The Battle for Missouri was a bummer.
Leaf Humpy told me that Jesse Jeffers was sponsoring the event here in town but I wanted another crack at Jerry's Bait Shop even though I knew it would be a screwjob.
Jeffers and I go back to Halloween Havoc '07 at the LM Alcott Center in KCK. He and another jobber were supposed to back me up but started falling apart after song one. We exchanged flames on MySpace, Jeffers accusing me of shoddy musicianship, but unfortunately I have the video. The closer, "Do You Love Me", was a classic.
When I checked in after 2 PM on 6/27/10, Jeffers had one sob story after another. Two bands supposedly cancelled (after paying a $40 entry fee???) and left a gap between my set and the next group of over two hours. That doesn't give the judges the best comparison time, I figured. I got pretty nasty with ol' Southern Grace after that, and it got worse when he said there were no amps available. By then I was ready to hammer the little bastard but, as they say, the show must go on.
What followed next was another episode of my love/hate relationship with Mr. Machine. I've got one of the best crap tape Spoiler practices of all time in my truck right now, courtesy of Little Mac. I was backed into that corner by Big Mac (John Mc Guffin), who canceled out a week before showtime. The set was bitchin' at the house, but onstage, well...acoustics can be a stubborn animal sometimes. The first three songs were on the money but "Man Grenade" had a bad takeoff, and "Obamanation" almost didn't make the finish line. "Back From Iraq" had the Bait Shop crowd calling for an encore, but that wasn't going to amount to a pile of dog poo with Jeffers' judges.
The business end of the industry was what defeated me in NYC, and it's starting to burn me out here in KC. It gets harder and harder to give your best every night when you know the movers and shakers don't give a damn what the audience thinks. All you feel like doing at the end of the show is give a pencil-pusher a piledriver. Count your blessings, JJ.
Well, we've got the LPAT in Liberty next month, and I'm hoping the judges there will give us a fair shake. Even if they don't, we'll get another great video out of it.
I got $1,000 for the Ducky Boys' acetate a couple of years ago. Wonder what these Spoiler movies'll be worth...
...after the Obamanation?
Prolly not a plugged nickel, collapsed economy or not.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Broad Street Bullies?
I wonder whether someone at HBO corporate offices contemplated a form of artificial providence in coinciding the broadcast of the Flyers’ documentary with the 2009-10 NHL playoffs. Damned if they didn’t cause Flyermania to inspire the bottom-seeded Flyers to nearly win the Stanley Cup…and galvanize the Spoiler Empire in the process.
I was a kid when the Flyers last hoisted the Cup. Bobby Clarke, Dave “The Hammer” Schultz, Flyer captain Ed Van Impe…they were all featured on the “Broad Street Bullies” presentation, showing us how time had flown. Thirty-five years, who would’ve thought. It had been forty-nine years for the Black Hawks. When they interviewed Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Company, the general consensus was that they would have savored the moment far longer. They were kids themselves, and they thought the Cups and champagne would just keep on coming. It made me think of how the Spoiler thought we were destined for superstardom and never considered otherwise. It was the height of the Punk Revolution in NYC, and we just knew we would cure the country of Disco Fever. Who would’ve thought the Music Industry and MTV would synthesize it all into New Wave and wash us all away...thirty-five years ago
Who would’ve thought.
The apostle Paul wrote that the Greeks sought wisdom as the Jews looked for miracles. Doubtlessly the Flyer Nation and the Spoiler Empire watched for signs and wonders as the Bullies clawed their way to the Finals, only to lose it on a fluke goal that seemed to symbolize their post-season. Was it real, or Memorex? Was it all a dream, or a harbinger of bigger and better things to come? Is tomorrow only just a day away?
Signs and wonders…signs and wonders.
I was a kid when the Flyers last hoisted the Cup. Bobby Clarke, Dave “The Hammer” Schultz, Flyer captain Ed Van Impe…they were all featured on the “Broad Street Bullies” presentation, showing us how time had flown. Thirty-five years, who would’ve thought. It had been forty-nine years for the Black Hawks. When they interviewed Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Company, the general consensus was that they would have savored the moment far longer. They were kids themselves, and they thought the Cups and champagne would just keep on coming. It made me think of how the Spoiler thought we were destined for superstardom and never considered otherwise. It was the height of the Punk Revolution in NYC, and we just knew we would cure the country of Disco Fever. Who would’ve thought the Music Industry and MTV would synthesize it all into New Wave and wash us all away...thirty-five years ago
Who would’ve thought.
The apostle Paul wrote that the Greeks sought wisdom as the Jews looked for miracles. Doubtlessly the Flyer Nation and the Spoiler Empire watched for signs and wonders as the Bullies clawed their way to the Finals, only to lose it on a fluke goal that seemed to symbolize their post-season. Was it real, or Memorex? Was it all a dream, or a harbinger of bigger and better things to come? Is tomorrow only just a day away?
Signs and wonders…signs and wonders.
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