concert memoirs pt. 17 - guadalcanal diary, naked raygun & rem

Guadalcanal Diary w/Timbuk 3

9/17/86 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: Unknown

The opening act is, mainly, remembered for their one hit, ‘The Future So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades’. However, they were still an interesting band to watch play live. Just a guy and a gal and a boombox. Their hit song might not have gotten too big by then, because most of the crowd seemed to be indifferent to what Timbuk 3 was playing.

But the real stand out moment of the night involved Guadalcanal Diary and my friend, John...

And this is an excellent example of the quickness of John’s mind.

So, Guadalcanal Diary had taken the stage and John and I were right down front. It was a somewhat light crowd for the show that night. The band was in good form and rockin’ right along.

They were about to play their version of the campfire sing-a-long ‘Kum-Ba-Yah’. The band was quietly playing as the lead singer was introducing the song. He was talking in a calm and reserved manner. He said we should all hold hands. We all stood there.

He shouted, “I SAID HOLD HANDS!”

Without missing a beat, John fired back, “F@#K YOU!”

The singer was taken aback momentarily then he laughed and the band played the song.

No one held hands.

Naked Raygun
9/21/86 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: Unknown

Seeing as how I’m virtually certain that the time John and I saw Naked Raygun open for Husker Du was the only time we’d seen them in the main room, this show was most likely in the 7th Street Entry. Which is the best place to see Naked Raygun. Small, intimate, dank, sweaty, loud. John and our friend, David, took to referring to it as the “particle accelerator’. An apt name if I’ve ever heard one.

I have to say that Naked Raygun always put on a great show. I’ve seen them a few times and have never been disappointed.

As sometimes happened in those days, you’d get someone in the crowd that didn’t understand the whole slam dancing thing. They’d either think it was a free pass to knock some people’s heads together (that was usually some knuckle-headed frat boy) or they’d get pissed off and start a fight. I think the latter was the reason for a little scuffle that broke out on the dance floor that night.

Pat Woods, the lead singer for the local band Man Sized Action, was in the audience. The fight broke out and Pat, who was a pretty big fella, muscled the two knot heads to the floor. He held them there while the bouncers made their way over to boot the morons out.

Once the scene had settled, one of the Naked Raygun members stated, “There’s no extra charge for the floor show.” And the band played on...

REM
10/14/86 Roy Wilkins Auditorium w/John Ticket Price: $13.50

This was an increasingly rare larger venue show, but REM was special.

REM was promoting their ‘Life’s Rich Pageant’ album on this tour. The band still hadn’t hit it mega-big, but they were well on their way. I seem to recall that they had an additional guitarist along and I think he was Peter Holsapple of The dB’s. However, I’m not entirely certain.

The show was good, if not the most memorable. It was the encore that I remember most. The band came back out and started playing a Bruce Springsteen cover.

Let me tell you, John and I had just about had it with the “Boss”. Never big fans of his in the first place, we had endured about two or three years of the Springsteen adoration. People all drooling over him and that overrated “Born in the USA’ album. Jesus Christ! We’d had enough of that shit!

So what does REM do? They play ‘Born to Run’. John said, “The hell with this! Let’s go.”

Incidentally, I believe it was for this concert that John and I lined up at the ticket counter at Dayton’s in downtown St. Paul to get the tickets. I’m not sure how long we waited, but once we’d purchased our tickets John commented on how stupid it was to queue up so long for tickets. He vowed never to do it again.

We never did it again.

concert memoirs pt. 16 - ramones & pete shelley

Ramones w/Funseekers
7/27/86 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: $8.00

This is one of my feather-in-my-cap shows. True, it wasn’t very early on, it wasn’t at CBGB’s, but it was before Dee Dee left the band. And well before they all died, most of them anyway. I hope that doesn’t seem to mean, because I do feel very fortunate that I was able to see them play.

It was a hot July night, the local leather-clad rockers and John and I (John eventually owned a leather jacket but not at that time and I’ve never owned a leather jacket) gathered at First Avenue to take in the greatness of The Ramones. The excitement was as unmistakable as were the heat vapors that could be see rising from the crowd on the main floor.

As a gift to their fans, the godfathers of punk rock had the club play the video of a song from their latest album, ‘Animal boy’. The song was ‘Something to Believe In’ and the video was brilliant. It was a biting parody of the whole BandAid, ‘We Are The World’ trend. The Ramones weren’t attacking the cause, they were merely attempting to deflate the celebrity ego. Besides, if your not in it, you’re out of it. Check for the video on YouTube.

Finally, as the crowd bellowed, “Hey, Ho! Let’s go!”, The Ramones took the stage. And they delivered the goods! “1-2-3-4!” “Gabba Gabba Hey!” Pinheads. Banners. Fantastic songs! And best of all, fun!

Pete Shelley w/Information Society
8/20/86 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: Unknown

Here’s another great show. The Buzzcocks was one of my favorite bands, but they had broken up by the time I had discovered them, so it was cool to at least be able to see Pete Shelley. And he didn’t have that I’m-only-playing-my-solo-work attitude. He was more than happy to crack out a few Buzzcocks tunes. And we loved it.

There was a good crowd in attendance, but, surprisingly, it wasn’t a packed house. There was plenty of room to dance and pogo and slam our hearts out. And the dozen or so fans down front (John and I included) were going wild. It was exhilarating!

Pete kicked off with his solo effort ‘Telephone Operator’ and kept us jumping with others of his excellent solo tunes and lots of Buzzcocks classics. We were exhausted when we called him back for his encore, but we didn’t stop. In fact, we were so enthusiastic that we got him back out for a second encore!

He and his excellent band came back out after the first encore and Pete looked a bit surprised and certainly pleased. However, he had apparently run through all his rehearsed material, because he treated us to an encore performance of ‘Telephone Operator’.

It was wonderful!

I can’t remember a thing about the opening act, Information Society, but when you’ve seen such a great show why waste brain cells remembering the opening act?

concert memoirs pt. 15 - souxsie & the banshees, let's active, the church, the cramps & the screaming blue messiahs

Souxsie & the Banshees

5/25/86 Orpheum Theatre w/John Ticket Price: $13.75

Here was one of the rare shows not taken in at First Avenue. John and I had come to prefer shows at First Avenue or, to a lesser extent, the Cabooze. It was easier to get a good view of the act and not have to put up with the assigned seating nonsense. And, of course, the ticket prices were lower. But, Auntie Souxsie was worth shelling out the $13.75 for the balcony seats at the Orpheum.

So, we the folks (John and I included) in the cheap seats were all doing our best to dance in our confined seating area, when Auntie Souxsie got a little upset. She didn’t appreciate the apparent sedentary nature of the audience. She said something along the lines of, “I hope your wheelchairs are comfortable.”

“Oooo, Auntie wants us to dance! Well, look up here! We’re rockin’ the balcony!”

Let’s Active
7/6/86 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: $4.00

Ok. We must have liked this band, because this was the second time we’d seen them. I still can’t remember a thing about the show.

The Church w/A Few
7/9/86 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: $7.50

This was our second time seeing The Church. We really liked these guys. Their early shows were pretty damn good. They were tight. They had good balance in their sets, which was something they lost in their later shows. These shows they had the right mix of mid-tempo ethereal songs to excellent fast paced rockers. Their later shows were too dominated by the slower, moodier tunes. But I’ll relate more on that later on in this series.

One thing I really liked about Marty Wilson-Piper (one of the band's two guitarists) was he had his rock star thing going all the time. The rock star hair, the jumping around, winking at the gals and give them the up-nod. He must have had a lot of “Backstage Betties” in those days. The rogue.

The Cramps w/The Screaming Blue Messiahs
7/22/86 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: $7.50

The title of this segment ought to give you a clue as to my take on this show...

This was a special Club Degenerate concert night featuring The Cramps. So, yeah, The Cramps were The Cramps were The Cramps. Punkabilly, whiskey drinking, leather, Lux Interior’s ass hanging out of his pants, etc., etc., etc.

They were entertaining enough, but the truly transcendent act was the opener. I’m not exaggerating (ok, maybe a little)... The Screaming Blue Messiahs blew The Cramps right off the stage! This is one of those shows that stands out as a true gem. If you weren’t there you really missed something.

This was one of the very best shows I have ever seen. A three piece band that absolutely kicked ass. They were so amazing. I knew, at most, one of their songs (‘Wild Blue Yonder’) before seeing them play. That didn’t matter, because despite my ignorance of their material, I was blown away.

The rhythm section was fantastic. They kept the songs together while lead guitarist/vocalist Bill Carter attacked his guitar. He even dropped it to the stage and danced on it at one point. And when he played it, he was incredible. He had a rather unique finger-picking style. The sound those guys made! You should have been there.

Because they were the opening act and most of the people there were more interested in seeing The Cramps, there was plenty of room at the front of the stage. John and I and a growing number of folks were down front and were being greatly entertained by this fairly unknown band. I say unknown because a fellow approached me and asked, enthusiastically, “Who are these guys?!”

My mind went blank. I couldn’t remember, at first. I told him I didn’t know and we went back to basking in the glory of these musical masters. Then I recalled the Club Degenerate night from the week before when, at the end of the night, Kevin Cole reminded us that the next week would feature The Cramps and The Screaming Blue Messiahs.

I went over to that fellow and told him who they were. He shouted, “These guys are f@#&ing great!”

Indeed they were. You should have been there.

Now two things about The Screaming Blue Messiahs...

First is something admittedly a bit silly. Bill Carter is almost a dead ringer of the 80’s era pro wrestler, Baron von Raschke. Look at the photos below. Bill is on the left. What do you think?

Second, this band should have made it bigger than they did. They released three full length albums (‘Gun Shy’, ‘Bikini Red’ & ‘Totally Religious’) over a five year period (1984 - 89) and then they were done. They vanished.

I find it a little sad that if they are remembered at all it will likely be for their one “hit”, ‘I Wanna be a Flintstone’. It’s very good song, but, let’s face it, despite the fantastic sound it’s essentially a novelty song.

Oh, well. At least I was there.

concert memoirs pt. 14 - husker du & red lorry yellow lorry

Husker Du w/Man-sized Action

3/31/86 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: $6.00

Here is the fourth time that John and I had seen Husker Du. With the exception of the first time and the last time seeing the band, the shows are all a blur of sonic assault, slam dancing & sweat. I’ve already talked about the first show and the last show I will go over soon.

I’m going to relate two stories that occurred at Husker Du shows. I’m sure that one of these events happened at this show, but I can’t say for sure that both did. One or the other may have occurred at a previous show.

Before I go into those stories I want to let you know that one of my sources for this series, other than my or other’s memories, is the website for the Minnesota Historical Society. At this link - http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00233.html - you will find a listing of most of the acts that played First Avenue and the 7th Street Entry from 1981 to 1998.

The list isn’t complete and is, in some cases, incorrect. I’m not sure of the reason for the errors. It may be because of last minute changes or some such.

I say this because I don’t remember Man-sized Action opening that night. That’s not so unusual, but my recollection is that Man-sized Action had broken up before then. Man-sized Action was a local band that had two really good records, ‘Claustrophobia’ and ‘Five Story Garage’, but I’m sure they weren't together at that time. I would see members Tippy and Pat Woods hanging out at First Avenue, but I don’t remember seeing the band until later at a reunion show.

So, the two stories related to Husker Du shows. First. My custom at the punk rock shows had been to watch the band for the first song or two, then pocket my glasses and jump into the pit. On this occasion I was a little slow in getting my glasses into my pocket, I got bumped and dropped them.

If you wear glasses I’m sure you know that feeling of panic when you lose them. Especially if your eyesight is as bad as mine. I immediately stopped, looked down and spotted them at my feet. Phew! I picked them up, put them on... they were not my glasses!! What are the odds? Not that big I suppose.

I spotted a fellow holding up a pair of glasses that turned out to be mine. Then I saw another fellow who appeared to be searching for his glasses, which I had. Everyone got the glasses back, undamaged. Phew! Again.

The second story I have is my bumper story. A bumper is the person who stands at the perimeter of the slam dance pit (I refuse to call it “mosh”. Call me old.) and acts as a bumper. He helps keep slammers from banging into the folks who don’t want to do any slam dancing. Whenever I got too exhausted to go on (goon?), I would do the bumper thing.

At one of the Husker Du shows I attended, I was acting as a bumper when two punkers came barreling around in what I referred to as a “helicopter”. That’s where the two morons link arms and whirl each other around and knock several people down and piss everyone off.

I was so annoyed by the helicopter move that I decided I'd had enough of these asshats. As they came around to where I was standing and started to pass by me, I grabbed both and, using their momentum, rushed them right up the stage where they dropped to the floor. I went back to my spot and the fellow standing next to me patted me on the back and said, “Good job.”

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry w/Crime the City Solution
4/21/86 First Avenue w/John & Cindy Ticket Price: $5.00

Cindy was a women John and I had met while hanging out at the Club Degenerate nights at First Avenue. We eventually got to know her. John figured she would hang around with us mainly because he would give her a ride home. At the end of the night, he would watch her go around to other people she knew, person by person, group by group, until she would get to us and we’d give her a lift home.

I think I’ll write a separate blog about Cindy. She deserves one.

Anyway, I mention Cindy because she was with us for this show. She had been to other shows that John and I had been to at First Avenue, but this is the only one at which she joined us to watch the band. We probably gave her a ride home that night.

Cindy was rather taken with The Lorries’ lead singer. She thought he was “sooo English”. Cheerio, pip, pip, I say! Tally ho!

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry had a very commanding presence. They gave the appearance of being rough and dangerous (and English, according to Cindy). They put on a good show, even if they didn’t play ‘Spinning Around’. That must have been very upsetting to one fellow at the show, because he kept calling for the band to play it.

Shame, I would have enjoyed hearing the song myself.

concert memoirs pt. 13 - benefit for todd & robyn hitchcock & the egyptians

Benefit For Todd featuring Giants Of Science, The Tusslers, Good Joe, Heathen, The Magnolias & Soul Asylum
3/24/86 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: $5.00

Todd was a local scenester. He was a rail thin punk rocker who was at just about every show in those days. At least most of the ones I was at, anyway.

Todd had been at a show at the Cabooze, I believe, when a stage diver landed on his neck and broke it. There were those who claimed that it was no accident, but you know how those kinds of stories can come up. Conspiracies everywhere.

Living the punk rock lifestyle left Todd with no insurance and lots of medical bills. So, friends arranged a benefit concert night to help him out. A benefit with a decent lineup of local acts.

My overall recollection is that it was a pretty good night for music. Although specific memories are rather limited.

I do recall Heathen. I didn’t like them. I’d seen them a couple times. They were a lousy, Goth, noise band. I remember nothing about Giants Of Science and The Tusslers.

Good Joe was a band I’d seen a few times, as well. They were a decent rockin’ three piece band. They had the peculiar habit of spitting on each other while playing. Very gross.

The Magnolias were an above average local band. They were mods and had an obvious Who influence, so, of course, I liked them. The first time I saw them was on a Club Degenerate night at First Avenue, they did 15 or 20 minute cameo performance and I was impressed. They never got much bigger than the local scene, but they had potential.

Now Soul Asylum, they did make it bigger than the local scene. But you knew that. I liked them, but they were never my favorite of the local groups that John and I had seen. They had some really good tunes and some very awkward tunes.

They were much better that night than they were when they opened for X (First Avenue 10/15/84). No annoying, show delaying guitar string breakages that night.

By the way, Todd was lucky. The injury he suffered didn’t leave any permanent damage. He was able to walk again.

Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians w/The Blue Up?
3/26/86 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: $6.00

Finally! After the great ice in the tea incident that saw us getting The Replacements instead of Robyn (First Avenue 7/1/85), we were getting our first chance to see the man of the surreal songs.

Robyn was great and soon became one of our favorites to see in concerts. Tight, funny and rockin’. His shows were always great.

I especially remember three things of that show: the three part harmony of ‘Uncorrected Personality Traits’, Robyn’s humorous stories between songs, and that Robyn blinks a lot. It was also apparent that the band was very much enjoying playing to us.

The Blue Up? was Ana Voog’s band and I don’t recall their set.

concert memoirs pt. 12 - the waterboys, love & rockets, the jesus & mary chain & the fall

The Waterboys w/Figures

11/6/85 First Avenue w/John & Kelly Ticket Price: $5.00

This was one of John’s favorite bands. I liked them, but I wasn’t as into them as John was then. I really liked ‘This is the Sea’ (the album they were promoting for this show), but their first two albums (‘The Waterboys’ & ‘A Pagan Place’), I thought, had suffered from too many wordy songs with some awkward melodies mixed in with some good songs. ‘This is the Sea’ was a more complete and satisfying album.

We brought our friend Kelly along for this show. He had come along with us to The Red Hot Chili Peppers (First Avenue 11/21/84) show previously, but this time he was in for a much better show. The Waterboys were on that night. It was so good. What a great concert. Kurt Wallinger was with the band at that time and he really brought something special to their sound.

John told me that a couple weeks after the show he was hanging out with somebody, listening to the college radio when a Waterboys song played. That got John talking about how great the show was. As the song ended, the DJ came on and mentioned the recent show and stated that people were still talking about the outstanding performance. How true.

I don’t remember Figures that night, but it was probably the first time seeing them. John and I would see them a couple more times at the Cabooze or the Uptown Bar. They were a good live band with a little of the REM influence. One of the band members was fond of doing some very high jumps while playing.

Love & Rockets w/Crossfire Choir
12/9/85 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: $5.00

Opening bands at First Avenue usually didn’t attract much attention. Unless the band was pretty well known in their own right, spectators would tend to hang back, leaving the first fifteen or twenty feet from the stage fairly empty. People just didn’t want to commit to a band they weren’t sure of.

To be honest, John and I would do the same thing. This night, however, we ventured a little closer to the stage. I don’t remember if the band was any good. We’d never heard of them before or since. Yet, there we stood.

At some point, the lead singer offered a copy of their latest release to anyone who’d walk up and get it. John figured, “What the hell?” and he walked up and grabbed a copy. I don’t know if John has ever listened to it.

That’s about all I remember of the night. Usually, I forget the opening band, but this time I don’t have anything to relate about Love & Rockets. It’s not that I didn’t like the band, I must have lost those brain cells responsible for remembering that show.

The Jesus & Mary Chain
12-15-85 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: $5.00

This one. Oh, brother.

First of all, it was Sunday. Back then bars in Minnesota closed at 12 am on Sundays instead of 1 am. I know that you people in the bigger, more hip and happening cities probably think 1 am is too early, as well. Well, that the way it was. I think they go to 2 am now.

As I said, the place was going to be closing at 12 am and these twerps didn’t take the stage until 11:15 pm or so. That didn’t give them much time to play. And it seemed as though it was an awfully long time before they got onstage after the warmup act. Whoever they were.

These guys were supposed to be the second coming of The Sex Pistols, so maybe they were doing a punk thing by making us wait. Maybe they were upset that the bars closed so early. I don’t know.

When they finally started playing, two of the band members spent the entire show with they backs to us making their signature feedback sound while the lead singer droned on disinterestedly. The lead singer had a guitar draped over his shoulders, but he barely touched it. He’d strum the open strings here and there, not even bothering to play a chord. As far as I could tell, the guitar was more or less decorative.

They were bored. We were bored. It was over in less than 45 minutes.

The Fall w/Summer of Love
3/10/86 The Guthrie Theater w/John Ticket Price: $10.50

The Fall is another of John’s favorite bands. He liked the arty, deconstructive sound of bands like The Fall & Sonic Youth. I was more into melody, so I had a harder time with The Fall. But I still liked a lot of their stuff.

Also, the Guthrie just seems like an odd place to see a band. It’s probably just me. It was a bit more of an uptight environment. They wouldn’t allow us to dance in the aisles. We had to stay in our little designated seating areas. Of course, this was true of most of the other arenas, auditoriums and theaters.

We had to content ourselves with grooving at our seats. Not as much fun when John and I had become accustomed to seeing shows at First Avenue.

I don’t have much else to relate. It may have been the last time we would see Summer of Love and the cello gal, however.

concert memoirs pt. 11 - rem, husker du & the cure

REM

8/5/85 Roy Wilkins Auditorium w/John Ticket Price: $13.25

Hey! Here’s another legendary band! REM was just beginning to get some wider notice at the time. ‘Losing My Religion’ was still a few years away, but these guys were already one of the most influential bands of the 80’s. They were that with their first two releases.

So, at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium, the way they had the stage set up we could see part of the backstage area. This was a great setup, because we could see the young punks who would hop onstage to attempt to do a stage dive get grabbed by the security and get bounced. We could see them being escorted backstage and out of the auditorium. Those fascist bouncers! Who cares about insurance issues? This is alternative, indie rock!

I gotta admit that I can’t remember much about the music. I know I enjoyed it, but I don’t have much else.

I do have this...

I think it was during the encore when Michael Stipe started to introduce a guest to their stage. These were the days when Stipe wasn’t giving us the clearest vocals while singing. He also wasn't speaking very clearly. So, we weren’t quite certain who he was talking about until Bob Mould of Husker Du stepped out.

This was pretty cool. One of our local heroes was making the scene with REM. I believe he joined them in a cover of The Rolling Stones’ ‘Paint It Black’.

What was even cooler was what Bob did while playing. The young punks were still jumping onstage and making stage dives. Those that got away from the bouncers, that is. One kid jumped up and began skanking around. A bouncer was attempting to get to the kid, but Bob Mould kept moving in between the kid and the bouncer. Bob kept it up for a few seconds until the kid made his dive into the crowd.

Cheers, Bob!

Husker Du w/Naked Raygun & Bad Trip
8/28/85 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: Unknown

Speaking of Husker Du, well of Bob Mould anyway...

This was the third time seeing Husker Du. We were getting into these guys pretty big and into the punk rock thing. John and I had come a long way from our running away from the slam dancing at The Clash show. We were in the pit by then, skanking away. We were getting pretty good at it. What a blast!

I had developed a routine for the slam dancing concerts. For the first couple songs I’d stay at the perimeter of the pit and watch the band, then I’d take my glasses off, put them in my pocket and jump into the action. As a result, I wouldn’t see much of the show (I’m terribly nearsighted), but I’d listen and slam myself into sweaty exhaustion.

Speaking of sweaty exhaustion (two uses of the “speaking of” in one blog entry, wow), this was the first time we saw the great Naked Raygun. I only knew a song or two by them, but they quickly became a favorite of mine. When they broke into “Home of the Brave” that night, John and I jumped in for some warm-up slam dancing.

We’d would be seeing Naked Raygun a few more times.

Bad Trip? I don’t remember them.

The Cure
10/17/85 Orpheum Theatre w/John Ticket Price: $13.50

I wish I remember who opened for The Cure. Was it Echo & the Bunnymen, maybe?

What I recall of The Cure was that they sounded good, but they seemed pretty disinterested. It could have been some gothic (or early emo?) attitude or something that kept the band rooted in their spots. However, during the encore Robert Smith did break into some silly little dance.