never had a lot of influence in North America, so we may not be at the top of their priority list. I expect we’ll see a European tour first if (and a very big “if” apparently) they plan on doing anything more than this “30 year Anniversary Tour”.
Okay, Jeff, Yuengling finally came to Fort Valley–we tried it just now. We liked it. Should’ve been paying more attention to your suggestions over the years. Suggest you make more suggestions that we might be able to partake in. Start a page?
Went to a “Hey-Hey We’re The Monkee” reunion tour.
It was at the local fairgrounds/horse manure repository.
It was one of ’em singing all the songs with a bunch of
twenty something’s as the rest of the band.
Don’t get me wrong, it was fun. I was drunk.
@ Cas G in Knoxpatch,
As you probably know, there’s a less than 0% chance of a Smiths reunion, however Modest Mouse (now featuring Johnny Marr) is touring (link: http://www.modestmouse.com/photoblog/tours/ nothing near TN yet, but they still might add more shows). Think of it as kinda like The Smiths, but without Morrissey’s overwhelming pretentiousness (and his lame fascination with Oscar Wilde) . Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a Smith fan, but if asked to choose between watching The Smiths live, or watching Morrissey get mauled by rabid dogs, I’d really have to give it some thought.
The Housemartins would be awesome (should have thought of that myself) as long as Cook doesn’t pull any of his “Fatboy Slim” crap.
I saw three out of the seven Official Farewell Tours by The Who…
I can’t help myself – I have to speak up. It’s a flute, dammit! Ian Anderson plays the flute. A piccolo is used in Stars and Stripes Forever. Jethro Tull is from the name of a mythical figure.
If one’s knowledge of music starts with Blink 182, maybe classic rock is not for you.
Hey AngryWhiteGuy,
I was at that Police show at the Galaxy 2000, too! You must have been one of the four people there that I didn’t know, because the rest of the crowd were people that I hung out with pretty regularly. Seriously! I talked to Pete (the owner) after the show and I believe the official paying count was 23 patrons, so you’re pretty much right on the body count. You may remember seeing me there. I was the guy with the bloody nose/shirt walking through the crowd right after The Police finished their set. I was in the lobby talking to the t-shirt guys, and some disco clown started ranting at me for no apparent reason other than he hated anyone who didn’t look like him, and he hit me so hard that I saw God. I got up and lobbed off two extremely non-damaging punches at the guy before the bouncers grabbed us. Turns out the fella was upset because us “new wavers” were encroaching on his disco territory. No joke! If you remember, that Police show was the very first non-disco event that the Galaxy ever promoted, and he and his buddy were one of the disco regulars there who didn’t know that the venue was changing over to a rock format starting that night!! While in the bathroom cleaning up my bloody puss, I ran into Mulligan from Fashion (the warmup act). He looked pretty freaked out and asked me “were you stabbed? Are there lots of fights in this club?” We talked for a while and then Luke, the bass player stops in. They both ask me who my favorite Manchester band was – when I replied “Buzzcocks, of course!” they both laughed at me. They were from Manchester and I guess they hated Shelley and crew…
Anyway, I had the last laugh, because I deejayed the short-lived “New Wave Nights” on Wednesdays there for a few months after the rock and roll changeover and before it became a steady diet of “WKLC105 Presents Larry Heywood and the Atlanta Side Show (A.S.S.)” every Friday and Saturday night…
Ahh, those were the good ‘ol days…
Saw the post mentioning Larry Haywood & A.S.S..
I was the DJ at Galaxy 2000 for a while while Larry and
the gang played there.
I also did a lot of stage photography there including
Larry’s wedding at Kanawha State Forest..
I been in Las Vegas & Lake Tahoe for over 30 years and
I just retired and moved back to Charleston.
I would be interested if anyone knows about Larry,etc.
and what they are doing now.
By the way,I also used to do the light show for Kristina
at the Mordor night club in Kanawha City and
sound work for Stage Audio and lighting also
in Kanawha City.
Hello.Testing 1,2,3.Is this thing on?
Anybody out there
Did you have pictures of the wedding
Love to know what happen to them also.
You can find his wife Tona on facebook. They are doing well and living in Virginia. We call him “Uncle Larry” around here.. well, at least I do. He’s a trip!
t-storm, sounds like you’re thinking about The Wild Life.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no!
That ‘Bunker Cam’ pic is just WRONG!!!
out, y’all
@Vicki…hey…down there at the bottom to the right is a thing headed…Other Stuff. You’ll see at the bottom of that is…Suggestaholic!. Cllick on that and there just happens to be some more beer info for you. Just a suggestion to go there (IMHO) and I’m just saying my $0.02 worth. ( Sorry…couldn’t help that swami bologna)
@Tyrosine: Hmmmm, The Smiths reuniting or Morrissey beset by wild dogs….that’s a tough one. What I can’t believe is that Mozz is still doing his same schtick at the ripe old age of 50. He was already past the age of acceptable teenage emo angst (before it was emo) in The Smiths’ heyday, so now it’s just beyond pathetic. Get laid already, dammit. I gave away all my Smiths albums sometime in the nineties, but I always kept the live “Rank” album. They were killing it that show!
No “reunions” so to speak. Went to a Pink Floyd concert my junior year during the Division Bell Tour. Not the originals, obviously, but as a junior in high school I must say it was more than enjoyable. I managed to pass something around full only to have it returned full.
Went to a “Skynyrd” concert in Charleston as a senior in high school. Got drunk, almost got arrested. Had a great time.
You have to work with what you’ve got.
I saw ‘The Doors – of the 21st Century’-(really thats what the ‘reunion’ was called) a few years back in Glasgow.
Ian Astbury (The Cult) was standing in for Jim Morrison, and it was surprisingly good. At one point I was sure that Astbury was possessed of Morrisons wandering spirit, (during the ‘mr mojo rising’ bit) and without my glasses I swear I could see wisps of ectoplasm escape from his mouth.It was all very exciting.
It might have just been spit though.
Ho-ly shit! I seriously think I know the dude in the bunker cam pic.
Fuck! That’s eerie.