[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

New Year's Eve at the Double Deuce.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!

Wow.  What a night at the Deuce...

There were only two acts last night...  Bubaiskull, and
the openers who got on around twenty minutes to midnight.

The first band stormed the stage in 1977 punk gear.
"Roight -- we're here to bring in the fucking new year.
This is our first gig in a long time -- we're Union JackSquat.
Come on up to the fucking front, you fucking posers!"
The lead singer had punked-up hair, wide shades, a white
jacket over black muscle shirt and jeans, and a studded leather
collar with a metal chain attached to his wrist -- it was
Chris Murphy!  He was joined on stage by Matt Murphy in red
leather pants and Patrick Pentland all in black (his new 
hairdo was perfect for this) as well as Dave Marsh on drums.
Chris and co. staggered, swaggered, swore, and smashed their
way through classics by Gen X, Clash ("Complete Control"),
and Sex Pistols ("Pretty Vacant"), as well as several others.
They were *great* versions of the songs.  Chris of course left
the stage occasionally to stagger and thrash around the dance
floor as he sang...
During the last song Matt left the stage as well and flipped
onto his back, legs kicking in the air from the dance floor
as he continued to play his guitar.  At the end of the song,
the got back on stage and smashed the bass drum, threw other
drums around the stage, threw their guitars around, kicked 
at amps, and swore and gave the finger to the audience.
It was great!  :-)

I didn't think Bubaiskull could follow that up, but they
were fantastic!  At the beginning of the set, Chris said "We're
Bubaiskull, and this is our second last show."  I honestly
didn't know whether to take him seriously -- this is a band
that often seems to be on the verge in a lot of ways...
Other people with me noticed this comment and were asking
me if he was serious, so I tapped Alyson from jale on the
shoulder and said "Was he serious about this being their
second-last show?"  She looked at me like I was stupid and
said "No.."  She seemed to want to say "Are you dumb?  Are
you crazy?  Are you gullible?"  :-)  (Those who don't know
about Bubaiskull, take note: they just lost their drummer,
they don't know if they've got enough money to bring out
their album which I remember them saying last spring was
coming out July '93, their guitarist is a single mom in
law school -- let's just say they face a lot of adversity!)

Anyways, Chris Logan didn't do his staring into the lights 
thing -- instead they kept them low and roared through 
classics such as "Like a Pig", "Heebie Jeebie", and "Snake 
Oil".  A notable thing about this show was that the new 
songs that they've been trying out *worked* this time -- 
all the songs had really improved, especially the one where 
bassist Tim Stewart sings lead.  And the Neil Diamond cover 
that Allison Outhit sings was even better than usual.

But the encore was the best -- they did *three* songs and
could have done more.  The first was that incredible
instrumental overture that is usually used at the beginning
of their shows.  The pogoing crowd on the dance floor was
totally energetic (at 2 AM!).  This led into a song that 
they haven't played for a while -- "The Hum".  They did an 
excellent version of that one and then ended off with...  
a second Neil Diamond cover!  (I don't know Neil Diamond's 
songs... does anyone know what that song is that he sings 
that has a line that sounds like "hardy heidi ho" or 
something?)  

As I said they could have done more but the dance kept
going after they left -- the dance floor was so crowded
that everyone just gently bounced off each other and 
grooved to the Beastie Boys, Breeders, Pixies, 
Dinosaur Jr.,  Rage Against The Machine, etc...  
I danced for about 40 minutes and it was still going 
when I left at 2:45 AM...

All that for six bucks...  what a night.

James