Tied For Last

First band of a two-band night.

The utter lack of Saturday night Manhattan traffic was the first sign that the cold weather was going to keep away a good portion of the crowd. I was also told that many folks who otherwise would have attended were away skiing for the three-day weekend.

Never having the money to be a skier myself, I wasn’t privy to the fact that folks with a bit of money often commemorate MLK and the struggle for civil rights by running away from the cities in droves. Sadly, I was no better as I spent the duration of MLK Day in bed asleep. More noble pursuits next year perhaps.

On the plus side, the lack of traffic allowed me to get a primo parking spot right in front of the club, so that was nice.

The place wasn’t at all crowded, but neither was it empty. As always, the people who were there were all our friends and fans. And those that came were so happy to be out of the cold that they were a great audience. Tommy had his own fan club there as well, so that was cool.

The gig went so smoothly that it seemed to fly by. I was a little tired from working late all week so I don’t think I was as mobile as usual, though I tried not to let it show. I was mobile enough that no sooner did we start playing “She Was Just a Girl” than I jumped up to play the intro riff and sent my guitar pick flying. I turned around to grab my backup pick from my amp and saw that it wasn’t there (Tom had taken it already). Tom had to cover the intro vocals while I scrounged for my pick. He sounded great though, and we didn’t miss a beat.

We had decided earlier in the week that we were going to play two cover songs: “Eve of Destruction” and “Sweet Jane.” Funnily enough, the last guy playing the open mic session that preceded our set played “Sweet Jane” as well, but he played the slow Cowboy Junkies version. While he was playing, word filtered to me that the band that was to follow us was planning on playing “Sweet Jane” as well.

After a short conversation before we took the stage, we all agreed that we were still gonna play “Sweet Jane” and that, even if the next band’s version was great, we were not likely gonna be shown up unless they had Lou Reed himself up there.

By the time we got to “Sweet Jane,” the other band, and many of its fans, had shown up (more about that in three paragraphs). We were definitely fired up for it, and the other band totally seemed to dig it as well, so that was cool.

The rest of the set went really well, and we seemed to get better as the night went on. My voice lasted the whole set as well, so that was an extra bonus for me (and for Tom, who’s often stuck covering for me).

When I got off stage, I was told that Brain, the super-cool bartender/sound guy at The Orange Bear, had advised the other band not to play the song out of deference to us. To be honest, I have no idea if they played it or not, and I would have had no problem if they did. The song’s good enough to stand up to three versions in one night.

The band that followed us was basically a Dylan/Grateful Dead type cover band with a REALLY young fan base. How these kids passed for 21 (if they got carded at all) is beyond me, because they all looked about 18, and were acting like they were at a high school dance.

The band wasn’t my type of thing, but they were clearly pretty cool guys, so I can’t slag ‘em at all. What they did, they did well.

The band’s crowd was a bunch of dicks though. Barring the parents in the crowd (many of whom complimented us, ironically enough), the audience wouldn’t budge when we were moving equipment in and out, and wouldn’t even get out of the way as the injured and limping Rev. Caroline was trying to make her way through. Nice, kids.

It’s always funny when the suburban nouveau-hippie fans of the peace-and-love generation are all self-centered humps who are more worried about makeup and looking cool than they are about the people next to ‘em.

Set List:
SAILOR
LEAD YOU ON
SHE WAS JUST A GIRL
EVE OF DESTRUCTION
ACHIEVER
BAGHDAD
A SONG FOR THE LADIES
WE’RE ALRIGHT
SUPERSTAR
LESBIAN CIRCUS
BEAUTIFUL IN BLACK
BLOODY TUESDAY
SWEET JANE
WASTED
PARTY DRESS
GOT NO LIFE
TAKE JANINE AWAY