Rockotober 1st -The Libertines @ The Fillmore, S.F.
You don't get to witness many indie bands battle classic rock demons like The Libertines do.. When was the last decade an indie band sent their junkie guitarist to a Buddist monastery in Thailand for rehab.. only to have him go AWOL within days.. and also kick the lad out of the band twice in a year, both times just prior to a U.S. Tour. These English kidz wanna be Mick & Keith for Halloween.
A couple of times over the past year I've made the bold statement that The Libertines are my favorite English band. Once the drugs and alcohol kicked in onstage I didn't regret making that statement. They're one of the few bands I wouldn't mind seeing while drunk off my ass.
Miatomic fought the Forces of Mediocrity. Beer count = 1. Misfits shirts seen = 1. On the way back to the car some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags. There was an indie rock version of a fight down front. One or two guys went down. No blood. However, Abercrombie & Fitch shirts may have gotten wrinkled. "I get along just singing my song.. People tell me I'm wrong.. Fuck 'em..."
Rocktober Favorite Thing:
The Sotheby's catalog from the Property From The Estate Of Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash auction that took place in September.. 320 pages of essential music geek crap (e.g. The Elvis autographed picture inscribed to June on page 22..)
Rocktober Fucked Thing:
Shiny Happy Dodgers Holding Hands
Rocktober 2nd - On the 2nd to the last day of the season, while in the thick of a prison yard fight pennant race, the Giants' fucking bullpen blew a 3 run lead in the fucking 9th Inning against the fucking Dodgers allowing fucking L.A. to win the NL West. Happy Dodgers make me wanna shit fuck up... or whatever you call it (Hi Doug!).. The next day the Giants were put out of their misery so it's another long wait until April.
Rocktober 3rd -New York Dolls / American Heartbreak @ The Fillmore, S.F.
Don't argue with me... Okay, YES 3/5 of the original Dolls are dead (actually 4/6 'cause you gotta count both drummers..). Okay, YES "Killer" Kane just died in July. Okay, YES I felt hypocritical about wanting to see them because I blew off the recent Who show for basically the same reason (No Ox = No Who). Okay, YES I'm reading Please Kill Me again. Okay, YES, but reports from the UK and NYC "reunion" shows earlier this year raved about the performances.. Okay, YES, but the "reformed" Dolls only played around 10 shows worldwide in Spain, England, Ireland, NYC, Japan, and L.A. with S.F. being the final curtain call (at least for now). Okay, YES, but "there's one reason I'm tellin' you this.. I feels bad and I'm lookin' for a kiss."
Music Geek Trivia That Brings This Post Full Circle: The Libertines' drummer hit the skins for the Dolls at their European shows this summer. Libertines shirts seen = 1.
Joey Acid King and I didn't have time to get our glam drag shit together.. so we made our way to The Fillmore sans lipstick... but not before grabbing a Philly Cheese Steak for dinner.
I got a total Old School Upper Haight / Nightbreak vibe in the room.. which played itself out when I ran into 4 or 5 dudes from the old S.F. Metal / Rock scene. A lot of the guys in the house looked like used record store clerks. I didn't have any confirmed tranny sightings. However, the most genuine person in the room was a dude with a glassy stare and long greasy hair, smeared eyeliner, ripped jeans, wearing a Dolls shirt and a red cape. It takes a lot to wanna wear a red cape in public these days. I wonder how many people shot up in the bathroom for old time's sake..
More Trivia: The "new" Dolls bassist used to be in the S.F. band Jetboy and later Hanoi Rocks. I saw Jetboy in 1983 and hated 'em 'cause I was all about Me-taaa-lii-caaa. They got the last laugh on me fer sure, like, totally.
Okay, YES it was only 2/5 of the old Dolls.. but that 2/5 had more genuine attitude and charisma than entire bands I've seen recently. Twas the quintessential music geek show.. All you had to do was leave your jaded attitude at the door 'cause there's more to life than Radiohead. The Dolls rocked with a capital F-U-N. High point for me = Sylvain singing the Johnny Thunders' song 'You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory' that lead straight into 'Lonely Planet Boy'. Fucking perfect. It was also F-U-N seeing teenage Hot Topic kidz bouncing next to "normal looking" older folks in their 50's (aka original punks) and everyone singing along to the likes of 'Puss 'N Boots', 'Vietnamese Baby', 'Trash', 'Jet Boy', 'Personality Crisis'.. Fucking perfect. In the words of Joey: "David Johansen is what Mick Jagger would be like if he was still cool."
The Dolls came on exactly as scheduled at 9:15pm and I was back inside the house at exactly 11:25pm. A surgically precise trip down Please Kill Me Lane. Feather boas seen = 2. Beer count = 1. On the way back to the car some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags. We replied "We're not queers.. We're Lonely Planet Boys!"
