concert memoirs pt. 40 - trip shakespeare, big black & the three johns

Trip Shakespeare (Minneapolis band)

I mentioned this in my blog about Breaking Circus, but I want to go into a little more detail on First Avenue's New Band nights. Back when John and I were going to Club Degenerate, First Avenue's weekly dance night featuring punk, post-punk, industrial, indie, etc. music, on each Tuesday night, we could cross-over to the 7th St. Entry to catch New Band Night. It was free and a good opportunity to possibly see the next big thing from Minnesota.

It was during these New Band Nights that we first saw Breaking Circus and numerous other bands that I've forgotten since. But, I haven't forgotten Trip Shakespeare. Since it was New Band Night, it must have been Trip Shakespeare's first time playing at First Avenue, albeit in the Entry.

They were a three piece band then. Matt Wilson's brother, Dan, had not yet joined the band. As I recall, they were all dressed in matching grey business suits. I don't remember if they wore ties. Maybe. I do remember liking their catchy tunes right away. I also recall that the gal playing the drums, Elaine Harris, was standing at them. I don't think I'd ever seen drums played that way until then.

Matt Wilson had an usual stance and moves while playing. He would sort of lean back and squat slightly, then sway side to side while stomping his feet in time to the music. At least, that's how I picture it.

I bought their first LP, 'Applehead Man', when it came out. For some reason, I got rid of it. I wish I hadn't.

Big Black at First Avenue 1986 or 87 with John.

This was a very loud show. They started off the show with what I think was customary for them, lighting off a brick of firecrackers. I don't know if they amplified the fireworks at all, but it was damn loud! And it must have taken a minute or two before the last firecracker exploded. The smoke and smell of gun powder hung thickly in the club for the rest of the show. I'm not sure the fire marshal would have been pleased.

So, Big Black was a three piece band using a drum machine. They were loud and very, very angry. The sounds they made were incredible. I still think the opening guitar riff of their song 'Kerosene' is one of the all-time greatest moments in guitar rock history. And Steve Albini pulled it off brilliantly live.

I especially liked Albini's use of his guitar strap as a belt. Cool visual. As if the guitar was attached directly to his pelvis.

The Three Johns w/Lesley Woods in the 7th St. Entry with John.

This was an interesting (and fun) night in the Entry. It started with Lesley Woods, fomerly of the great UK band Au Pairs. It was just her, a microphone, and a boom box. John and I stayed at the back wall and watched her tell a story or two, perform some Au Pairs tunes and some of her solo work from there.

I thought it was pretty gutsy to get up there like that, solo with just a backing tape playing on a boombox. But, then it's pretty gutsy to do anything in front of a group of strangers.

Then came The Three Johns. Boy, were they fun. They were another three piece band using a drum machine. Playing some really good guitar driven post-punk dance music was their thing. They released some really good singles. Such as, '(He's a) Brain Box' and the brilliant' Death of a European'. Their albums were ok, but it was their singles that made them special.

During their set, it was their between song banter that stole the show. They were very funny and they took special enjoyment out of razzing some of the gals in the audience.

"Oh, look! It's Madonna!"

"And there's Madonna, too!"

"And another one!"

concert memoirs pt. 39 - the mighty mofos & breaking circus

Now that I have run out of ticket stubs, I'll turn my memory machine to the shows for which I have no ticket stub and, therefore, I do not know the dates. It's most likely that I never received a ticket stub for these shows, because I was pretty good about hanging onto them. Several of these shows were at the Cabooze, a Minneapolis club that didn't hand back ticket stubs for their shows.

I'll relate stories about acts such as The Mighty Mofos, Big Black, The Three Johns and others. One band, the Urban Guerrillas will have several shows to talk about because I had see them the most of any band I've seen play. I will even tell you about the show at which I most embarrassed myself. It was The Guess Who at the Cabooze. I know, The Guess Who, pretty sad, huh?

This section won't be nearly as long as the ticket memories. So, let's get started...


The Mighty Mofos (Minneapolis band)

John and I had seen this band a few times. It seems as though they opened for every band we saw at the Cabooze. Of course, they didn't. It just seems that way.

Formerly know as The Hypstrz, The Mighty Mofos were a pretty straight forward rock 'n' roll bar band. Very high energy with some excellent guitar work by Ernie Batson. Ernie's brother, Bill, handled the lead vocals and had that commanding stage presence that most bands would want in their lead singers.

Bill also worked at First Avenue setting up the stage in the 7th St. Entry and running sound. Because of Bill's working there and John and I frequently hanging out at the disco, we got to the point where we would be recognized by Bill. He'd see us and give us the up nod. Pretty cool.

So, there was one show at the Cabooze with The Mofos playing and John and I were right up front. Kind of leaning against the stage, trying to look hip. Bill was rockin' and he was trying to get a little audience participation going. He was trying to get the crowd to clap along with the beat. (The Mofos must have been opening, because most people don't do much for the opening act. They tend to stand back and wait for the headliner.) Bill wasn't having much luck and it didn't improve when he approached us.

He saw us and gave us the up nod, but then he came over doing some rhythmic hand clapping. He was giving us a little "come on, fellas!" look, but we just stood there. Sorry, Bill. We don't do audience participation.

We were just too cool.

Breaking Circus (Minneapolis band via Chicago)

Breaking Circus started out in Chicago, but Steve Bjorklund, the guitarist and singer, moved to Minneapolis in 1986. As best I can remember, the first time John and I saw them they were using a drum machine, but later the bassist and drummer from another local band, Rifle Sport, were added to the line-up. I believe those two pulled double duty and continued playing in Rifle Sport.

Breaking Circus was a very cool, very angry band. Their sound was very aggressive and Bjorklund was a great front man. Not only that, the band produced one of the all-time coolest songs, 'Driving The Dynamite Truck'. I love that song!

My favorite Breaking Circus moment occurred in the 7th St. Entry on New Year's Eve 1986. (I'm fairly certain it was 1986.) It was the custom at First Avenue that every New Year's Eve they would feature the best of the bands from the new band nights of that year. They would have the bands play in the Entry while the revelers whooped it up in the main room.

John and I were pretty impressed with the band when we saw them earlier in the year on a new band night in the Entry, so we ditched the main room scene to watch Breaking Circus rock in the New Year. And they were great.

The high point came just after midnight. The New Year had arrived while the band was still playing, but, once the song was finished, Bjorklund had a treat for us. He threw out to the crowd several small vials of some white, powdery substance. He said, "Here's your New Year's cocaine! Come and get your cocaine!"

John actually nabbed one. It was powdered sugar.

concert memoirs pt. 38 - the who

The Who w/Counting Crows
9/24/02 Xcel Energy Center w/Amy Ticket Price: $150.00

The image for this installment isn't a ticket stub. I know I saved it, but I can't find it. What you see is the cover of the CD of the show. It's part of a two disk set, recorded live that night, that could be purchased from The Who's website. A CD set was available for each show of the tour. It's a recent option in the music industry to try to make money from music.

These days with buying songs online and with pirating songs as well, there just isn't as much money to be made on album sales. So the real money is made from the concert tour, that is if the musical act is a big enough name. Hence the astronomical ticket prices. (Did you see what we paid for one ticket?) I think it's a very cool idea to offer the show you just saw on CD, making a great keepsake.

So, that's what the image is all about.

This also is the last blog of this concert series in which I know the date of the show. I will continue the series highlighting shows that I just remember seeing, but have nothing else to show for it.

Amy and I spent $300 on a pair of tickets!! By far the most either of us had ever paid for concert tickets. It was The Who! Amy had never seen them and I wanted to see them with her, so $300 be damned! We only live once.

But, before we could even get the credit card out to go $300 in debt, we got the bad news. It was a Saturday morning when our friend, Dave (the Dave with whom I attended the previous Who concert - Target Center, 7/22/97) called to ask if we'd heard the news.

"What news?" I asked.

"John Entwistle is dead."

"What?!"

It was true. Entwistle was in Las Vegas just prior to the tour beginning. He was having a coke party with some strippers in his hotel room, when his heart gave out. I guess that's rock 'n' roll!

But, what about the tour?

Our worries of whether The Who would tour or not were short lived. Rog and Pete decided the tour would go on (goon?). A tour that included a stop in St. Paul.

Counting Crows opened. You may have heard of them. They're a future rock 'n' roll footnote that Amy and I don't particularly care for, so while they played we wandered around the Xcel concourse. Amy had never been to the Xcel Energy Center so it was as good a time as any to have a look around. It's a very nice building which is located on the spot where the St. Paul Civic Center had been. Readers of this blog series will remember that it was at the St. Paul Civic Center where I had seen The Who for the first time (10/2/82). Twenty years and I'd come full circle.

The warm up act finished their whining and wailing, so Amy and I went in to take our seats. We were looking forward to the show, but we had a minor concern. There was a group of two forty-something couples seated directly behind us. That in itself isn't a concern, but they were doing quite a lot of yakking. Loudly. One of the fellows fancied himself an expert on whatever it was they were talking about. So, he was particularly annoying. Our concern was that the group would continue yakking through the show.

"They had better shut up for the show or you'll have to beat them up, Honey Bunny!" my sweet, loving wife said to me.

We needed have worried though. When The Who came out to perform, the couples turned their attention toward the stage. Phew!

The Who (or maybe they should have changed their name to The Two?) were in great form, despite the absence of John Entwistle. Pino Palladino filled his spot. Pino was good if not the same, but who could be?

Zak Starkey, Simon Townshend and John "Rabbit" Bundrick made up the remainder of the band, as they did when Dave and I saw them on the Quadrophenia tour in 1997. A great band, but not on the same level as when they were the original four. If only I could borrow Mr. Peabody's way-back machine and witness The Who at their height. I have seen John play (twice), but I never saw the mad brilliance of Keith Moon in person.

Roger's voice had become a little rougher over the years. Roger made note of his voice being especially croaky that night, because the night before they had played Chicago's House of Blues. They played in front of about 1200 people, "All smoking!" Roger declared. He promised to give us he all that he had and he kept his promise.

Pete mentioned that that night we had, along with them; rock 'n' roll, Oprah and masturbation, with a bit of political satire. He told us that he thought we were so spoiled living in the Twin Cities. An area he considered "one of the cultural capitols of the world, if not THE cultural capitol of the world." The crowd roared its approval, but I thought Pete was laying it on a bit thick. I wondered how many other cities he said that about on that tour. Just call me cynical.

They played most of their big hits. They played them with all the power and energy you would expect from a band as great as The Who. There was a review in one of the local papers the next day that rated the show very highly. The writer made a comparison of the opening act, Counting Crows, and The Who. He stated that the show demonstrated the difference between a good band (his opinion) and a legendary one.

One last thing, as the lights went up and the audience began to file out, Amy turned to me and said, "He's so sexy!"

"Who? Roger?" I asked, though I should have known better.

"No! Pete!"

Yes, he is.

concert memoirs pt. 37 - los straitjackets & the church

Los Straitjackets “Rock & Roll Party” w/Big Sandy & Pontani Sisters

10/26/01 First Avenue w/Amy & Mark Ticket Price: Unknown

We were late for this show. I don’t remember why, I’m guessing that we thought Los Straitjackets would be going on later.

The “Rock & Roll Party” was the teaming up of Los Straitjackets, normally an instrumental band, with vocalist Big Sandy. Big Sandy was a pretty big fellow with the right kind of voice for the band. He sure seemed to be having a good time, but Amy and I stayed back from the stage. That made it more difficult to get into the swing of things.

Other than that, I don’t have much to relate about this show.

The Church w/Love-Cars
4/17/02 First Avenue w/Amy & John Ticket Price: Comp. Tickets

The Church is still one of my all-time favorite bands, but they haven’t done much for me after the 80’s. It seems that decade is where they left all their best material. From their earliest material released in 1981 (you can find it on the ‘Of Skins and Hearts’ CD) to their last album of the 80’s, ‘Starfish’, you will find some great and often brilliant songs. For me, their stand out album is their second release, ‘The Blurred Crusade’. It is fantastic from beginning to end.

Then came the 90’s and ‘Gold Afternoon Fix’. I just couldn’t warm up to that album. I liked the song ‘Metropolis’ and one or two others, but ‘You’re Still Beautiful’ was such a lousy song and ‘Russian Autumn Heart’ wasn’t much better.

I gave them other chance with their follow-up album, ‘Priest = Aura’. I was disappointed again. I think the audience they had found with ‘Starfish’ left them as well. Their subsequent albums became harder to come by even though they were still producing them. They may have some great songs in the 13 or so albums they’ve released since I left them, but I don’t know. I have heard a song called ‘Louisiana’ which I thought was fairly good.

So, all that leads me to the last time I would see The Church in concert. It was very much the same story as the last time John and I had seen them (First Avenue, 9/30/98). Very mid-tempo, very ethereal, very mystical, but lacking any kind of energy. Nothing like the first three times we’d seen them.

It is true that I didn’t know much of their material and that most certainly affected my enjoyment of the show. But, the same was true when I saw the band for the first time and I thoroughly enjoyed them then. The first time I had seen them it was new and exciting and entertaining. The last time was tired and boring.

Oh well, we had complimentary tickets for the show and John met us there. We enjoyed hanging out with him.

concert memoirs pt. 36 - david byrne & rev. horton heat

David Byrne w/Joe Henry

5/22/01 First Avenue w/Amy Ticket Price: Unknown

It looks like May 2001 was legendary musicians month. First, Iggy Pop and now David Byrne. That makes a pretty good month for music.

Neither Amy nor I had ever seen the Talking Heads. This would be as close as we would get so we were really looking forward to this show. David did not disappoint even though certain audience members... More on that shortly.

Things were running late that night. I don’t recall why. In fact, the audience was not allowed in through First Avenue’s main entrance, we had to file in through a side entrance which led directly to the VIP lounge in the main room’s upper level. We had to hang out there while the staff completed setting up the stage.

Once the setup was completed, we were allowed to file out of the VIP area and take our places by the stage. Amy and I were able to get right down front for Joe Henry as he came out to warm up the crowd.

What I remember of Joe Henry’s set was a certain group of three or four gals and one guy standing just behind us. Mainly I remember one of the gals in particular. She loudly talked and talked and talked and talked and talked about how great Joe Henry was last time she saw him perform.

Finally, Amy and I turned to the group and Amy said, “Would you shout up so we can hear him now?!” The gals just looked at us as though we were the ones being rude. The lone male of the group gave me a look as if to say, “Hey, man, they dragged me here. I don’t want any trouble.”

So, Joe finishes up and the audience tightens up to the stage in anticipation of David Byrne’s arrival. Remember, Amy and I were very close to the front of the stage. There were perhaps three or four people directly in front of us.

As David gets on stage and starts to play, the troublesome group behind us was at it again. This time the mouthy chick, along with one or two of friend gal pals, decided that they deserved to be closer to the stage. They began to attempt to push by us, but Amy and I did our best to keep them in their place. We were here first. Fair is fair. We soon realized that it wasn’t worth the fight.

The gals, fresh from their rudely won victory, got up front and did that whooping dance that only women do. You know the dance. The one where they dance their arms in the air and whoop it up because they are having such a great time. You never see men do quite the same dance.

Amy and I moved over a bit and soon had forgotten about the rudeness, because David played so well. He mixed in a few Talking Heads tunes with his solo material. Everything he played was very good.

He also assembled a few local musicians. He explained that he needed a string quartet for some of his songs. I forget the reason that he didn’t have those musicians touring with him, but his people had to hurriedly search for qualified local musicians.

Musicians were found and they had little time to rehearse before the show, which may explain the delay and detour at the beginning of the evening. But they were pros and they played beautifully. David was so grateful for them.

There was a special moment during the performance. It wasn’t the rude gals being acknowledged by David for whooping it up so well. No, it happened during a quiet moment between songs. David was explaining something about a song, when an audience member standing beside Amy and me shouted, “We’re all here for you, David!”

David seemed a little surprised, but he smiled sweetly and said, “Thank you.”

Rev. Horton Heat w/The GoToHells & Death On Wednesday
6/11/01 First Avenue w/Amy & Mark Ticket Price: Unknown

The one thing I have to relate about this show is the apparent breakdown of the Reverends drummer. The Reverend didn’t seem happy that night. It wasn’t noticeable most of the night, but toward the end of the show he seemed quite bothered. Something was wrong.

The drummer was having trouble keeping it together. Maybe it was too much drink or drug taking or something else, I couldn’t say. I don’t recall if the drummer was dismissed or if he walked off, but the Reverend ended his set playing an old Country and Western classic, possibly a Patsy Cline tune. It was just him singing and playing guitar, Nature Boy Jimbo on bass and the audience clapping along.

When he finished the song, the Reverend said, “You guys sure do keep a good beat!”

Oooooh, BURN!!