 |
| A Giant Dog |
Do Whatcha Do Whatcha Do
So I went to the show last night. Fuck it. I'd been looking forward to this one for months, and I needed to spend some time with friends. The wonderful Chris and Amy Dickman handled the driving duties, as they often do, sparing me one of the great, ongoing stresses of my life: looking for parking. Justin from Dentist joined us as well, and it turned out that Alex from The Battery Electric / Hot Blood was also at the show. Nick and Lysa of Overlake were working the event. I ran into their bandmate, Tom, on the way out, after the show. I can't even tell you how wonderful it was to see them all.
When we walked into Monty Hall, Joe and Evren of The RockNRoll HiFives were in the front. Joe gave me a big hug, "Oh. You brought your camera?"
"I wasn't going to tonight, but it's what I do."
"It's what you do... ...yeah, man."
I got a high five from Evren, the youngest HiFive, and headed inside.
HiFives mom and bassist, Gloree, was in there. She gave me a hug and a big smile. In all the interactions we had last night, I could see what a strong and caring person she is. Not that I didn't know that already, but I really felt it last night. I thought about how lucky Eilee and Evren are to have Joe and Gloree as parents and what a great family the Centenos are.
They Live! came out for their set, and I felt a tap on my elbow. I turned around to see a smiling Eilee who hugged me hello. The band, decked out in sunglasses and shirts with messages like "Consume" and "Marry and Reproduce," delivered the message of the John Carpenter classic through tongue-in-cheek punk rock.
 |
| They Live! |
 |
| They Live! |
The RockNRoll HiFives opened by dedicating their set to my family and me. It touched me deeply that they would do that on a night that was so special for them as a family and a band. Then they went at it as hard as I've ever seen them go. They blew the room away, even with the night's prohibition on confetti cannons.
 |
| The RockNRoll HiFives |
 |
| The RockNRoll HiFives |
I've worked through all the pictures from the evening (all 800+ of them), and I was pleasantly surprised to see that many shots from The RockNRoll HiFives' set turned out ok. Tears blurred the viewfinder for much of the set, so I was kind of firing blind.
Anyway...
The one set I managed to catch from A Giant Dog this past March at SXSW in Austin remains one of the great, live, rock and roll experiences of my life. After last night's performance, I'm convinced that they may be the best rock band in America right now. I'd thought that maybe the energy of a hometown crowd made that Austin show particularly special, but being on the road made no difference as far as I could tell. Singer Sabrina Ellis is an unstoppable force, dancing wildly from the very first notes and belting out the band's catalog. Guitarist Andrew Cashen used Joe Centeno's Flying-V for the set, and the image fit A Giant Dog's glam rock vibe perfectly.
 |
| A Giant Dog |
 |
| A Giant Dog |
 |
| A Giant Dog |
A bizarre cosmic moment happened when A Giant Dog lit into their cover of INXS's "Don't Change." Amy Dickman has been obsessed with INXS and that song in particular all week. We listened to it in the car just minutes before heading into the show. Wild.
When it was all done, I saw Sabrina Ellis talking with Eilee Centeno. I couldn't help myself from going over and personally thanking Ellis for the way she and the band helped me start to get through a tough time. She couldn't have been more wonderful, and I'll always remember her kindness.
 |
| Sabrina Ellis |
It was a beautiful evening of rocking out and getting back to work doing what I do.
I've been having a lot of trouble uploading pics to Flickr lately, but I'll get all of the shots from the night up there at some point. I'll also post them to the Facebook page.
No comments :
Post a Comment