The Severed Cortex

Yes, you read that correctly.

After the sausage fest that was Cracker back last year, my friend Nancy said I had to go see a band that she likes. She picked Rancid, and she decided this several months ago. And in the ensuing time this conversation would occur more than ten times.
N: Are you excited about the Rancid show?
D: When is that show again?
N: You ask me this every time. It's June 28th.

And still, June 28th came as a somewhat surprise when Nancy reminded me once again on the 26th. Then, as an additional surprise to me, I learned that one of the opening acts would be Exene Cervenka. That's right. The Exene Cervenka of seminal West Coast punk band X fame.

So, in return for the tickets I told Nancy I'd buy some dinner which turned out to be the original Fortel's on McKenzie. I don't really miss living in South County too much, but I do miss having close access to Fortels. And perhaps Federhofer's bakery. I guess I shouldn't count out The Bean House in Lemay either, if only because I enjoy saying Why'd I have to eat all those beans so much.

We arrived at Pop's at the requisite time to skip the first band Coliseum. And the place was packed. Probably over the fire code packed. Just before Rancid entered I asked Nancy what time Great White took the stage. I got the stinkeye on that one, but shortly after that we did move to a spot much closer to an exit. But after purchasing an overpriced beverage, (served in plastic cups ... a good call for an all ages punk show) and snaking our way through the sweaty crowd, we found a spot in the back center next to a young mohawked couple just before Exene Cervenka and the Original Sinners came on stage. And then Nancy says hey, that's Craig from the Trip Daddy's. Well actually she said hey, that's ... and the guy in front of us said from the Trip Daddy's. I knew where she was going with it.
A raucous set ensued that started off really strong from the band and a little weak from Exene. But as they played each song she got stronger and stronger and by the end of the 45 minute set she had a lot of swagger going. Unfortunately it just seemed like the band was just getting warmed up when it was time to leave the stage. I wanted more. Her voice was a little tough at first but she really started to get it going. At one point, right before they did an X cover, I said it seems like she should be drunker (or even drunk for that matter), but by the end of the song you could see that she had that performance thing going and I wondered if she suddenly got drunk in the middle of singing the song. It was kind of a weird thing too when a middle age black guy standing near us sang along. Oh, and it wasn't Los Angeles which I would have loved to hear. I barely had heard of X growing up in hokey town so getting a chance to relive that music (even at age 42) is still very cool. While not to steal the thunder of seeing an icon like Exene Cervenka, Craig is an extremely kick ass guitar player. When he plays that hollow body orange Gretsch up on stage you have to think to yourself that he could replace the Reverend Horton Heat should something bad happen to the Rev. He really is that good and according to the Trip Daddy's blog page, this was the first of three shows that he will be playing with The Original Sinners. I encourage you to catch the next two shows.

I should also disclose that prog rock kings Rush were playing at Riverport and that under mostly normal circumstances I would have been there with the Rush freaks that are my college roommates friends and family. And I guess by association, my friends too. I like Rush, don't get me wrong. I have been exposed to so much Rush that some of it has sunk in. But I'm not a Rush purist. I think the eponymous Rush release is the best one and you'll never get any hard core Rush fan to agree with me. Which means none of my brainwashed Rush friends do not agree with me. So, even though I was asked to go see Rush, and even though I somewhat forgot about the date of the Rancid show, and even though I couldn't have put together that both shows were on the same night in the same (relative) city until two days before the show, I wound up seeing Rancid. I would receive text message updates, including Dude, they're playing Red Barchetta. I countered with Dude, it's a punk legend.

So, Rancid came on stage and put on a solid show. I really don't know much about Rancid. I know their front man is Green Day's Billy Joe Armstrong's brother. And that's about it. I also was vaguely aware I knew the lyrics to Ruby Soho only because it was popular on the Alternative station in the early/mid nineties. Turns out I also knew Black Coat, Black Shoes, Black Hat, Cadillac. The boy's a timebomb and Fall Back Down and Roots Radical. Nancy seemed shocked. I think I was too. The crowd was extremely enthusiastic and there was a lot of crowd surfing which was probably stirred on from the energetic slam dancing during the Exene set. At one point Nancy asked if I wanted to move over to the side to get out of the extremely sweat soaked crowd. I said no way and when she said why I pointed at the two lesbians writhing against each other barely two inches away from me. ... insert two inch joke here ... I caught a nice gas face look from Nancy on that one. During the show I saw a lot of beer cups being thrown and a fair number of what appeared to be assorted bras and panties. Let's just lump them into the undergarment category. All in all, the band put on a very entertaining show and I know for a fact (having attended several Rush concerts with the hard core) that this show was much more fun, albeit entirely more sweaty than the Rush show. I'm guessing. Perhaps hard core Rush fans like to sweat on each other when the uninitiated (meaning me) are not around them during the cathedral service. Lars Frederiksen played what appeared to either be a Gibson, or Epiphone cherry SG. The more I see this guitar, the more I want one. I need to find an original Jet King first. Tim Armstrong played (and I use that term extremely loosely) a beat up black hollow body Gibson copy. You can see both guitars here on the Rancid wikipedia page, if you care.

T-shirt watch: Plenty of Misfits and The Exploited, including Lars, but the best t-shirt I think was mine.