Sometimes salvation takes the form of a drunken, stumbling 45-year-old ex-schoolteacher.
There's another weekend concert series in DC this year, this time down on Pennsylvania Avenue close to the Capitol - the Capitol dome is framed by the stage, which makes for a great backdrop. As always it's hot down on the pavement and those five dollar lite beers go down pretty quickly. Life is good.
Yesterday I went down to see Guided By Voices again. I have a couple of their records, I like what I've heard, but I haven't dug down too deep. I'm a little intimidated - the band has a reputation for raw production, and there are over a thousand songs to choose from at this point.
Here's the Guided by Voices Buying Guide, which offers some insight on the songs:
but GBV's songs retain the distinctive mark of Robert Pollard's scattershot imagination - the freaks, geeks, robots and elves of the 10-year-olds he once taught - and recurring plane and flight imagery borrowed from his hometown ("the birthplace of aviation"). From short, infectious fragments of '60s-flavoured pop to noisy, ramshackle prog-patchworks and hissy lo-fi snippets (The Who and Genesis are enduring influences), critics have long proclaimed Bob Pollard's throwaway talent the envy of many a less prolific songwriter.
The review doesn't go much into the drinking, which stage left did to distraction. Pollard, the bass player and the rhythm guitarist looked pretty wobbly.
This Rolling Stone article has more to say about all the beer.
Now, you've got a call for five cases of Budweiser and a bottle of Jack Daniel's on your tour rider?And a bag of Doritos [laughs]. We usually get more than that. We get to the show and say, "I don't think that's gonna be enough beer. Better get seven cases."
But why?
“It’s my backbone juice. I tried to quit drinking on stage before.... it didn't work out. I am just "Uncle Bob", ya know?” It's been a trademark that's lasted through every stage of their live career through today. A Guided By Voices show just wouldn't be the same without the alcohol flowing.
For all that the band was tight as hell. I think the lead guitar player and drummer were at least half-sober, and had enough non-verbal communication going that it looked like they were keeping the mayhem reined in.
I really needed to see a good set of music. This was the best set I'd seen in along time.
Like most events these days they technically don't allow cameras other than those drugstore disposable jobs. So no pictures of my own, and I have to wait for the official site to post yesterday's photos. But to give an impression of the Pennsylvania Avenue scene here's a shot from last week.
Memo to self: buy biggest disposable camera I can find, hollow it out, insert that S-300.