Soooo the house concerts have been great but there is still something righteous about going to a club, standing at the bar, paying for a beer and then seeing a band. Seriously righteous. But daddy is old. Daddy is tired and some venues have become off limits. Particularly Off Broadway. I have vivid memories of going down there time and time again. I would show around 8 because things were winding down at home, kids are in bed are going to bed, the wife is working on a project so rather then watch some more crap TV I go to the club. I pay. “When does the band go on?” I ask and am told the opener is at 9. You look and you see two drum kits stacked on the stage and and you know that you are not going to luck out and have “an evening with” where one artist plays the whole show. So you wait, have a beer, have two beers, then the opener. Often they do not suck. They always go one late, say around 9:15 and get done slightly after ten. Then you see a second band setting up and they are not the band you came to see. GREAT NEWS! Three bands for the price of one! Shit. That mean that if you wanted to stay till the bloody you were there till 12:30 or 1:00. I am too old. I have to work tomorrow! But I stayed. And I loved it. And I hated it. I was ecstatic and I was miserable. I love dichotomies.
The place has changed hands at least three times since I started going to shows but no matter who it was it was always a late place. Even the much missed and lamented Mississippi Nights ran a tighter ship.
http://www.offbroadwaystl.com/
Anyway.... I digress. I read in the RFT or the Post or something that Robbie Fulks was coming to town and playing an EARLY SHOW at Off Broadway. 7:30! How great is that. Even better a good alt-country true believer called and reminded me of the show and even better I was free of other obligations that night so... down we went. Off Broadway is just off of Broadway down south of the brewery and as I said it has been there for years. It was interesting upon going in that there was again new management which is I guess the reason for trying some new stuff. I complimented them on the concept and away we went. The place was all cleaned up with all the trash and memorabilia which had been gathered (read plastered and strewn) all over the place for 20 years or more. The only thing I was sad to see gone was the huge wagon wheel chandelier which used to hang in the middle of the room, awkwardly hanging over nothing but part of the floor. It had always somewhat obscured the view from the awkward little balcony.
They have always had a large beer selection there and I was grateful to see that they had not felt the need to get rid of the Busch and Stag long necks. In fact they had a special on the Busch 20 ouncers but... I prefer glass bottles for my Busch beer. I am classy that way. We had a beer, and had a seat. It appears they had also lost the crappy little tables they formerly had and instead set up seating in about 10 rows of chairs. We got a seat in back and had another beer and I was pleased to see local luminaries like Brian Henneman and Beatle Bob at the show.
Fulks came on at 7:30 promptly with his acoustic and more of slightly more interest or annoyance he was appearing with another guy with an acoustic, Robbie Gjersoe. If anybody cares he plays for a band called Screen Door Music which you can find on My Space... or not. Fulks has a new CD coming out and so he was shilling for that and the new tunes were tuneful and nice and his voice rang clear and true with that sharp, well pronounced twang. It was awesome just to hear him live again. The first time I had scene Fulks was at the old High Pointe. He knocked me out fronting a band and paying loud, funny twang with Nashville and Big Hat hating country songs like "Fuck This Town".
If you want to get a taste of Fulks I would sample the first two CD's "Country Love Songs" and "Southmouth". These Buckcentric CD's are awesome and funny and his voice is so young and pure that when i listen to them now they often seem even more heartbreaking. After that he has a good songwriter catalogue but as i said, I recommend "Georgia Hard" as his best. Fulks cut his teeth doing Bakersfield country and channeling Buck Owens like no one's business but since that time and most specifically with his album Georgia Hard he really came into his own with some beautiful, catchy and dark songs. So the new ones sound good. I will have to get the new Cd and he played a nice sampling of his past 9 albums. One of the great things about Fulks is that most of the songs are 2-3 minute blasts of beauty and angst and it was awesome. Gjersoe played a nice accompaniment and sang high harmony when needed and occasionally pulled out the craftsment 9/16 long neck socket for a little slide guitar as well.
After he put in an hour he started to take requests but other then a couple of suggestions he pretty much ignored them and played what he wanted. Although disappointed not to hear "The Buck Starts Here", there are no bad songs in his catalogue and he was playing before about 50 hard core fans. The show was done by nine and I was able to have another beer on the way home and be in bed shortly after 10. That night, life was good indeed. Here is to the early show.
No comments:
Post a Comment