(photo from http://www.explorechicago.org)
Bob Dylan and his Band are at the Aragon Ballroom and that would be fun, but I have decided I will not go see Bob Dylan. I never have and made that decision about 15 years ago. If I get a time machine and can go back to the early 70s okay, but other than that I think it would just make me sad. (Who am I kidding, if a bunch of people were going I would go too, I just won't go out of my way and seek it as a musical thing rather than a social one.)
Tomorrow night Roky Erickson is playing at the Bottom Lounge but I think a late night show before a long run would be a bad idea. I saw Roky Erickson last year at the Double Door and it was actually kind of sad. He seemed uncomfortable on stage and spent a lot of the show with his back to the audience. I left hoping he really wanted to be doing the shows and was enjoying the experience rather than being manipulated or taken advantage of by guardian. The documentary about his You're Gonna Miss Me is very interesting and it is worth watching the bonus material section about his mother. Worth watching in a "Grey Gardens" kind of crazy way.
Roky Erickson would be good Halloween music though, and I've been thinking about Halloween music lately. I made cards to send out to friends this year that had a "record player" motif. I made a little LP and wanted to write the name of a Halloween song. I decided they pretty much all stink. When I looked at various playlists people have for Halloween they tend to put a lot of goth and Alice Cooper and songs that mention the devil. I suppose that works but it doesn't seem really Halloween to me. Same with the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack.
Top Halloween songs on many posted playlists are the dreaded Monster Mash, Werewolves of London and Thriller. I'm good with Michael Jackson but Thriller is not my favorite. Love the album, love the dancing, will bow down to the ground breaking video and pop culture milestone of it all. I even love the zipper jacket but I don't love that song. I especially hate that Vincent Price spoken word part.
Bela Lugosi's Dead, Nemesis, and Voodoo Lady would make it onto my Halloween playlist. I'm surprised how many online lists have left off Ministry's (Everyday is) Halloween, I guess the kids today are not into early Ministry. I loved With Sympathy when I was in high school. During graduate school, I supervised a freshman guy who really liked Ministry. But he liked Ministry in 1992, not Ministry in 1983. He was absolutely crushed when I lent him With Sympathy and Twitch to discover that his metal band started out making poncy dance music.
For my Halloween card, I decided that only about 2% of the recipients would remember (if they ever knew) early Ministry (you know who you are!)I made up my own song name. I really, really wanted to include a band name (The Raisinettes) but the space was too small and my writing too sloppy to fit it in. But thinking about it was fun. When I get home from work tomorrow night, I'm going to make a big bowl of pasta carbonara (carb loading!)and listen to my own Halloween playlist. Maybe I'll even get myself a big candy bar -- no little fun sized treat for me.
The show was great, I'm so glad I went. The harmonies were absolutely beautiful and I was struck again at how talented Connor Oberst is. The thought that kept running through my mind was "How does it feel to be young and talented like that?" I saw CO one other time, probably more than 10 years ago, when I went to see my friend C's band play in this little hole in the wall in the student union at University of Colorado-Boulder. CO was a skinny kid maybe not even out of high school(?) but when he sat on his folding chair with his guitar in the middle of this closet, everyone stopped and paid attention. In the intervening years I've paid less attention to his work and I've not liked some of what I heard, but he has a very compelling live presence.
ReplyDeleteJim James also mentioned how beautiful the theater was and said that he imagined that the view of the rainbow lights are what it looks like when you die.
My seat was great too, Orchestra Left, row I. It is the seat that is right at the end by the little red door you can see in the photo.
Wonderful night.