And, one last Christmas song. Yeah, I know, I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist. It's very pretty. And it's not even really a Christmas song, it's just a Christmas-centric love song.
Maybe it was the mention in the Express, or maybe it's just because The Hard Tomorrows are great, but regardless of the reason, they played to a very full Black Cat backroom. Needless to say, they played really well, and I did a bit of swooning, and I wish they'd played "Dear Mary" and "Stay Cool."
Take Down
Jaywalker
Put Yourself Out
Stop and Shoot
Crooner
Heavy
Lights Out
New Song (Code Red)
I Never Write Anymore
I didn't catch much of the first band, Run Silent Run Deep. They were already on when I got there, and I didn't get drawn in right away, so I walked out to get a drink in the Red Room and do some socializing (and shameless bluestate promotion), but returned to the backroom for the last two songs and ended up really enjoying it. Their next D.C. show is January 29 at DC 9 with Falls of the Neuse and Kitty Kat Dirt Nap, bands to which I haven't listened yet.
Wednesday, December 22, 2004 :::
If you haven't checked the DC 9 schedule lately, you might not know that The Carlsonics will be doing a January residency at the club, playing every Tuesday. They write that they hope it will be "experimental, improvisational, and fun. something new and different for us DC folk."
Mary Prankster and John Waters are a match made in heaven. Well, Baltimore, actually, but you know what I mean. Two of my all-time favorite entertainers coming together at my favorite D.C. nightclub was not something I wanted to miss, and I'm glad I didn't.
We arrived at 9:30 Club a few minutes before Mary Prankster was set to go on, and were shocked to see chairs. Chairs! At the 9:30. I'd never seen such a thing, even at shows targeting an older, more static audience. Everyone was politely sitting in their chairs or on the steps in the balcony the entire evening, but rj3, amg and I stood in the balcony for Mary Prankster's set, because as amg pointed out, it just feels wrong to sit down for a Mary Prankster show.
Part of the charm last night was watching the first-timers in the audience react to Mary's lyrics. The audience, by the way, was made up largely of middle-aged gay couples -- I haven't seen so many middle-aged gay men in one room since a coworker took me to happy hour at JR's. It's not surprising that anyone who came there to see Waters appreciated Mary's raunchy lyrics and obnoxious wit. There was a lot of chuckling and clapping, in reaction to both the songs and the in-between-songs banter. Not one to be modest on stage, Mary at one point said, "You'll come for the music, but you'll stay for the segues."
In case you can't tell from the pictures, Mary wore a halter-top jumpsuit made from a Maryland flag. ("Because Maryland is sexy.") It was super-hot.
Althought there arethose who enjoy her show much more when she's playing with a band, I like the acoustic shows just as much as when Mary Prankster is rocking out. Starting with a toned-down version of "Roulette Girl," she only did two of her country songs, "Darlin'" and an unrecorded song called "Stars," unless you count "Irresponsible Woman" as one of her country songs, and the rest of the set was a mix of songs from her three albums, pretty evenly distributed. A glaring omission: "Tits & Whiskey."
Before her final song, "Blue Skies Over Dundalk," dedicated to John Waters, of course, she quipped, "I can't tell you how delighted I am to be opening for John Waters, and how embarassed I am that we showed up wearing the same thing."
As you can see, Waters did not wear a jumpsuit made out of a Maryland flag. But he was wearing a spiffy red velvet jacket. I want one.
Waters is a bit all over the place with his act, but it was hugely entertaining. Just when you think you know a lot about fetishes, Waters tells you about one so outlandish you have trouble believing it's true. Just when you think you're pretty good at saying weird things to little kids just to mess with them, Waters says something much, much weirder. Basically, I just can't imagine anyone more outrageous, kitschy and bizarre.
Check out rj3's account of the evening here. I agree with him that Waters' movies actually sound better as 30-second synopses than they work as full-length movies, which is probably why he puts on such an entertaining stand-up show.
* Shark & Bear. Good thing bloggers don't have the be impartial like real journalists, because Shark & Bear's fabulous bass player happens to be the boyfriend of the fabulous Ms. Rhinestone, who happens to be one of my bestest friends in the whole wide world. But if the band wasn't good, I wouldn't tell you about them, would I? Of course not. They play really solid math rock, and I very much look forward to seeing them when they get a chance to bring their show to D.C., perhaps in the spring. Check out "Recursive Handwriting," a song they wrote soon after coming together as a band almost two years ago and recorded for a benefit compilation. This song is the only one they have online, but if you like what you hear, you can buy Shark & Bear's three-song EP -- By Sea, By Air, By Land -- here.
* clickers. You can download both of their five-track EPs on the band's site. There's some yelling and some damn cool guitars. I'm not so much a fan of the yelling, but overall I enjoyed both EPs. I'm not good at describing this sort of music -- I just end up saying it's Fugazi-like. Here's how the band describes the sound:
the sound of clickers' music can be compared to many things in elaborate and clever ways, but we can also get straight to the point and tell you that we have two guitarists, a bassist, and a drummer, and sometimes one of us plays keyboards. three of us sing, but not necessarily all at the same time. if you had to write a school paper about clickers, you could title it "clickers: a post-punk band from boston" and that would be fairly accurate.
pete once said "clickers is the mysterious obsidian monolith to your bare-assed indie monkey," but he's a close friend of ours, and you've probably never met him at all. so you can choose whether or not you want to believe him.
Damn, what a great weekend, thanks my family, my friends, Christmas, the movies and even Baltimore's Russian community.
Check out WeirdCurves for an account of Saturday night. We ate things pickled and smoked, took many shots of vodka, gawked at my fellow ex-Soviets and danced to Russian disco and pop. Thanks again to MG, Michael and zaf for taking a chance on a pretty bizarre cultural experience. I was nervous that they might not have a good time, but they all insist that they did. And thanks to my parents for organizing the evening, and to my mom specifically for impressing everyone with her drinking skills.
MG got me awesome Christmas presents, including a subscription to Teen People. I'm going to be super-informed from now on.
Sideways was great. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events was just okay -- it would have been much better if it had been directed by Tim Burton, but he was busy with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I suppose. I really liked the look of the movie, probably because a good chunk of the crew had worked on Tim Burton movies, including the cinematographer, the production designer, the set decorator, and costume designers. It's just that much of the dark tone and humor was lost in translation from text to screen.
On my schedule this week:
Tuesday -- A John Waters XMas at 9:30 Club
Wednesday -- The Hard Tomorrows at Black Cat backstage
Courtney Love is planning to cover her mounting debts by telling her life story in a forthcoming book. The troubled singer has had an eventful year, during which she has battled a heroin addiction, lost custody of her 12 year-old daughter Frances Bean, been arrested for allegedly attacking a fan and been found guilty of illegally possessing prescription drugs. The widow of tragic Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain promises, "It's all going to come spewing out - every last dirty little secret. If it puts someone's nose out of joint that's tough luck." Love is expected to receive a $540,000 advance, but the family of her late husband are concerned about her plans. A source close to Cobain says, "It's painful to think that Kurt and Courtney's secrets will come out."
Ummm... do Kurt and Courtney have any more secrets?
Redhead actress Lindsay Lohan has expressed her horror at reports she considered gracing the pages of men's magazine Playboy. While the 18-year-old Freaky Friday star admits she was approached by the adult publication, she insists it was never to do a nude spread. She explains, "I'm not doing Playboy, no. Never. They contacted my publicist and they asked if I would do their 20 questions spread, which is not a nude photo that they do with it. It's a regular photo. But I do have a Disney movie coming out and a young fan base and I'm not interested in doing Playboy right now in my life. So we said no and then now they've put it in Star magazine that I turned down Playboy (and) that I approached them and asked them if I could do a nude spread or something, which is not true. Now when people ask, that's the most ridiculous rumor - that I asked if I could do Playboy."
01/05: Taint and Bliss present INFAMY, 9:30 Club
01/10: Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton, 9:30 Club
01/19: Benjy Ferree, Meredith Bragg and the Terminals, Greenland, Black Cat 01/24: Hej Hej, Cafe Saint-Ex
