Show Review: Titus Andronicus & Lucero @ The Magic Stick 4/11/09

As my brief little write up for Detour alludes to (thanks for tag teaming that one Adam), I was at the Titus Andronicus/Lucero show this past Saturday. My girlfriend loves her some Lucero, but isn’t such a fan of fellow Lucero fans. Now I know why. This guy pretty much hit the nail on the head with his description of the bunch. However, despite my occasional horror and frequent wincing at watching a throng of sweaty boys crowd surfing and bouncing off of each other (with more than one person going ass-over-apple-cart and narrowly escaping entry into closed head injury land) it was difficult for me to feel much animosity. I know I would have felt lots of it should I have been foolish enough to try to watch the show from the floor, but from my safe haven near the merch table behind a metal bar, I could see that the people in the pit area were having a blast – arms around each other, singing along, smiling… I scanned the crowed for the kind of testosterone and whiskey fueled “Yeah, we might be half naked, sweaty and in exceptionally close proximity to each other, but I’m not a homo and to prove it I’m gonna beat your ass” pre-fight tension, but didn’t really see it. It was not MY kind of happy crowd, but a happy crowd nonetheless. As far as Titus Andronicus goes, I just don’t get it. I tried to get it, I don’t get it and now I’m moving forward. Because that’s all you can do.

Show Reviews: Morrissey @ the Michigan Theater and Morrissey in Chicago

For half my life (for real?) I’ve been a Morrissey fan – and in those 15 years I’ve seen him a grand total of five times. Yes, I know this isn’t a fanatical amount, but it should be seven -- there are at least two tours in that time period I was unable to attend. One because I was 14 or 15 years old and had nobody to go with or drive me, and one because his Michigan date happened RIGHT after I moved to Charlotte, NC. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say, but I should’ve picked Morrissey over moving. But I digress. The two most recent shows just happened and were within a week of each other. You can read my reviews on the Detour site – Ann Arbor here, and last Saturday’s Chicago show here. For the Chicago show, I failed to mention eating at Denny’s in Kalamazoo at 4:30am on the way home. My body does not like to be awake and ingesting food from a 24-hour diner surrounded by drunkos and tweaked out club goers at 4:30am. But I can now say I’ve eaten “pancake poppers” while deliriously tired. I don’t even know if they were really called “pancake poppers” or if I made that up. I do know this really happened though, because when I finally woke up the next morning (um, late afternoon), there was a Denny’s take out container on the counter containing the remainder of these “poppers.” I also know that I tipped our waitress several dollars more than I needed to – because I can’t imagine what it must be like to work that shift, and because the thought of having to be in a seated position under those lights any longer while waiting for my change made me want to burst into tears.

Show Review: Neil Halstead @ The Pike Room 3/20/09

My girlfriend and I went to see Neil Halstead a few days ago. Detour has posted my concise show review. I always have a hard time at shows that are all quiet and where half the people sit down. You’d think that a crowd of people being quiet and sitting down would be nonthreatening, and I am guessing the majority of people there are. But I’m always afraid of the “hush patrol:” those people who are so dead set on making sure that the rest of the audience is as mutely rapt as they are, that they can’t possibly be enjoying themselves since the whole show they’re darting mean looks around the room and hushing people who dare make a sound. I don’t at all condone people talking really loud and interrupting quiet shows, but we’re not at the movies. So lighten up. If we were at the movies, you could either shoot me in the arm, or roll up the top of your popcorn bag and beat me in the face with it (as I once saw a woman do to a man after she stood up mid-movie and yelled “Tell your kids to shut the fuck up!!” This was at a showing of the Jim Carrey masterpiece How the Grinch Stole Christmas). Thankfully, there were no real "hush patrol" members to be seen at Neil Halstead and nobody was shot or pummelled with popcorn.

Show Review: The Darts, Divine Comedians, Big Mess, Prussia @ PJ's Lager House 3/21/09

Although under most circumstances, I would say it's never alright to do this, my sister called me this morning and started the conversation with, "Did you see my most recent Facebook status update?" This is worse than calling somebody to see if they got the e mail you sent them, because in a status update, you're (usually) communicating your life rather generally, not specifically trying to communicate information to one person. So such a call is akin to saying, “I can’t stand the thought that you might not know what I’m doing RIGHT. NOW.” But considering she and her wife woke up this morning to the sounds of their cat meowing from inside their furnace, I will totally give her a pass. Thank goodness they like their house so frightfully cold all the time – I don’t want to think about the horrors they would’ve encountered had the damn thing kicked on. What does this have to do with this past Saturday’s show at PJ’s Lager House? Nothing really. But I encourage you to be adventurous and curious about live music. Even if sometimes that means you might end up crawling though a vent and getting trapped in the furnace.

Show Review: Langhorne Slim @ The Pike Room 3/15/09

I saw Langhorne Slim last Sunday at the fantastic Pike Room in Pontiac. So did several rabble rousing hippies or "college kids" as they are sometimes known. I was not familiar with Langhorne Slim until a few months ago - my girlfriend is a big fan of his. It's one of several bands/artists she's brought to my attention that I really like. I love that part. As an added bonus, openers Empty Orchestra played an awesome song about the Flint sit down strike. The song kicks ass. It's available as a 7 inch. This 7 inch is white vinyl. Go here and get it. They are from Flint, so if you don't buy it, they can probably kick your ass. It was a good show, and Detour's photographer Bianca Garza was there too, and got some nice shots. Read it/see it here.