I read somewhere that "you never knew how lonely you were" until you have a son -- which is wonderfully true. Yesterday, while my Baby Momma was out cruising for boys with her sister, I cranked up my guitar amp and put The Pooper on his belly in his crib -- Then I stood in his doorway and ripped through "Academy Fight Song," "Pop Song '89," "In the Meantime," "Seven Nation Army," "Begin the Begin," "Blitzkrieg Bop," and "See No Evil." Every minute or so, Poop's head would pop up like a groundhog, grinning and laughing at me until his arms gave out. The house shook, the dogs barked, Poops made "sppppllltt" noises, and I have never felt so unreasonably joyful without a drug that made me actually enjoy Paul Oakenfold or having run 20 miles.
I started wondering whether he would remember this kind of stuff when he was older, and whether I was damaging his hearing or he would rebel by listening to soft jazz (I have a dream of us being in a punk band together when he's old enough -- The Stinks).
So I was curious whether any of y'all had memories of your folks and music (mine is driving around in my dad's pickup listening to "Desperado" with him singing along -- he sings about as well as me, sort of a Yogi-Bear-with-his-nuts-caught-in-a-bear-trap kind of vibe)?
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Some memories:
* A lot of "Kumbayah," "I'm Gonna Let It Shine," and "Father Abraham" (parents were church youth group leaders).
* Dad and his Mac Davis "Greatest Hits" 8-track. Now he likes Jimmy Buffet.
* Mom and The Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack album. They took disco lessons for about two weeks and threw ridiculous -- ridiculous -- parties where all these upper middle class rural Indiana white people would shake their booties to "Night on Dosco Mountain" and such in our living room. I still have the album and play it often.
But really we were the ones who brought music into the house when my brother and I formed a band with two other brothers from the neighborhood, that went by various names, including The Howl and Spazm. Funny to have them clapping their hands to our ear-splitting basement versions of "Hot Legs" and "American Woman."
Yea -- my neighbors still bring up my high school band's completely obscene garage rock versions of "Housequake" and "We Got the Beat."(we were called The Flaming Faggots -- a burning bundle of sticks -- a clearly hilarious sophomore year English quote from Shakespeare -- I think from The Merchant of Venice -- had to change it to Super Burrito for the high school talent show). Good times.
And you can find a picture of Spazm -- sorry, The Howl -- playing that very high school dance here (up front slinging his Telly is Gwarbot, with Grendel in the background right, wielding his Rick):
http://www.iecc.com/xochi/Spasm.jpg
That is the coolest picture I have ever seen.
Tell me this, though, El Gordo -- WHY WAS I WEARING WHITE WRISTBANDS AND A WHITE "NECKBAND"?! What sort of look was I going for?? "Military tennis-player Huey Lewis?"
And another thing: If I ever have a son and he ever sees that picture, we'll have to jump in the car and speed to the nearest therapist.
In the interest of full disclosure, I bring you the Kerry Egan Experience.
http://www.contort.com/tkee/
In the interest of full disclosure, I bring you the Kerry Egan Experience.
www.contort.com/tkee
I like how it starts out rocking, and people are dancing optimistically, then the song drunkenly slows down and people stop caring. It's when they stopped caring that I used to want to smash my bass over their heads.
For its one time wedding appearance, TheKEE setlist was "Judy and the Dream of Horses," by Belle and Sebastian, "Cemetery Gates," by the Smiths, "Sweet Home Alabama" (which I made up the lyrics to because I was too drunk to remember them and still recovering from my night in jail), "Blister in the Sun," "Girlfriend," by Matthew Sweet, "Kerry Anne" (a TheKEE original), "Araby," by The Reivers, "Wildflower," by the Cult, "Surrender," by Cheap Trick, "Oppenheimer," by the Old 97s, and "Box Full of Letters," by Wilco. Also, a sort of drum circle thing when the really drunk folks in the crowd took apart our percussionist's drumset and started beating it with beer bottles -- you can see the beginning of this at the end of "Kerry Anne."
The extended DVD is forthcoming on Elektra Japan.
And dude, if you still have that sweet bass, I think Earthgoat needs some theme music for the site.
Didn't the band's set got cut-off midway thru at the wedding of El Gordo?
I remember Willie Nelson, and before that, riding in the back of the car and listening to my mom's 8-tracks of Fiddler on the Roof and John Denver.
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