The Severed Cortex

Several months ago my good friend Nancy pointed out that Cracker was coming to the Duck Room.

Me: I think I've seen them enough already.
N: But they're your favorite band!

Favorite band? Well ... not quite. I will admit they are probably in the top 10. Camper van Beethoven on the other hand, is in the Top 3. Expressed in the form of a SAT question, Firehose is to Minutemen as Cracker is to Camper van Beethoven. There's less death in the right hand side of that equation and a whole lot more smart ass. Thus, my appeal of Cracker. Or David Lowery I should say. Lowery has been writing wry little pop songs for more than 25 plus years now, and based on the latest Cracker release, the well of wry songs has not dried up. Based on my first two spins of the latest CD, the well of 'Drew's like for Cracker' hasn't dried up either.

So, in typical Drew fashion, I forget about the date of the Cracker show. Nancy reminds me and I hem and haw about going. The truth is I wasn't overly excited about Cracker because I got wind that one of my new favorite bands, Living Things, was playing a show earlier in the week in their hometown Saint Louis. Two shows in one week was out of the question and I was dead set on Living Things. But on that Monday, it didn't pan out. Lucky for me I didn't drive the 2 hours. I found out later that Living Things played only a hour long, 10 song set. Hardly worth the drive. Cracker on the other hand was worth the drive, especially after getting a little psyched on the latest CD.

The following email occurred: Sh*t changes. I'm in for Cracker
Nancy said she would get the tickets. She waited until the day of the show and when she got to Blueberry Hill there was only one ticket left. But, knowing how this works, she asked if anyone from the band management was there. The tour manager was and ten minutes later, as is typical for Nancy, she gets her name on the guest list.
And if she weren't charmed enough, she scores a parking spot right in front of Blueberry Hill when we arrive for the show. Of course she had to pull a U-turn in the middle of Delmar to get it, but on a Friday night at 8:00 pm in University City, we had the patrician parking spot. Without the VIP price tag. No self respecting U. City cop was going to be checking meters in the rain.

We showed up in time for doors to open, but I was starving. Burgers and some beers were up first. Our waitress was not very surly like good old Blueberry Hill wait staff but they did make us wait for at least 30 minutes for the burgers. After washing down charred mammal flesh with a couple of Stella's, we were ready to catch the tail end of the opening band.

Flash back to lunch that afternoon with two of my co-workers.

T & M: So, who opens for Cracker?
Me: Backyard Tire Fire
T & M: Oh yeah!
Me: You've heard of them?
T & M: Nope.

Cracker is to alt country what Backyard Tire Fire is to country. I think that means Backyard Tire Fire is alt country but there's also a chance I could be confusing this with the logic of the side-angle-side theorem for triangles. Backyard Tire Fire is definitely alt country as demonstrated by the lead singer's Dekalb hat. We caught three of their originals and they were mediocre at best. Actually, I didn't really listen to them all that close. I was transfixed on the band itself. The lead singer, lead guitar player, and bass player looked exactly alike. I mean exactly. Baseball hats and beard stubble and a couple too many doughnuts and full flavored beers made them seem like those fraternity brothers who pledged but never made it back for that second year of college. It was kinda creepy thinking they might be the universe's first all clone band. Luckily, thoughts of a Dolly the Sheep tribute band got sidetracked when the band welcomed out Cracker guitarist Johnny Hickman to play along. Maybe I'm biased but I think Johnny Hickman is the most underrated guitar player around. David Lowery may be front and center but Johnny Hickman truly makes the Cracker sound. Midway through the second song with Johnny, Nancy had this musing.
Why does the band sound so much better all in a sudden?
She was right. Johnny added as much as the band's five players combined. He played one more song with the band to close the set and together they ripped a very nice version of Warren Zevon's Lawyers, Guns and Money.

You'd think after 11 releases, Cracker would be playing larger venues and have their own roadies. They do not. We watched them set up their own equipment and tune their own guitars. Old school. Lowery primarily plays an Ibanez Jet King 1, but he tuned up a Jet King 3 too. Twenty minutes later the band kicked off their 2009 tour with three straight from the new album, leading with the first single Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out With Me. Sal's bass head developed issues and after a couple minutes of adjustment, the show started back with a batch of old songs. Throughout the night the band rattled off minor hit after minor hit and interspersed them with a track off the new record. The crowd sang along, including me. They didn't finish until two hours later. Lowery sang strong throughout and Johnny Hickman didn't miss a note. And as always he looked like he was having fun, which is a large part of the Cracker appeal in a live setting. Sal Maida on bass and Frank Funaro on drums were as steady as the last time I caught the band in the Duck Room. This time around Kenny Margolis, who I find to be a dead ringer for a young Harry Dean Stanton, was back on keyboards and various other percussion-y things. He played a spastic tambourine and a complementary accordion, but he did not play wood block. The bastard.

I'm not really sure why Cracker chose Saint Louis as the kick off point of their tour. Far away from the maddening crowd and a good place to try out the set list perhaps, but it appeared some of the maddening crowd managed to still show up. About halfway through the show I thought to myself that Cracker could be one of those bands that has a bunch of freaks following them (like the Dead) as I witnessed a waif dancing and singing embarrassingly strange in front of us. It appears that they already have. Freaks or not, I'm glad I caught the show. It's always fun hanging out with my friend Nancy and I think we caught the band at a good time.