“…the club is open”

This is less of a review, (as I am a fan and my judgement will always be clouded when it comes to Bob Pollard and GBV), and more a recounting of a night that I will hold in my memory with a few select others as  a “great”.

As some of you may know, my wife is now 7 months pregnant. When I bought two tickets to Guided By Voices “Hallway of Shatterproof Glass”, we knew we were expecting a baby, and I did the math on where we’d stand by the time the show was upon us…7 months…pretty close to prime time there. I felt a little guilty about dragging my very pregnant wife attend such a beer-y and loud show, but in the end liked the idea of that little person being exposed to GBV before they were even born. Hearing rock music’s perfect imperfection, what I consider music at  it’s most life affirming and honost , and the cornerstone of my musical foundation, felt right to me. (That and Laura is also a big fan, and wanted to go)

So, last Friday we went to see Guided By Voices at The Paradise. I, like almost everyone at the sold out  show, had been waiting for what I hoped would be a great night of miller high life, smiles, and too close to the sun rock and roll…I was not disappointed.

I’m not much for recording my life story in video and pictures, but I meant to bring my flip to record the show, but forgot and left it at home. I was going to use my phone and shoot some video and take some nice pictures of Mitch and Bob mid jump/chug/sneer, but before they even started playing, my battery died. It may have been just as well for the bitter-sweet night of performers and audience feeling frantically young again, that I would have to live in the moment that was “A Salty Salute” and “Awful Bliss”, sing along with “Bright Paper Werewolves” and “Striped White Jets” and raise my beer to “Motor Away” rather than watch a shakey-cam version of the whole affair the next morning while nursing a *mild* hang-over. It felt right to have to let it wash over me rather than try to grab onto the slippery strands of youth that were pouring off the stage and through our ears.

Bitter-sweet in the way they always are: their last-gasp, last-chance-to-tell-you, almost too wasted and burned out to convey majesty. But they do tell you. In the most perfect way anyone could in under two minutes. Thank you Bob and Co, you guys always know the right things to say.

“don’t stop now, don’t stop now”

or

 “the importance of having a good time, kicking ass and taking names, having a sense of humor, and not getting blown up.”

While at diner last night, the subject of the 4 movie characters that you can look to as role models came up.  This is not some sort of “life’s little instruction book” or “douchebags I’d like to meet in heaven”. It’s just a conversation we had. These are just characters with admirable qualities that we all agreed were ones we would like to emulate to get through life successfully.

My brother-in-law Bob brought the characters to the table and Laura expanded upon it, so I’ll give them credit for the list. This is just my take on it:

Here they are, in no particular order:

Al Czervik - “Caddy Shack”

"This steak still has marks from where the jockey was hitting it"

 Al Czervik had a good time, all the time. One quarter of who you are should be Al. I guess Viv Savage from Spinal Tap had a very similar philosophy, “have a good time, all the time”, but I think I like Al’s presentation a little better. Viv Savage kinda creeps me out with his Rick Wakeman keyboardist/cult member white robes…

The Man with No Name – Sergio Leone’s “Spaghetti Westerns”

"get three coffins ready...my mistake, four coffins"

 The man with no name kicked some serious ass and never hesitated to exact brutal vengance. Devote a quarter to the man with no name and people will be sorry if they fucked with you. They will also probably not ask you to help them paint their house or go into a barn alone with you.

Harry Crumb – “Who is Harry Crumb?”

 You can make some mistakes and still get things done. Harry Crumb, like any other number of John Candy characters, has a sense of humor about who he is and is comfortable in his own skin. A quarter Crumb it is.

 John Maclean – “Die Hard”

John Maclean is the thorn in the side of the bad guys, is able to get through some pretty bad Christmases,  and cannot be killed, no matter how many times you try to throw him off the Nakatomi building.  He is a modern day bugs bunny. Keep the last piece of the pie for John.

I’ve been really lax on the blog front, between putting down a new floor in the house and all the nonsense that goes along with life, I’ve been a little removed from putting my thoughts down as text (or as music for that matter).

All that being said, the coming months are going to be great for The Longwalls. Our EP, “Dark Academy”, is on the verge of being released, and as soon as we get the vinyl back from printing, it will be available on staticmotor for the masses. Right now, there are a few sample tracks, but more to come soon. We have a couple of radio spots, one an interview and the other a live performance next month, and then in May we have our release party with some other great bands on the 1st….really psyched for all of it and am really happy with the way the record turned out. Could not have had it turn out so well without all the collaboration within the band…I think it’s by far the most cohesive and collaborative release we’ve had so far and it really comes through in the level of craft that you can hear in the music…

I may have stalled on writing new songs lately, but I have plenty to focus on, like getting you to listen to what we’ve just written and recorded. If you are in the Boston area, look out for us in the coming months, I am going to do my best to by all up in your grill.