Almost all the press about the Blue Meanies tends to lump ‘em into the whole ska movement of the ‘90s and hails them as the vanguard of the “third wave of ska.” That’s a bunch of crap. The Blue Meanies are as much a ska band as the Beatles are a skiffle group. The Blue Meanies are a punk band in the sense that they literally draw on EVERYTHING around them, chop it, dice it, spruce it up and then launch it in a terrifyingly energetic live show. In this respect they are far more similar to, say, Mr. Bungle than they are to the Toasters.
My history with the band goes waaaay back to my first years of college when I would dance my ass off at their shows and I eventually traded a few letters (remember those archaic things in the pre-internet days?) with the Meanies’ frontman Billy Spunke. I remember when my band opened for them we thought we had reached the top since we respected the Meanies so much. Years passed, I lost touch with the band as they grew further afield of what turned me on musically and eventually I heard they had broken up.
I heard a few months ago they were reuniting for a few shows in Chicago to launch the re-release of Full Throttle -- which confused me since Kiss Your Ass Goodbye was such a better disc – and I grew slowly excited at then prospect of seeing ‘em perform again. Fast forward to last night’s packed, sweaty and PBR and bourbon drenched show at The Double Door and all I could do nothing more than agree with Spunke’s musing, “Who would’ve thought this would happen?”
It was a fun show. Not so much filled with familiar faces as it was filled with familiar memories. When the group kicked into “Grandma Shampoo” as the second song in a looong set I was suddenly 18 again and in the Gallery down in Normal slamdancing and making out with my first serios college and freaky dancin’ girlfriend. When the band kicked into “Ace Of Spades I was moved to call my friend Dan Ryan, whom I haven’t spoken to in well over a year even though we used to be inseperable, and had to share the fact that one of our favorite bands was playing his personal theme song. Then I asked him if it was true that he was dating the Fox morning weather girl and he assured me he was. Definitly the hottest girl Dan’s ever dated. Anyway.
The long and short of it is that I had a blast last night and realized you could have fun with nostalgia without drowning yourself in sentiment.
Vacation in the land of cute!
I start my vacation tomorrow and will probably post during that time, but in case I do get my holiday wishes and do nothing other than watch DVDs and drink bourbon all next week I suppoes I should leave a few pictures to tide you over.
First, we have a photo of my friend Darcell's new dog. His name is Sam. Hopefully I'll get to meet him one day becasue he looks super cuddly.
Then we have my nephew displaying a predominant trait that runs through my family...the ability to "turn on the charm." Adorable, eh?
Hmmm, you can't get cuter than that so with that, I will wish you a Happy Festivus.
On to the feats of strength!
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