"My Tight Weekend" - by P.J.
I went to sleep on Friday night in Madison listening to JamLifeIntoDeath bitching about the Federal Reserve...he was hopped up on caffeine pills or something and had been in the library at U of I - Champaign-Urbana for an entire week. When I finally fell asleep, it was 1:30 AM.
I woke up on Saturday morning at 4:10 AM...I was wondering why I had set my alarm for such an insane time, and soon realized that I had to get on a 5 AM bus to Chicago. The bus driver tried to rip me off of four dollars because I didn't have exact change. I had to hassle him in Beloit to get my money...I'm sure he has to deal with spoiled little brat UW-Madison students all the time, so I sorta felt for him, but he treated me like crap.
I got home to my house in Mount Prospect around 8:30 AM. My parents have been seeing way too much of me lately because I have been looking for apartments downtown for my girlfriend, Melissa. My dad gave me a ride to the Metra stop (way too cold, way too tired to walk). From there, I was on my way to Hot Doug's for the first time.
After an endless line, BadComrade and I ordered our meals from Doug. My order was sort of awkward and long-winded, but this putziness was balanced by the fact that I had exact change. This made Doug happy...which in turn made me happy. I had a Spicy Cilantro Chicken Sausage something or other. It
was incredibly delicious. Chris and I looked over at chopjob, who was sitting by himself with three massive hot dogs. When I had one bite of my sausage left, I looked over at chopjob to discover that he was nearly finished (if not finished, I can't remember) with
all three Doug dogs. I later saw chopjob at that weird North and Damen intersection on Sunday, but since I had not introduced myself, I could only watch him pass me by in awe.
I ended up getting a ride to the Hideout from the Bear Claw fellers. Rich sat bitch, Kevin Burkett sat on his left, me on his right. I didn't realize that Kevin was the Electrical Guitar guy...I just assumed he was some funny dude with videos of bald men sticking their entire heads up women's cooters. The videos had been sent to him by a 34 year old
grandmother from Alabama.
At the bar for the Saturday afternoon show, I was hassled for being the youngest person ordering drinks. Always a laugh riot, right? Allroh was soon on the stage. Her guitar tone was harsh, but I ended up finding her pretty moving. Maybe it was the two Dead Guys in my bloodstream, but one of her songs struck me as being cry-worthy. Of course, I did not cry (as that would be ridiculous), but maybe you know the feeling.
Tim's introduction was typically...weird. "Welcome to Tim's wake and bake," Steve softly spoke into his mic. Either before or after that introduction, Mr. Albini pantomimed Tim smoking a joint, drinking, and then being all woozy/boozy. This was probably the funniest thing I saw at the Hideout this weekend.
Seeing Shellac during the daytime was really surreal. Looking out the window and seeing snow and sunlight just didn't seem entirely right. Shellac's set was relaxed and awesome. Nobody really had any questions...I guess Chicago people knew better than to try and outsmart-ass Shellac for fear they would be thoroughly owned. During the Q&A, Todd said that he was either having a heart attack or dying. I hope that he got the deep-tissue massage that Bob had suggested.
"Wingwalker" struck me as being the highlight of the afternoon set...it's probably my favorite Shellac song. Albini stepped on his harmonic percolator wrong during the set...undid a cord or something. The room suddenly went from peaceful to giving me instant tinnitus in my left ear (I was near the front of the stage...positioned unfortunately in front of Steve's set-up). My left ear is still ringing.
...
During Allroh's set, Kevin had made his way out to Scott's car (Bear Claw Scott, not scott) to make a phone call. Bear Claw had been wondering where Kevin had disappeared to. As it turned out, Kevin
fell asleep in the car and missed Shellac's entire set. We bugged him about this all weekend. He claimed that he "wanted to be all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for tonight."
Scott dropped Kevin and me off at Rich's apartment. Rich had to grab some piece of equipment and was soon back at the apartment as well. I don't remember much of the period in between the Shellac shows. I peed a few times, Rich replaced his strings and showed Kevin how to play "Jigsaw". JamLifeIntoDeath called me because he was feeling like shit due to too many caffeine pills.
Around 5 PM, I helped Bear Claw load up and we got to the Hideout around 6:00. It was cool to see Todd Trainer's drumset backstage. I took a camera phone picture of myself with the drums with the assistance of a helpful mirror. I tapped the snare just once with my fret fingers...I didn't want to be disrespectful, but I couldn't resist.
I watched Bear Claw's soundcheck and took another camera phone picture. I also managed to get photos of the Shellac Valentine's Day banner/sign and some other crap. These camera phone photos make for pleasant memories while I am taking a shit.
...
When I realized that I had an extra ticket (I helped Bear Claw unload, so I was in like flint), I decided to give it away to a very broke Ace. She came all the way up from Hyde Park at the last minute to see the show. She had been extremely pissed that she missed out on tickets, so how could I not help a fellow Shellac fan in need? When we got in touch with her an hour or so later, we learned the bus had taken her too far from the Hideout. Rich had shit to do, so he sent Rob and me out into the night to pick her up.
When he and I got in the van, it was probably around 8:15 PM. Once on the road, I called Anya's (Ace's) cell phone like twelve times to no avail. Rob and I had about given up on finding her after about fifteen minutes, but then we suddenly got a call. I can't remember what intersection she was at, but we told her to stay put. After about another five or seven minutes of searching, we finally got her in the van. It was snowing pretty hard when we picked her up...Rob didn't know his way around the area very well, either...we got lost. Before you knew it, it was 9:00 PM...Bear Claw's start time. I felt like crap...I thought I had helped ruin the show or something. When I got inside to take a desperate piss (I had drinking tickets, and dammit, I had been using them), I learned that Trainer had asked Bear Claw to push back the set about twenty minutes. My fears had been unfounded. I wish Rob would have told me this in the car. Scott had given him a call around 8:50 to tell him...thanks for making me sweat, Rob.
...
Bear Claw's set was really, really fucking good. If they were nervous, you couldn't really tell. If I'll recall, they tacked on a bit of "All Apologies" to the end of one of their songs in an effort to annoy Steve and Bob. Everybody seemed to love the Bear Claw. Who wouldn't?
tmidgett wrote:Sometimes, when a rock band is really on it, it's like everybody onstage is playing the drums.
Shellac got there Saturday night.
Bear Claw's set was really hot...but when Shellac got onstage, they were
not fucking around in the least like in the afternoon. They plowed through their first five or six songs. They seemed to be on fire. If they felt like they had something to prove, they proved it.
There's not a lot that can be said about this set other than it was absolutely smoking. Shellac rode some joke about places they liked to eat all night. I even asked a couple questions...one was about "Check, Please". Albini said something about how he enjoys the ubiquitious "I got so much food at _____!" guest. He also explained that Rifle Sport attracted more women to their shows because they were less painful during sex.
Anya and I were particularly jacked that Shellac played "Il Porno Star". I was also pleased that Steve had "two tickets to paradise" during "The End of Radio". I smoked a bunch of Anya's cigarettes...it wasn't a lot to ask considering that I gave her a drink ticket and a Shellac ticket...right?
After the show, I was pretty drunk. I said a bunch of stupid shit to Jay Ryan and Bob Weston and found scott and tutku. Tutku was hammered and hilarious. I didn't realize it was her until the next day (I was also hammered). Scott (Chrome Robes Scott) recommended
This Eclipse.
I jumped in the van and went back to Rich's. I asked for a beer from his generous roommate, Todd, drank it, and promptly fell asleep sitting up on the couch. I had been on no sleep all week and was ready to fall asleep after the afternoon set.
The next day, Kevin, Rich, Todd, Kristen (Todd's fiancée), and I went to the Bongo Room. Kevin said he felt like he was in Zoolander because of all the pretty people and "phat beats". I thanked everyone after we went to Reckless and then I headed home.
That's pretty much my weekend. I hope it wasn't a boring read. If anyone who was really nice to me this weekend reads this, thanks a lot for everything...especially for the tickets BC dudes.
