A magic night

Saturday night Wendell and I went out to the Tremont Music Hall for a farewell night/happy birthday for the longtime club owner, Penny Craver. Penny has always been one of those people that I can't really call a friend but she has been someone I have known since the first year or two I lived in Charlotte. I first met her when she was promoting shows at the old 1313 club in the early 90's here in Charlotte. Not long after she took over the Milestone Club and a couple friends and I used to go there on nights when there was a band there we really wanted to see and on nights when we didn't know the band just because we knew Penny brought in good music.

My buddy Jeff would come with us and he was more a classic rock kinda guy and he would not like about half the bands but he enjoyed sitting at the bar and talking to Lawrence. Eventually Penny opened Tremont and I went there a lot the first few years but I have gone less frequently because I don't go out as much and she is bringing in fewer bands I am into. Directly because of Penny I have met many interesing people over the years and been to a lot of great shows. Becuase of her I saw Iggy Pop. What more can I say?

This Saturday was special though. Six bands played short sets and gave tribute to Penny. The music opened with Bellglide which I hadn't seen before. They grew on me after a few songs. I think I'd like to see them again.

I think the next band was Les Dirt Clods which I really enjoyed. The singer mentioned that Penny gave him his first gig. Next up was Jeff Williams who I found out was in a band called Odd Job and he was also in Lodestar. I remember seeing Odd Job once at the 1313 and they blew me away.

Next up was Antiseen. This Antiseen performance was unique in that it was in the small room at Tremont and, since this show was under the radar and not promoted, a lot of their meathead fans weren't there. It was fun watching Antiseen plow through an awesome set in front of room not there specifically to see them. They were great. Jeff Clayton was very funny onstage. He mentioned that, in finding Penny, the band finally found a club owner as rascist and homophobic as they are. The highlight was a smoking, and I mean smoking, rendition of "Beat on the Brat" by the Ramones. Clayton prefaced this song by saying that not only are we here tonight to pay tribute to Penny but to say goodbye to another Ramone. Holy crap did they do that song justice. It could only have been done better by the Ramones. No one else in the world other than the Ramones could have played that song with such vigor.

Next up was Big Brick Building. I saw them a couple of times in the early 90's and they played an excellent set but I feel sorry for any band that plays after Antiseen. It was nice to see those guys again they have a unique bouncing Talking Heads meets Primus sound. I did notice that there were about twenty people up front really into what Big Brick Building was doing.

The highlight of the evening was the final band: The Blind Dates. The blind dates consist of Gina Stewart (Doubting Thomas), Deanna Campbell (Second Skin aka Violet Strange, now doing great solo stuff), another lady joined them on guitar and Penny played drums. Deanna told Wendell and me that the Blind Dates was her first band and she was still learning to play guitar when they formed. I had always wanted to see this band. They broke up in 1989 which is one year before I moved to Charlotte. I had heard things here and there about how good they were and I had always wondered how Deanna and Gina would sound when they sang together.

I am so happy I got to see them play Saturday night even if it was only for about 20 minutes. They were fantastic. Not only can Penny beat the piss out of a drum set, she's a fine drummer. She's got power and great rhythm. Deanna and Gina singing together was as beautiful as I thought it would be. They did a nice interweaving vocal in the middle of one song and I looked over Rob, a friend who came in a litle late, and said, "Wow." He said, "They can do that all night." I wish I could remember the name of the second guitar player she whipped off some nice unique solos during the set. They carried the last song out for about 30 seconds. You could tell they really didn't want to stop but I am sure they played all the songs they had rehearsed for the reunion. The crowd response was wonderful. Every person that had migrated in and out for the other bands came in for the set by the Blind Dates. It was really that big of a deal to those who came out.

What a cool night. It was one of the most special local music nights I have enountered here in Charlotte and, despite what some may think, there have been a lot and a many of them occurred because of Penny Craver. Forget what I said before, she's not an aquaintance she's a friend.

Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap and shit

Today I was downtown and fired up my digital camera to take a picture of some construction. The damn thing was broken. The lense was stuck in the full telephoto setting and each time I tried to pull the setting back to wide I could hear the little plastic gears inside grinding together.

I called support at Sony and it looks like I am going to have to mail the camera in and have them work on it. A minor inconvenience but I am so used to having the camera on me all the time and I miss it already.

At least the customer service rep for Sony that I talked to was really friendly and helpful. I was impressed. It's funny how good service like that can really incite some brand loyalty into you almost immediately.

Heads up

If I see one of these on the streets in Charlotte one day I will not be responsible for my actions.


You know, the other day, after passing a line of giant SUV's at the Harris Teeter I thought to myself that the next step for the selfish bastards could only be to buy modified tractor trucks.

It's 1,2,3 what are we fighting for? Don't ask me I don't give a crap, Here I am in Iraq. It's 5,6,7 open up the pearly gates, we ain't time to wonder why. Whoopee, we're all gonna die.

"'Bring them on!" President Bush challenged the early Iraqi insurgency in July of last year. Since then, 812 American soldiers have been killed and 6,290 wounded, according to the Pentagon. Almost every day, in campaign speeches, Bush speaks with bravado about how he is "winning" in Iraq. "Our strategy is succeeding," he boasted to the National Guard convention on Tuesday."

There is no way I can possibly put into words the contempt I have for this fucking shitty-ass fake cowboy president we have. But I think this column helps.

Oh, and this one in this week's Creative Loafing is helpful also.

That noise?

That noise you are hearing is not air leaking out of your car's tires nor is it the silent-but-deadly release of the coworker next to you. It is the relieved exhalations of bespectacled girl-nerds all over North Carolina as their beau has returned from the sea of self examination. Their computers are no longer widow's walks but once again are their windows into the soul of an economic and shoe-size girly man.

Ba ba ba, bum ba buh

Did you notice last night during the Monday Night Football game on CBS, in which our boys got mauled, that when Condoleeza Rice appeared onscreen that the stadium sound system was playing the Imperial March from Star Wars? We did at my place and so did Al Michaels in the broadcast booth because when they cut back to him and Madden he had a huge grin on his face and he chuckled through the next two plays he called. Now that was good television.

Bush Bashing (it's been a while)

How would you caption this picture? Is he gassy or does he not know where his heart is located?

Q: How do you know she's lying? A: Her mouth is moving.

First thing this morning at work a lady with bad B.O. came up to the reference desk and, while pretending to almost cry, informed us that her apartment burned down last night. Ok, that was lie number one.

My co-worker expressed sympathy. Her second whopper was that she was doing a school project and need biographical information, tour dates and pictures of...Keith Sweat which we provided. We hoped if we gave her enough information quickly she would, you know, go away.

She was such an obvious homeless bullshitter that you had to admire her audacity. She knew that we knew that she was lying but she was probably familiar with how a public library functions and was confident that we wouldn't call her on her bullshit. It's shysters like her that actually created this great country.

I know, I know

I know you are waiting for my reaction to our Commander in Chief's inability to fulfill his cushy Natinal Air Guard obligations. What can I say? Is anybody actually surprised? Hell no, the public is going to be as surprised about this as they were about Clinton's affair. Those that might care about this and cause it to change their decision won't because they are already voting for Bush because he is against the rights of women to choose and he hates them queers. He's in the clear with his non-service during Vietnam.

Stealing from the best again

Thanks to Josh Marshall for this great quote: "This story is a perfect demonstration of the difference between the Swift Boat controversy and the National Guard controversy. Both are tales from long ago and both are related to Vietnam, but the documentary evidence in the two cases is like night and day. In the Swift Boat case, practically every new piece of documentary evidence indicates that Kerry's accusers are lying. Conversely, in the National Guard case, practically every new piece of documentary evidence provides additional confirmation that the charges against Bush are true.