Mental Housecleaning, Part 4

[Part 1] | [Part 2] | [Part 3]

37. Bad Brains: City Gardens, Trenton. The I Against I tour, when HR was still in the band. Some rasta guys in the parking lot peeled out in gravel, expelling rocks at punkers waiting in line to get in. Skinheads chased their car down Calhoun Street, and I spent next 3 hours bleeding through my jeans from a rock wound. The band was surprisingly boring, though I'll bet I'd be more into it now, as their wonky, jazz/metal period stuff has grown on me a lot over the years. NYHC titans Leeway also played, which means that Metalcore was in full effect. I attended this show alone, which is something I did frequently when I was in my teens and early 20s. [Listen to Bad Brains perform "Sacred Love"]

38. Token Entry: A Sunday hardcore matinee at City Gardens that also featured a bunch of NYHC jokers and their suburban Jersey counterpart wannabes. During the high school weirdo years, the Token Entry logo (heisted from pre-Metro Card NYC subway turnstiles) adorned both the bottom of my skateboard and the inside of my locker. I also had a Token Entry pin, which somehow got blood on it and was then lit on fire in a primitive gesture of sterilization. The crispy remains of this artifact still adorn the shoulder bag that I cart my junk around the city in every day, although it's also worth pointing out that I dumped my Token Entry records on eBay years ago to help finance the purchase of a Hugo Boss suit for my wedding. When the pin outlasts the music, it's probably time for some re-evaluation. These posts have been very therapeutic in that way. [Listen to Token Entry perform "Antidote"]

39. Soundgarden: With 20 other people, at City Gardens. They completely sucked—a fact made even more apparent by how handily they were blown off the stage by the opening band. [Listen to Soundgarden, on a much better night, performing the song "HIV Baby"]

40. Bullet Lavolta: Opened for Soundgarden. See above. [Listen to Bullet Lavolta perform "X-Fire"]

41. Fugazi: Ft. Reno Park in DC. 1990. A friend and I had driven down to the nation's capital for a spur-of-the-moment visit. Not having any sense of what do once we got there, we marched into the 9:30 Club (because we'd read about it in fanzines), pounded exactly one rum & coke apiece, and then met two guidos from Florida who were interested in finding this park where Fugazi was alleged to be playing in 15 minutes. Some weird girl named Anne attached herself to us, we all piled into the guidomobile, and she directed us to the venue. We arrived just as the band began their set. Anne disappeared for a while, then re-emerged with a case of Bud tallboys which she began passing out to the crowd. The guidos vanished, the band played for two hours, and it rained. (Yes, this was my Woodstock.) Later on, Anne took pity on my friend and I who were underage, hours from home, and slightly drunk. As such, she paid for a hotel room for us at a pretty nice place in downtown DC. We crashed there for a little bit, but got spooked when Anne showed up at 2 AM, very drunk and wanting to come in. After some discussion, we fled for New Jersey and arrived back home just as the sun was coming up. Every teenager has a day/night like this that is remembered forever, right? [Listen to Fugazi perform "Exit Only" | Fugazi photo by Imagora Editions, licensed for re-use by Creative Commons]

42. Crash Worship: Maxwell's, 1991. Someone lit a smokebomb in the club and it only got crazier from there. Primitive warpaint, strobe lights, pounding drums, maniacal firebreathing and pyrotechnics, people going berserk... It was utterly tribal. The "singer" fought his way through the surging crowd with a wineskin, which he squirted in the general direction of people's mouths, but often just splashed on their shirts and faces. Someone produced a huge pumpkin, which was smashed in the center of the room and its guts whipped around and smeared on everyone's faces and clothes. No kidding, this was one of the best shows ever! The lore of Crash Worship was that they deployed tones at such sternum-rattling decibels, live shows were alleged to make show-goers lose control of their bowels, but (fortunately) that turned out to be only rumor. Nevertheless, the action continued on the drive home: Somewhere on the Turnpike, my car's electrical system crapped out. I coasted into a rest area in neutral with my headlights barely aglow, and after a few phone calls, learned that Triple A wouldn't service motorists on the Turnpike because it's a privately owned road. (Thanks, Jerze!) Two hours and $139 later, a Turnpike approved tow truck deposited me and my wounded vehicle back home, where I attempted to explain to my parents why I was hours late, covered in pumpkin guts, and smelled like a winery. [Listen to Crash Worship perform "Wild Mountain" | Check this clip on YouTube for visuals of the experience descibed above.]

43. Satan's Pilgrims: At Brownies, with the Original Sins and Swingin' Neckbreakers. Satan's Pilgrims were one of the few 90s surf bands aside from Man or Astroman whose records were worth listening to. They kept the gimmicks to a minimum (OK, they wore capes on stage) and just belted out one great song after another. After the show, friends and I somehow wound up in line behind Henry Rollins at the Astor Place Starbucks. Unrelated to that detail, the Starbucks employee serving us smashed a tray of glasses, cussed out his boss, and quit his job just as Hank was about to give his order. [Listen to Satan's Pilgrims perform "Ragtop"]

44. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Early aughts, in the basement of the College Ave. dorms at Rutgers. One of the first hints that I was way over the intended target age for this band was when I arrived at the show and found... my nieces. The last time our musical interests had intersected was when they'd been really little, and Neneh Cherry's "Buffalo Stance" had been the anthem for every girl with neon clothes and a collection of bangle bracelets. Nevertheless, the YYYs were a young band with little hype at the time, and any memory of their performance is overshadowed by the fierce hipcheck Karen O inflicted upon me while on her way to the stage. In other words, I hated them before you did.

45. Don Caballero: At Terrace Club, late 90s. As usual, Damon Che was down to his sweat-soaked skivvies by the set's end, which inspired poor little Kathleen from WRSU (who'd been crouching stage left) to conclude: "I think his penis juice got on me". That remains one of the most shocking things anyone has ever said to me, ever, in all the years I've been talking to people.

46. The Humpers: The Continental, mid 90s, with 1000 horrible bands. The hype surrounding the Humpers was at a fever pitch, since their live shows were notoriously unhinged. At the encouragement of some lackey working PR for them, Jen and I were scheduled to interview the band, but that fell through when we realized they were all totally drunk hours before boarding the stage. The club would not permit ins/outs, so we were stuck inside for hours watching garbagey opening acts, as well as the Candy Snatchers, whose guitar player intentionally set himself on fire. (Often the best one could hope for on a typical night out in the East Village during this era.) The Humpers eventually came on at 2 AM, played one song, and their singer passed out. Honestly, I'm surprised I ever bothered going to any show ever again after this. [Listen to the Humpers perform the prophetic "Wake Up and Lose"]

47. The Bellrays: Maxwell's. Lisa from the Bellrays grabbed some punk rock doofus by the scalp and screamed the lyrics of a whole song directly into his face. The poor kid looked like a frightened animal when she was through with him, but I imagine the experience will be character-building in the long run. A paper route to the stars, if you will. On the way home, I was almost killed by the poor driving skills of a WFMU DJ who shall remain nameless. Let's just say that s/he isn't someone I'd recommend ever getting in a car with, especially after s/he began speeding into oncoming traffic on the wrong side of a highway meridian. The terrified facial expression made by Brian (who was riding shotgun) remains one of my most priceless memories ever. [Listen to the Bellrays perform "Fire on the Moon" | Bellrays photo by Dena Flows, licensed for re-use by Creative Commons]

48. Iggy Pop: The Instinct tour, sometime in the late 80s. Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols on guitar. Amazing show, way better than the recent Stooges reunions. Iggy was on Letterman two nights prior to this! Afterwards, a friend climbed out onto the window ledge of the moving vehicle we were traveling in. We got pulled over, and both he and the driver (his cousin) got tickets for something called "Riding on Parts Unintended", which remains one of my favorite turns of phrase to this day. [Listen to Iggy Pop perform "The Passenger"]

Comments

[Jon Solomon]

The Soundgarden/Bullet Lavolta bill also had Rapeman on it, no?

[r:m:b]

If it did, I have no memory of it! Which is rather pathetic, but would be a good companion feather for my cap next to the Pussy Galore concert I also don't remember attending. (Yet apparently did.)

[Jon Solomon]

Actually, Soundgarden/Bullet Lavolta might have had Leather Studded Diaphragm opening! I will try and find my Punkcard.

[jeff]

>>>Leather Studded Diaphragm

holy crap. my gf mentioned these guys the other day. i think it was an echo & the bunnymen gig @ rutgers in the gym on college ave.

awesome list, man.

[Martha]

So we were both at that poorly attended BLV/Soundgarden show but I didn't know you then - I find that unsettling, for some reason. I am pretty sure Rapeman wasn't on that bill - it was those two bands touring together and I guess LSD for some local, uh, flavor though I don't remember them.

[Adam]

Bullet LaVolta and Rapeman played together at in Trenton in 1988. This Soundgarden / BLV show was a year later.