Baby Got Books

Kicking off Music Week

It’s Music Week here at BGB. Why? Why not? I’ve been spending some quality time with my Believer Music Issue, which includes a great CD. I’ve been checking out some recent shows and have been kicking around the idea of buying tickets to some shows as far away as September. It’s summer. Music is on the brain, so why fight it?

Speaking of The Believer’s music issue, this month’s ad (they run only one add each month now) is for DaCapo Press. The advertised book that got me thinking (and was the impetus for this post) was a collection called, The Show I’ll Never Forget: 50 Writers Relive Their Most Memorable Concert-Going Experiences. The book includes essays by Chuck Klosterman (naturally), Daniel Handler, Heidi Julavits, Rick Moody, Thurston Moore, and forty-five others.

I’ve been working on my list of memorable shows in my head ever since I saw the ad. I couldn’t help it. It started as a mental top 5 list, then a top 10, then back to a top 5, then a memorable 20 list, etc. It’s a moving target. I’ve given up on naming a definitive list and have instead settled on a list of what I’ll call “standout shows.” The criteria for being on the list is that I could easily write a lengthy essay about each of the shows on the list if asked. Add your memorable shows in the comments so the rawk won’t stop.

I have to start with The Cold. The Cold were New Orleans’ finest new wave/power pop combo. The line-up included Vance Degeneres on bass (Ellen’s brother and former Daily Show correspondent). I saw them at least a dozen times. Their show at the Saint Andrew’s CYO (’82 or ’83) was the first concert that I attended without adult supervision. Nothing short of life-changing. (For a feel for what The Cold sounded like check out You and Three Chord City at their fan site.)
Sticking with the 80′s – next up was a triple bill The Fleshtones, Billy Bragg, and Echo and the Bunnymen on the Riverboat President (an actual riverboat that would set off down the Mississippi River) in New Orleans. Each band/artist was at the top of their game. Echo and the Bunnymen, especially, were blowing the doors off the place. This was before Bring on the Dancing Horses ruined them forever.
Still in the 80′s: I got to see the Talking Heads on the Stop Making Sense Tour (also in New Orleans). The show started with David Byrne in a giant white suit singing Psycho Killer on acoustic guitar accompanied by a boom box playing percussion. Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa… It only got better from there.
The Ramones seemed to play on the President about every three months when I was in high school. That can’t possibly be true, but that’s how I remember it. I saw them at least six times back in the day and was floored each time.
The Replacements at The Cameo Theater on Miami Beach (1989?). I hung out with the band afterwards and was able to tell Paul Westerberg that Unsatisfied was the best song ever written. He liked it, too.
For a year or so somewhere in the early 90′s the best country band with a male Cuban lead singer that could sing like Patsy Cline played every Sunday Night in Coconut Grove, Florida. It was a standing engagement to check out The Mavericks every week among a group of my friends. We were in post-Miami Vice Miami checking out a country band. You can’t make this stuff up.
Johnny Cash at the (now defunct) House of Blues during the Olympics in Atlanta, 1996. I don’t think that I need to say anything more about that one.
In this century, I’ll have to go with the Arcade Fire. Within the last five years, they’ve put on two of the best shows that I’ve seen in my life. See them if they come anywhere near you.

Books, To Checkout | Tim | June 18, 2007 7:00 am

By Shaft, June 18, 2007 @ 9:13 am

Yikes. This is tough to answer, especially right off the top of my head. Luckily, a few months ago I tried (more than anything else as a memory exercise) to list all of the live bands I’ve ever seen (I was able to remember somewhere in the neighborhood of 275 of them), so I can at least refer to the list for some help.

A few that stand out:

Summer of 1991: Teenage Fanclub and Uncle Tupelo at a now-defunct club in Cleveland, Ohio. A strange double bill, but two of the best bands on the planet. That was the night I met the guys from Uncle Tupelo and began stalking them for a few years.

Spring of 1996: The Cardigans and Cake at Roseland Ballroom in NYC. This was before anyone in the U.S. had heard of the Cardigans, and at the time “Life” had been on repeat in my CD player for months. I flew to NYC for one night on my way to Pittsburgh for a wedding, met up with a good friend of BGB, Adam Reed (co-creator of Sealab 2021 and Frisky Dingo), went to the show, schmoozed our way backstage, and hung out with the Cardigans, eventually accompanying them back to their hotel bar. Fun was had by all. Oh, and they’re an amazing group of musicians.

Early 1990′s: Liz Phair, live at Cat’s Paw Studios in Atlanta. I was able to schmooze my way in with a few friends to go sit at her feet and watch her play acoustic for a half hour. Phenomenal, particularly in light of the low expecations we’d had based on rumours that she was not a good live performer. We all went and checked out her full-blown concert the next night at Center Stage.

Early 1990′s: Bettie Serveert and Buffalo Tom at the Variety Playhouse. Again, two bands that I absolutely adored, playing a show together. I’ve since ingratiated myself with the Betties and have seen them six or seven times.

Others of note: Belle & Sebastian in the Fall of 1998 at the Forty Watt in Athens (I drove over there by myself because no one else had jumped on the bandwagon yet); Jesus and Mary Chain in the late 1980′s in Cleveland (as messy a wall of sound as you might guess, but great); Jellyfish at the Cotton Club in 1994 (if you never got the chance to see them live, you truly missed out); the Reivers on their last tour in 1992 in Cleveland (there were about eight people at the show, an absolute shame).
By DJ Cayenne, June 18, 2007 @ 9:35 am

I forgot a fantastic show. Cat Power at The EARL in East Atlanta. It was an afternoon show featuring Chan Marshall solo on guitar and piano. There was a small but enthusiastic crowd, and it was daylight when the show ended around 4:30 on a Sunday afternoon. Incredible.
By Frank, June 18, 2007 @ 9:40 am

Wow, I’m honored to say that I was with you at 3 of your top 9 shows ever. Good choices, all, but I don’t think I could ever make a list like this. I would change daily.
By DJ Cayenne, June 18, 2007 @ 10:12 am

My list changes daily. Throw out a handful of memorable shows. I know you have some. And let’s make it four out of 10 shows by throwing in Sufjan Stevens at the Fox way back in 2006.
By Shortbus, June 18, 2007 @ 1:06 pm

I’m guessing none of you music snobs would recognize the Styx Mr. Roboto tour. That Tommy Shaw…
By DJ Cayenne, June 18, 2007 @ 3:39 pm

This is a no heckling zone. If you enjoyed a Styx concert, that’s all that matters. Follow your bliss.
By thinkulous, June 18, 2007 @ 3:49 pm

Oh, boy… you dangerous, dangerous man. How could I possibly narrow it down to five or even 10?

Like you say, I’ll just throw one out, the first that comes to mind:

- Spring, roughly 1993, Tramps, New York City – Maceo Parker and his band. The place was so crowded and joyful and feverish with Maceo’s funk that there were whole minutes when my feet literally did not touch the ground, so squeezed into the the sweat-soaked, joyous mob was I. We had so much fun the police showed up — at a well-known, thoroughly above-board venue. Blissful , controlled pandemonium.
By adrienne, June 18, 2007 @ 8:21 pm

OK. I’m definitely the odd one out in this forum, but I love remembering concerts. So here goes.

1. Queensryche/Metallica – 1989 – My first concert.
2. Testament/Megadeth/JudasPriest – 1990
3. Pantera – 1991
4. Motley Crue – 2005

I kinda dropped out of the market there for about 14 years. Well, that’s not entirely true. I went to concerts they just weren’t memorable.

And I’m hoping the Def Leppard/Styx concert this fall will make the list.

Yup. Big metal dork.
By DJ Cayenne, June 18, 2007 @ 11:30 pm

We’re not heckling here. I can appreciate some metal. I saw Def Leppard last summer with Journey (with not-Steve Perry on vocals). It was fun, but I don’t think that it will make your “best” list.
By Shaft, June 19, 2007 @ 9:12 am

I was with the DJ at the Def Leppard/Journey show last summer, and rather than not-Steve Perry on vocals, it was actually not-not-Steve Perry on vocals (the normal Steve Perry stand-in had throat problems, so they had another guy stand in for the stand-in). Whatever. As the DJ said, quoting someone else, “There’s two kinds of people in this world: people who like Journey, and liars.” One qualifier, though. Given the heat on a summer night in Atlanta and the ridiculous lines at the beer tent, I’d have thought I was in hell had they not ripped into Stone in Love.
By DJ Cayenne, June 19, 2007 @ 9:48 am

Shaft: That was a Dr J quote. Separate Ways is what brought down the house. Don’t stop believin’.
By Dr J, June 19, 2007 @ 2:06 pm

I stole that line from somebody else, maybe the Sports Guy.
My favoritest, most memorable shows would have to include
-A Pixies tour in 1989 when I saw them on three successive nights at Hampden-Sydney College in VA, at the Cat’s Cradle in Chapel Hill, and at that venue whose name I’m forgetting on Peachtree at around 14th St. I loved me some Kim Deal.
-All of the REM shows at the Fox in the mid- to late-80s.
-Drivn n Cryin at the Cat’s Cradle the night the remnants of Hurricane Hugo blew through. (“HURRICANE HUGO UP ON THE RIGHT!” blew out one of the speakers, I think.) I need to go back and listen to some DnC to see how they’ve aged.
-Wilco at the venue whose name I’m forgetting where Peachtree meets Roswell Rd on the YHF tour.
-Lucinda Williams’ shows around Austin during the 3 or 4 years or however long it took her to record and release Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.
By Dr J, June 19, 2007 @ 2:22 pm

Shaft’s post reminds me that Teenage Fan Club really did blow out the sound system at the Cat’s Cradle the night I graduated from college.
And I have to add Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy/Arrested Development at the Cradle in 1993 or so to my memorables list. How DHH never hit it huge is beyond me.
I’m still trying to imagine a Teenage Fan Club/Uncle Tupelo bill.
By Rae Rae, June 19, 2007 @ 2:23 pm

Having trouble with 5? Check out a master. http://www.5ives.com/ (Hint: Categories)
By DJ Cayenne, June 19, 2007 @ 2:37 pm

RaeRae -

The 5ives is the bomb. The list of words that I’ve begun prepending an unnecessary article cracked me up. I’ve been adopting taht affectation lately to small scale comic response. I enjoy “the rock music,” seeing something on “the TV,” and talking about “the books.” I need to come up with two more.
By Dr J, June 19, 2007 @ 3:36 pm

I just hurt myself laughing at Five hip-hop pseudonyms I’ve considered for myself. Oh, the hilarity.
By Herman Glimscher, June 19, 2007 @ 4:23 pm

The 5ives is pretty good.
By Shaft, June 20, 2007 @ 9:49 am

One of the most fascinating things about the Uncle Tupelo/Teenage Fanclub double bill was that after the show, I was hanging out backstage with Uncle Tupelo and Teenage Fanclub walked past us; you would have thought it was the seven dwarfs, except there were only six of them. Not one of them was past my shoulder.