Last night, my brother and I headed out to see the greatest American punk band, X. It was billed as the "13 x 31 Anniversary Tour" with the 4 original members: Exene Cervenka, John Doe, Billy Zoom and DJ Bonebrake. Of course, they tour every couple of years with all 4 original members...

The Venue: The House of Blues. Talk about stimulating the economy. A Jim Beam and soda and a Labatt Blue run ya about $10.25. Admittedly, I couldn't take three weeks laying off the sauce (per "the gout"), so I didn't dip my non-inflated big toe, but decided to drop the people's elbow, into the water. Gotta find out what the effects are sooner or later, right? Especially with only one more dose of that damn colchicine left. But, I digress. You know the setup there, reserved seating in the balcony, general admission everywhere else.

The Tickets: We were in the left balcony in Section L, Row C. I must say, down low you need to be closer to the aisle. You start having railing issues and I could see about 85% of the stage. I was thankful Billy Zoom was tall and did a lot of leaning, because then I could see him. So, if you find yourself upstairs, think middle when selecting seats.

The Crowd: This ran the gamut. Chaperone hat was neatly tucked away fairly early. You had your young folks and your old folks, so quite the mix. Far from a sellout, the upstairs was maybe half full, and the general admission area was not packed-to-the-gills crowded. HOB had been advertising GA tickets at 2-for-1 for about three weeks, so you knew sales were not going great guns.

There was some slam dancing, believe it or not. It peaked during "Johny Hit and Run Paulene". Would have hated to be innocently run into during that anthem, so I gladly observed from the safety of being upstairs.

And there were a few younger people who were sporting the punk throwbacks. Skinheads, mohawks, studded jackets, boots, makeup, etc. Then I noticed after the show, they piled into a minivan. I dunno, it seems they should have been driving a used Vega, perhaps one that could explode at any moment.

Opening Act: The opening act was the Detroit Cobras. As John Doe said later, "If you didn't like the Detroit Cobras, you could suck eggs." Hard to describe their sound, but it's definitely got some punk in there, some rockabilly, some 60's-type tracks, let's say garage. They don't do originals, but do a good job with their own arrangements. I especially liked the cover of Wilson Pickett's "99 and a Half Just Won't Do". I believe they were the New Year's Eve band at the Beachland last year.

The Sound: Excellent sound at the HOB. Music was loud, but not eardrum-splitting, and vocals were really crisp.

Exene can still sing, BTW. John Doe does most of the talking, reminding us to vote in November, hopefully not for the crazy white guy. Billy Zoom is a marvel. He plays these intricate guitar lines, while constantly grinning or posing and lots of leaning, "assuming the Zoom position", as I call it. Effortless. DJ Bonebrake attacks the drums savagely, still. Awesome sound last night.

My favorite exchange:

Doe: "Hey, it's Saturday night. I'm not into that whole Saturday night thing anyway."
Exene: "You should try it, John."
Doe: "Oh?"
Exene: "Come on, John. It's Saturday night. Let's get high!"
Doe: "I'm already high. Don't you remember those muscle relaxers we got in Detroit?"

The Stage: The setup, as with most shows at HOB, is rather sparse. So, it's Zoom, Exene, and John Doe, left-to-right across your stage dial, and Bonebrake in the back on drums.

Fun fact to know and tell: Exene Cervenka was married to John Doe at one time. And also to Viggo Mortensen! That's quite the list of exes. And, yes, DJ Bonebrake is his real name and John Doe is not his real name. And I nominate Billy Zoom to replace the Bob Dobbs face.

The Music: An especially strong set last night. If you are an X fan, there is no way you could be disappointed with that concert. It was like 1981 again, without getting punched, fallover drunk or maimed while dancing. The songs were mostly from the early days, without any dropoff due to time. I think we decided the notable missing songs were "Burnin' House of Love", "4th of July" and "Wild Thing". I know I'm missing some (we think they did at least 25 songs), but here are the tunes, not in any particular order.

Setlist:

"We're Desperate"
"You're Phone's Off The Hook, But You're Not"
"Soul Kitchen" (we're still not sure if this was played)
"The World's A Mess, It's In My Kiss"
"The Unheard Music"
"In This House That I Call Home"
"The Once Over Twice"
"Beyond and Back"
"Los Angeles"
"Johny Hit and Run Paulene"
"True Love"
"My Goodness"
"The New World"
"Blue Spark"
"Breathless"
"The Hungry Wolf"
"White Girl"
"We're Having Much More Fun"
"Devil Doll"
"I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts"
"Nausea"

Lots of fun last night.

Meal of Links

Look at these kitchen tips. Hey, separate your bananas. Who knew?

China has perfected the police-state. Lots of cameras.

Umm, okay.

Exercise Yard




















It was fairly obvious that David Stern had not chosen which team would move on to face the Pistons, because the Cavs were only down by 5 entering the fourth quarter of Game 7 at Boston. But since the Cavs are actually from Cleveland, we probably knew the outcome before anyone else did, and the Cavs proceeded to lose.

LeBron tried. Oh, how he tried. He tossed in 45 today. But Paul Pierce dropped in 41 for the Celtics. The only help LeBron got today was from Delonte West, who chipped in with 15 points, so I guess we'll overlook his 6 turnovers. West seemed to be the only other person besides LeBron who wanted to take big shots. He missed a wide-open three late that would have tied the game. And LeBron passed up a three in the final minute to drive to the basket, but it looked like he did not have a great handle on the ball and shot an airball. They had some chances to tie down the stretch and it didn't happen.

Statwise, both teams had their best shooting game of the series. But the Cavs were severely outrebounded in this game. That 10-rebound margin was their worst of the series and that's a big part of their game.

Today the stat that jumps out at you is the minutes played category. If there is a beef with coach Mike Brown, this is it. I find Szczerbiak playing only 15 minutes. Probably desreved the short leash, as he did nothing. But maybe re-enter the game late for threes? Damon Jones actually played 10 minutes. Pavlovic played 36 minutes! I repeat, Sasha Pavlovic played 36 minutes in Game 7. WTF? Joe Smith, who shot 3 of 5, played 16 minutes and Anderson Varejao only played 11 minutes. I understand Daniel Gibson was out, but today's rotation made no sense. I honestly can't fathom Varejao getting only 11 minutes. Especially in a game where they being outrebounded an perhaps could have used his energy.

I'll be curious to see and hear where the fans go the next couple of days. But in a game where Lebron James carried the Cavs, he did not get much help from his teammates. Cavs end their season, 97-92.

Visitor

None, it's a game 7 Sunday.