Interesting night last night, all the way around. Very, very interesting. Fun, too. Let me say right here and now that on Tuesday I had a little email flurry with Janet Zinn after she got home from the Radiohead show at Madison Square Garden. In one of these emails she wrote that she was “practically levitating” during Idioteque. Practically levitating! Henceforth, you will be seeing this quite often, and always in caps. At least for the next few weeks.

Anyhow, last night me and Mark went to House of Blues to see The Walkmen. I wish beyond belief that I could copy the picture on the home page of their website where they are all in the Western garb, but alas, I cannot. I love that picture and I recommend you click on that website just to see it. If it is true that rock stars are cool (which, I have found, is generally a hit and miss theory) then The Walkmen prove it (maybe) in that photo. I am totally fascinated with it for some bizarre reason, to the point of considering bean and noodle portraits.

It’s a good thing that last night’s show started late, because we decided to take the bus downtown, since it a) stops half a block from my house, b) also stops a half a block from House of Blues, c) takes only half an hour and d) is only $2.00 to ride, instead of $25.00 for a cab. So it all sounds good, only the friggen bus never came. Well, it eventually came, but instead of getting downtown at 8:20, we got there at 9:30. NINE-THIRTY. We waited for the bus for an hour and ten minutes! I felt like I was back in San Francisco, waiting for the 22 Fillmore to arrive. Once we got on the bus, I was shocked at how skankified it was. I sort of thought, it being a San Diego bus, it would be kind of nice. Not! It was skanky. Also, there was a weird kid who kept playing with his veins and also, looking generally out-of-his-mind. Eventually the weird kid moved to the back of the bus where he proceeded to ask two guys back there if they were talking about Jesus Christ. (They were.) So then Heroin Boy says something like “Don’t look for heaven in the water, because the fishes got there first. And don’t look for heaven in the air, because there are birds already there. You have to look for heaven in yourself.” Having the added bonus of some heavy duty psychedelics or opiates may or may not help in this quest, but whatever. I nodded my head in agreement and Mark, in the seat in front of me, looked at me and said “you are fucking crazy.” To me, not Heroin Boy. Hey, whatever it takes to get through a bus ride, bring it on.

So finally we got downtown (AT NINE-THIRTY) and since The Walkmen weren’t going on until 11:15 we went into the bar at House of Blues and had a drink and some really lame food (I hate the food at that place, I don’t know why I pay for that crap) then went into the club where the second act was playing. I went up to the front and strategically placed myself in a spot where once the opener was done, I would be able to squeeze myself right on the rail. Which I did, with no problem, and thank god because that was one of the worst crowds I’ve ever witnessed at a show. So it is good that I did not have to look at them. I just got the impression that they were all a bunch of dickheads and losers, and usually my instincts are right. Except for – I kid you not – HEROIN BOY from the bus, who was right up in front, looking so out of his mind that I made Mark go talk to him to make sure he was OK. Heroin Boy was the coolest guy there. Pretty crazy.

So, The Walkmen. (PLEASE look at that picture.) It was a good show. I think I have been spoiled by my three previous shows at House of Blues, which were all so overwhelmingly stellar that I automatically think EVERY show there is going to be that good, which of course, it could never be. I will say, I am fascinated by the band, who have a pretty unique sound and also, write some songs that I think about all night (as in, are so catchy I can’t stop thinking about them.) I was sort of intrigued going in by Tom Breihan’s assertion that The Walkmen’s singer Hamilton Leithauser looks (bullshit) like (lies) Britt (what planet is this guy living on) Daniel (total fucking bullshit.) Hamilton Leithauser does NOT look like Britt Daniel, and I don’t think Britt Daniel would EVER wear a preppy Izod shirt like Leithauser was last night. I guess it is possible that Britt once wore Izod shirts, like in 1987 or whenever but he doesn’t wear them now. I would be willing to bet a lot of money. Then there is the hair, face and body.

Yeah, as soon as I saw that Hamilton Leithauser didn’t look like Britt Daniel he already had two and a half strikes against him. Just kidding. Maybe.

Really, though, they were pretty great and really and truly it made for fascinating watching. The drummer, a smallish dude, was so energetic I thought he would drum his way to the core of the earth. He was PRACTICALLY LEVITATING. At one point some chick screamed “TELL THE DRUMMER TO SIT DOWN” and it’s true, he really seemed to be sort of flying above his kit banging on his drums. The bass player and the keyboardist traded off every other song (so who IS the bass player, really? and who IS the keyboardist? hmmm…) and the one, bearded bass player was playing his bass so furiously I thought he was going to keel over and crash into the drums. So that guy and the drummer were energetic enough to keep the whole thing going, and they actually broke a sweat which the other three dudes (hello – Britt SWEATS and it is HOT) never seemed to do.

It could be the relentless tour schedule this band is on that makes them sort of lackluster and sullen, or maybe that is the way they are generally. By the end, they did start smiling a little, especially the guitar player, but for the most part they looked at each other and not much else. They are all really cute and it sounded good and there were moment – but just moments – of brilliance. It was a cool show, even with the lack of interaction.

So then it was over at only 12:30 so me and Mark went to Tony’s Bar where we ran into my brother Tom. This is where my brother uttered the following classic line: “What you have to understand about us Essas is, we are ALWAYS right and if you say something stupid, you’ll get a slap.” At which point both of us started laughing uncontrollably. GOD I love my brother.

And on that note, take care what you say. Heh.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 17th, 2006 at 7:03 pm and is filed under Adventures in Rock and Roll. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.