S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT!

In a cruel twist of fate both Linus and Dine Alone were playing at Fitzgerald’s Saturday night so after my adventures at AggieCon 37 (suck) and at the Mullins Jeep Parts/Museum of the American G.I. open house (it rocked). [Both to be detailed in a later post.] I was obligated to come back to town Saturday evening to catch their show since I know guys in both bands and Linus is a College Station band and therefore I do not often get the chance to see them in action.

Now I have not been to Fitzgerald’s in over a decade. In fact I can distinctly remember the last band I went to see there as it was the first time I had seen a band that was not a Christian rock band in concert (my mom disapproves of this music the kids listen to these days, something called rock and roll, which I find very ironic because she is a HUGE Neil Diamond fan). They were this little group called the Gin Blossoms and they had just released their first major label album, New Miserable Experience. It was in the fall of 1992 and one of my roommates was a fan and decided that we needed to go and see them as a group bonding experience. Have I mentioned I have no idea what John is up to and I have not seen him since sometime in my sophomore semester of college? Clearly the bonding went well.

I ended up arriving about mid-way through the first band’s set. This band, August House, put on a damn fine show. I kind of felt sorry for them as they were stuck with the first slot of the evening, and therefore there was a rather meager crowd for which they performed. The guys didn’t let that slow them down at all and they had a ton of energy on stage, so much so that during the last number one of the guitar players ate it, and by ate it I mean went ass over teakettle, and then hopped up and continued to blast away on his axe. During the break between Linus and Dine Alone I got a chance to chat with the lead singer and the afore mentioned guitar player. They were nice guys and spent some time chatting with me, which I thought odd since I am certainly not their target demographic (or at least I do not appear to be.) I picked up their CD, which at five clams was a heck of a deal, and found out they are actually based out of the O.C. (which is California for those three of you reading this who didn’t know. Hi mom!) and they are touring in an effort to live their rock and roll dreams. If you get a chance I suggest checking them out.

Linus was next up and I finally got a chance to pick up their CD, which I have been trying to get for at least a year and a half now. I really enjoyed getting the chance to see them in action since, even though the drummer and bass player (that would be guitar, not fish) are acquaintances, I have only gotten to see them a couple of times. A few songs into Linus’ set I started to get into it. I don’t know if this is because the Shiner’s were going down like water and I was getting a little drunk, or the crowd was swelling and thus the energy in Fitz’s was growing, or Linus was just rockin’ the house. Regardless of what was happening, Linus put on a great show that had me amped up, or at least as amped up as I tend to get in public, which means I was ready to go home and get some writing done, but alas, the writing would have to wait as there was at least one more band on my dance card for the night.

As Linus cleared their gear and Dine Alone began to set up we got to assail our ears with Fitzgerald's version of elevator music and the crowd seemed to make a quantum shift in size. Where during the August House and Linus sets there had been plenty of room on the main floor of the club, suddenly it seemed to get crowded, not uncomfortably so, but just enough to where getting a beer suddenly became a challenge. Damn kids. Then Dine Alone went on, and for me they were the centerpiece of the evening. The lead singer of Dine Alone connected with the audience in a way that the two previous bands had not. I am certain some of this comes from home field advantage and the growing crowd, however he was not shy about talking to the crowd. To be completely honest I did not watch too much of the show as there was a bit of a floor show going on about four feet in front of me and I am talking about the kind of floor show guys like me have to pay to see. Come to think of it, I did pay to get in, so I guess I did pay for the floor show, but I wasn’t tipping anyone (except to bartenders, who pissed me off, but more on that on the ‘Caust later in the week.)

I hung out a bit after the Dine Alone set to say hi to one of the guys in the band who is also a coworker of mine. I am really hoping they hit it big so I can write a tell-all book about him. It doesn’t matter that I will have to make most of it up as I have a pretty good imagination. We BS’d for a few minutes and then I headed out. There was another band playing but, quite frankly, the teeny-bopper quotient in the crowd was starting to become a bit much for my refined tastes. (Set sarcasm to stun.) As I wandered out of the club I realized that I might have had one or two too many beers to drink. I was not drunk but I had to pee. BADLY. We’re talking my back teeth are floating kind I am so full of pee kind of bad. It was ugly. Rather than turn around and try to convince the door man, who had just moments ago mocked my attempts to remove the wrist-band of 21+ness (Damn you inner gamer geek, back into the dungeon with you!), to let me back in the club so I could take care of business, I decided I could make it home. Let me tell you right now this was a BAD DECISION. I live just a few blocks from the club, and by few I mean somewhere between ten and fifteen, and I barely made it to my front door without wetting my pants. I had a moment where I thought all was lost when my fingers stopped functioning as I was trying to release the hound, as it were, but fortunately everything made it to where it was supposed to be.

When I left the club I had intended to do some writing. I have several projects on my plate (including three book reviews, two TPB reviews, and some comics commentary for the Opiate) and I really need to get rolling on those projects. However after the close call with el bano I realized how tired I was and ended up crashing for the night shortly after returning home. All in all it was a good night.

Bits and Bobs

I would like to sincerely thank the two lipstick lesbians of indeterminate ethnicity (I think Indian, dots not feathers) who felt the need to stand in front of me and make out through most of the Dine Alone show. Between that, the bands, and the H-O-T Avril Lavigne look alike that was wandering the club I felt my $10 cover was well spent.

All this talk of Fitzgerald's reminds me of my favorite Irish gay joke which I feel the need to share:

Did you hear about the two Irish gays?

Gerald FitzPatrick and Patrick FitzGerald.

If anyone is offended by that joke please let me know. My radar can be off on these sorts of things.

Somehow I suspect the fact that I used a Bay City Rollers lyric as the title to this post will be offensive to the rock and roll that lives in some of your souls. All I have to say to that is bite me, if it’s good enough for Mike Meyers then it is good enough for me.