my newly-signed old LP copy of "Ragin' Full-On".
Friday began a musical weekend deluxe! On this evening, Fulton
55, the downtown Fresno club at which we’d just played that KFSR benefit, was
bringing in punk/funk/indie legends, fIREHOSE. Mike Watt and crew have been
heroes of mine for decades now.
Way, way, back-when, on a day-off putt to Ventura to check out
record stores and what-not. My old pal Ross lit up our freeway ride in his VW
bus with a cassette of the Minutemen.
Here was a band of such energy, rawness and creativity, *and* it sounded like
three actual human beings playing the music they loved in someone’s living room
(and believe me, that last was a rarity in the mid-80’s). I loved it and felt
an immediate kinship (esp. since most of our music happened in a living room).
Later, the Minutemen lost their guitarist D. Boon to a road accident.
Eventually, along with Ed fROMOHIO, the surviving Minutemen formed fIRHOSE.
I only had the chance to see them live once before: at
the Palomino in North Hollywood. A few memories from that night still stick:
*Mike Watt breaking his bass—Nobody does this, esp. to a P-bass. You can drive over one of these things with a
truck. And I don’t mean he pulled a Pete Townshend. No, just by his relentless
smackeroo-ing, he busted the bridge or the nut or something—had to borrow the
opening band’s bass.
- They covered the
Who’s “A Quick One”, not once, but twice! They had said that they were
recording that night for a CD release. When they did the song for the second
time, for their encore, I thought they were making sure they got the perfect
take for the record (though both takes were breathtakingly aggressive and
wonderful). And when the record came out (Live Totem), it wasn’t on there! - After the show,
Watt didn’t go off to any back-stage or private retreat, he stepped off the lip
of the stage, and started talking with the mob of kids around him. He was like
the cooler, experienced, older Uncle of Indie. So down-to-earth. So proletarian.
I loved it. Made a big impression.
It was this everyman approach
that made this impression so deep. Their “Indie” wasn’t a marketing term/radio
programming category, but Indie as a way to conduct your Music Life—real people
doing real honest things independently– bypassing marketing firms, and fakeness. (One time we sent a tape of our
then-band to SST Records. We got a handwritten note from Watt himself…isn’t
that crazy? I hope Ross still has that somewhere…)
Stuff that stuck with me
about last Friday’s show:
- George Hurley ,
the drummer, volunteering to get up out of his comfy pre-show relaxation chair
and go look for Ed when I was seeking a full-set of autographs on the LP I was
lugging around. I had to convince him to sit back down. He nodded but said, “We’ll make sure it happens.”
Crazy, right? - Watt watching
Hurley the entire show. The entire show. Ok, not when he did the vocal on the
maybe three songs he sang on, but the rest of the time. - There was the occasional music cue: a nod, a mouthed “One, two, three..”, but mostly, he
had a funny smirk on his face. It was all eye-contact and beyond-lingual
communication with this guy who’d been his friend and musical partner since kid-times.
Like some older guys sittin’ on the porch, watching a crazy world, and giving
each other knowing looks. - I finally got my other two autographs from Ed and Watt as they came off the stage –my pal Fran
laughed and said “ah, I’d never seen the fanboy in you come out before this!”(Actually
owner Tony Martin helped me get the last of the three by handing the record
cover over to Ed as he was gathering his guitar and pedals and stuff off of the stage.)Watt looked tired—a couple weeks of straight gigging and they were about to go on to Coachello the next day—not sure if he was trying to conserve his energy, or the touring had been exhausting, but he graciously signed a few autographs and posed for a couple of pictures with folks. I wish him well, and as it is with heroes that you don’t know personally, you can’t really *tell* them thank you so much, but you sure do feel it.