this imploding heart

And I'm leaning on this broken fence

Hi Everybody! (Hi Doctor Nick!)

I had a great time at the Murder by Death/Weakerthans show last night. MBD is Roxy's friend from High Schools' band. All their songs are about whiskey, guns and the devil, and are sometimes set in Mexico. They have a lot of Mettallica-esque guitar sounds which become a little darker and sweeter with the addition of the cello. Sharp, snappy (kickass) drums and Tom Waits without the high gravel pitches vocals tie it all together in a nice little package. Unfortunately, the sound was totally unbalanced, so you couldn't hear the bass at all, and the cello got drowned out or way over amped totally at random. We had the fine fortune of hosting the band at The Derby last night. I hope they slept well and ate some fruit, because they braved 2 blizzards and a trailer accident getting here.

Between the bands I met a guy with the word Straight tattooed down the outside edge of his right hand and Edge tattooed down the left. Like the part of the hand you karate-chop with. I also plopped down in a booth with some guy who was waiting for his girlfriend to come back from the bathroom.
"Is this seat taken?"
"Um, my friend just..."
"Can I sit here until he/she gets back? Lady friend or man friend?"
"My girlfriend, she just went to the bathroom."
"There is always a line at the ladies room. Do you mind? My back is killing me from standing."
And my new buddy Ryan didn't mind too much. He was a little nervous but generally nice. When his lady got back, he went to the bathroom and she and Roxy's BF and I chatted about why someone would bother putting tape over their nipples if they used scotch tape.

The Weakerthans were a delight, as always. I heard every song I wanted to hear except one, and quite a few songs new to me. I have so much more fun when the band is happy.

(Hey Neumos, I spent some time last night considering what would make the space more inviting. I like those big knife paintings on the wall, that motif behind the back bar and that big clown painting, but the reason it feels like a gym in there is that 1: It's painted mauve (which is better than black in that space, for sure, as black would make it feel like you're in the woods or an airplane hangar) and 2: It's in desperate need of something on the walls. How are we all supposed to avoid looking directly at each other with big blank walls all over the place? The wall behind the stage would benefit greatly if you added some depth somehow. I think some bulb lights or even a big frame would do the trick. Gymnasium!)

Posted by Sonya at December 2, 2004 08:26 AM