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Originally uploaded by meegs.
Well, I dunno if you can call it memory lane, but I strolled down some metaphysical & musical soundscape last night that I am finding difficult to describe.
For the record, last night’s Dinosaur Jr. concert was at least in the top three of loudest shows ever (QOTSA & DFA 1979 are up there, too). Thanks to my bud from AFI (& one of many grateful ‘Friend of Peg’ introductions), Kareem, for giving me an Amoeba Records stash-holding keychain that now houses my precious earplugs! Because of you I am not suffering the ringing that is no doubt plaguing the entire unprotected audience this morn (well, afternoon….).
I had a hella blast, J. Mascis is still on top of his game as far as musicianship & guitar work goes. He reminds me why my first boyfriend (as if it were a collectible action doll) would spend hours practising arpeggiated riffs over & over & over again. Dino Jr. was one of those bands that brought a new sound, heightened tightness, distortion &obtuse lyrics to a time in music that sucked ass - only to get ripped off by Cliffs-notes power-chording grunge gonzos on the verge of ‘Edge’ radio station stardom & flannelled fanbases.
Lou was as cool as ever & downed some hard booze despite his anitbotic cocktail (Happy B-day, Lou!).
Many audience members were calling out his name or asking for Sebadoh songs (which is a pretty lame-ass thing to do…considering that people have been whining about getting this reunion together for how long & then when it finally happens they harass the band for songs that Maskis didn’t have a part in? WTF?)
In a typical post-Pheonix review, I will complain about the early show b.s….but had it not been for the expected heard-out of aging skaters & wanna-be members of Citizen Dick I wouldn’t have had an equally amazing night of patio bliss with MC, Gwen & her pals at the Cadillac Lounge. Good times, good conversation, music-memories, gossip, laughs, and amazing Parkdale atmosphere, food & bar staff. Hats off to this gem of a bar (where I took the Beau for his first burlesque gig!) without pretention but full of laid-back class (”& they got a pool table, too!”).
Anyway, I guess the most difficult thing to describe is how attending that show was, in many ways, exactly like seeing Shonen Knife during SXSW. These are two bands that were just larger than life - obviously not because of their image or attitudes, but because I got into them long before I really understood much about what music (let alone ‘good’ music) was or meant. I just loved these two bands for the sake of loving different no-hit-single music when I was 12 & 13.
Had you told the never-been-kissed Egyptian-bangs & braces-wearing pudgy 7th grader wearing oversized flannel shirts & trying desperatly to fly beneath the tyrannical girl-politics radar that in 13 years she would be seeing free Dino Jr & Shonen Knife gigs, “getting” the music, turning away jackass guitar jock dudes for the company of strong self-assured & savvy women, I would’ve snorted Orange Soda up thru my honker & returned to memorizing minutia gathered in Rolling Stone & Spin mags.
In a pathetically comforting way, experiencing something that you thought (or hoped or projected) was cool when you were so young & insecure brings your angsty years to some type of calming close - an entirely internal & inconsequential resolution for people you knew back in the day, but an amazing life-bookend to round out over ten years of being immersed in music & how you have come to define yourself; by the one art form that enriches your life and amplifies good memories & triggers great ones.
Enough Wonder Years bullshit.
Peace
meegs
