Following him at 7:00 was the effervescent (sp?) Rick Shapiro...sort of a cross between Eric Bogosian and Dennis Leary, only (and I hate this term) more real. Angrier than Leary and more articulate than Bogosian. I've known about him for the last 15 years or so, since he started playing Lach's thing at the Sidewalk Cafe in the East Village, but I had never seen him before. The guy has been through hell & back, and he lays a lot of it out there on the stage. He's beautiful. That may have been the first comedy show I have ever been to! Wow...
Then onto one of my alltime fave East Village eateries, Veselka, for my favorite meal anytime of the day - eggs! I even had a chocolate shake. Daisy then split, which left me to my own devices. So I went over to CBGB's for the first of several benefit shows I plan on attending there this month.
I walked in around 9:30, and Elliott Sharp was in mid-set. I don't get into the free, noisy, dischordant thing very often, but he fucking rocked. Just him & a drummer, and they really were something. There was a nice bottom end despite the lack of bass...they just really turned it out. He's a really nice guy too...I introduced myself to him after the show to remind him that I was the guy who 19 or 20 years bought a hot dobro guitar from some dude, and it turned out to be Elliott's. He got it back within a matter of days. Anyway, as I was reminding him of this, he finished the story before I could. That guitar must've meant a lot to him for him to remember that incident. Very cool.
Next on were the evening's headliners, the Bush Tetras. If you don't know them you should. They were one of the great minimal funk, new/no wave bands of the Lower East Side of New York City in the early 80's. Their best known cut was "Too Many Creeps" on 99 Records. "Can't Be Funky" was another good one. Here's a picture of the "Too Many Creeps" 45:
So they were really good too. Three women, and a male drummer...I'd never seen them ever so it was a real treat to catch 'em in something of a natural habitat.
Following the Bush Tetras was Ari Up, former lead singer of original '77 UK punk legends, the Slits. It was funny to hear her familiar voice booming thru CBGB's soundsystem...her music now is a sort of late period Slits/reggae/bouncy rhythm thing. Her dreads are so long that she grabs them and swings them around over her head like a cowboy swinginig a lasso. Fun, but it was time for me to get home.
So here I am...off to Fire Island tomorrow.
p.s. Mark from Hem was there. As was Joly, faithfully shooting the show for Punkcast, and perhaps New York Noise if we're lucky.
Have a good weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment