I got my six bucks worth.
This was a good night.
I learned things.

First band No More Kings.
-I caught the last two to three songs.

Here is where I am going to have pontificate a bit, as an old fart, to explain why these guys, (as well as others of the night,) were good.

You ever talk to, like, old German Zeppelin pilots and stuff, or people that are from an era where they just did amazing things that shouldn't be done, -yet they pulled it off?
(Like the Russians going to the moon in a manure spreader with six potatoes and a few rubber bands, then coming home and going up five more times??)
-Somebody usually asks the question,
'…How were you able to accomplish this?'
-and the answer usually in broken English is usually something like '…Well, nobody told us that we couldn't, and even if they did, we just wanted to go, we didn't think about 'what happens if...'

'No More Kings,' and a lot of the bands today, are kind of like that.
Nobody told them that what they're doing is kind of impossible.
I'm sure not going to.
And they're accomplishing pretty wild stuff.

You see, back in the day, when dinosaurs ruled the earth,
and Dodge made station wagons that were larger than most houses in the Tower District,
-even bands called 'Jam Bands,' tended to play stuff that followed an understood and somewhat meandering path. (Sorry, I'm also a DeadHead, I wonder if some folks got stoned JUST to make it a bit more interesting… there are definite shows where Jerry and the kids phoned the performance in.)

I was just listening to some Hendrix this afternoon. Great stuff,
-but you could kind of tell where he was going, musically, it was seamless, but it was very repetetive.
It wasn't what anyone would call, um… well, difficult.
(I'm not saying that Hendrix is not the master, I'm NOT taking away from him,,, I love Hendrix.)
—But the style was kind of more 'laid back' as a rule.

You did have your wildmen like Zappa, who changed stuff all over like crazy, and would build complex, tight, and seemingly impossible pieces that (only he,) could play,
-but the general rule in Rock and Roll? Unless you were going for Prog. Or Fusion, most bands just spaced out when it came time for solos and stuff. (Even the wilder fusion often was just mating Classical with Jazz often enough.)

Then performances became more and more canned.
Then stuff became even more processed with synthesizers and synth drums,
-and it was not unheard of to go see a band live,
-and find that they had canned stuff to help them sound like their albums,
-or they just weren't so hot live. (Classic Example? The Cars (who sucked live,)
or Electric Light Orchestra, (who were great live, -but were more than once accused of canned goods.)
Some stuff? Like the Ramones? If they played rough, well, it was Punk, it was supposed to be rough.

Then lots of things began to happen…
First, the Disco Dinosaurs all died, well, all except Rod Stewart and the Gibb Brothers, (okay, Abba too.)
And then people began to loop stuff together,
-and lone and behold, a DJ could become a one man band.

-At the same time? A lot of different styles started to become mainstream.
HipHop, different beats and loops, different influences, and the like,
-and samples of all sorts of legitimate styles, were thrown together to create stuff that broke all the rules, Some were incredibly complex.

Remember the first time you heard 'Pauls Boutique,' by the Beasties???
I remember the first time I heard 'Loser,' by Beck… totally blew my mind…
I mean, music that I used to have no interest in, (hip-hop,) thrown in with slide guitar and hillbilly mud slinging goodness…. Voila Hick-Hop was born.

Then came guys like Primus… I mean, what in the hell WAS that?
(It's brilliant, funny, twisted, crossed more lines… and you knew this was one trailer park that had something in the water supply.)

I still love R.L. Burnside, who could blend impossible stuff together, and lay down tracks and chords that were so heavy? —You'd find your own grandmother dancing on the bar in her underwear if you weren't careful. (Burnside's 'Come On In,' is still one potent album…) Maaaaaany many different genre's mixing it up, and with a definite NC-17 rating.

Times definitely were a changing.

-But we were still involving, (or just beginning to leave,) samples and loops.

If you wanted to hear somebody perform intricate and complex tunes, with insane blends of time signatures, rhythms, and quotes of seemingly uninvolved music forms in a spectacular weave?
—And hear it live? You had to go to Jazz, (or listen to Zappa.)
Or maybe Prince, or other seminal Funk bands…. —but not really rock.

Then things changed. A lot.

And this, my friends, is why the average garage band of today, if they are serious about playing? —are playing stuff that could bury the performed music of most professionals thirty years up to now.

This is where the compliment comes in, and why.

NOW, performance time? the music is not on a loop.
NOW? (Like the russians simply driving a tractor to Mars, and then coming back before close of business day?)
Bands are throwing down complex structures and speaking many languages simultaneously, and the results are astonishing.

(Don't nobody say anything… I don't want to jinx it.
It's like walking into your kitchen, and there's chupacabra doing the dishes, and whistling Harry Connick Junior…)
Just don't make an sudden moves, and go with it.
This stuff ain't supposed to be possible, (live?) and is a trip and a half, lemme tell ya.

It is done well, with precision, and with passion.
Change-ups and bouncing around like Zappa, feel gimicky and trite, if not done correctly. Even then, a lot of the 'experimental work,' doesn't feel comfortable when compared to the intricacies and alternate movements built together into today's performed music.

'No More Kings,' was a beautiful example of what the conversation now is to be.
These guys were tight. They danced their songs around like ragdolls, moving them wherever they wanted them to go, -yet these weren't lifeless forms, opaque with stitched eyes,
-these were forms made of molten glass, gems, vapors, and sections of musical conversations that were so stream of consciousness, and so random, ---yet beautifully put together so it all made sense.
I think there were six of them, and they worked together flawlessly, conversant in whatever they wished to present.
It was like having someone tell you something in six different languages, but each of the words and phrases were the best, and most accurate for what image they wanted you to understand.
-That, my friends, was unheard of even ten years ago.
I'm impressed. I seriously am.
We're not 'watching history being made.'
The history was made, I hope somebody wrote down the date and time that everything happened, -because boys and girls, things just aren't being done the same anymore, and these performers have definitely evolved into more complex and capable organisms.
I want to hear more from No More Kings.

Stone Foxes.
This is a little more difficult to describe.
I like them.
They're young.
They're messing around with styles and performance mentors that were caught on fuzzy, scratchy drug soaked vinyl and analog tape almost fifty years ago.
It's hard to comprehend an era of music when the whole era is blurry and definitely was inhaling.
There really aren't any black and white rules for the R & B, and electric blues that these guys are hooking up.
I sort of know what it's supposed to sound like, but, again, I'm an old fart.
I was raised there, and heard it all the time. My ears are different.
This is a young band trying to make sense and communicate in an ancient style, -and making it their own.
That is damn difficult.
First off…
The modern ear is critical and has been saturated with precision, a wide variance of musical styles from all over the world, -and folks aren't really as stoned and forgiving as they once were.
I seriously wonder if all of the legends and giants of the rock world would hold up at all in today's listening world.

Distortion and feedback, -even on a good day, don't behave well.
They ignore lines, and are fluid.
It's not an exact art, and it's extremely hard to play something like 'spoonful,' without it sounding like a cliché' or just a cover.
-This wasn't a problem with this music when it was current.
Heck, even back in the seventies and early eighties when bands like Skynyrd, Hatchet, and Foghat were relatively contemporary, (BadCompany was still coming out with new stuff, Zepplin put out In Through the Out Door, in what, '79?)
---there was a lot more to go on, both as a practitioner, and as a listener,
-and it was a lot easier to mimic and be shallow,
(nobody noticed that you were merely aping the song, -because they had it fresh in their mind and were hearing MORE what they had just heard on the radio, -not what you were presenting them…)
We could fill in tons of blanks back then, because it was all so close, all you had to do was spread the plaster over from the real thing and 'voila,' no seams.

Stone Foxes are trying to play a recent, historic style, through young eyes and hands.
Even Black Crowes are vintage to them.
My hat goes off to the effort that they put out.

When the songs that they were doing hooked up?
It was like a tractor pull.
There was dirt flying, there was noise, there was smell, there was roar, and they just flew like a resurrected and unrestored ME 262, come right off of the Blue Oyster Cult Album cover, to do aerobatics in the room.
-Was it seamless, neat, clean and perfect?
No.
What they were playing back then rarely ever was, and certainly will not be today, either.
This was not slick, was not polished, and was not processed.

This stuff had hair on it, and it was real.
That earns my respect.

I want them to keep at it, not just because they are preserving the garage bands, (or basement band, in my case,)
—but because they are taking an ancient artform and building something new, in the old style.

These guys are worth watching,
I found myself, amidst comments to friends in the audience, suddenly looking up and saying, '….now, see, SEE, THAT's good, now THAT's GOOD.'

Band Three: Same Shape.
-Remember all that stuff I said about bands playing (seemingly,) impossible types of music together, and doing so beautifully, live?
Yeah, that.

-First off, If the lead guitarist is also the main guy for Starline's Sound???
-I now understand why Starline's sound is so good.

(I have always liked Starline's sound, in truth? I'd rather hear a band play there than anywhere else.)
-This is a tight, precise, fierce, and well oiled machine.
This band will have it's way with you.
When you dance? Let this band lead.
This band knows what it's doing.
The performance was excellent.

In fact, they were the reason why I ventured out this evening, -and I'm really glad I did.
It's hard to write about something when it works this well, in truth.
(Shocking, but I'm at a loss for words, It's like when you're standing somewhere, and a breathtakingly beautiful person just walks up to you, and looks you in the eye, and starts talking to you.
-You just sit there and babble…)

I think this is one of the better guitarists I've heard in the valley.
-As a team, these musicians move in and out of each others parts beautifully.
It's obvious that they blend well, and work together well.

-Because it was my first time hearing these guys, live, (I heard one song on KFSR, maybe two, but didn't catch the name of them,) —I made it a point to catch the show.

I am told that they are 'unsigned.'
I also am told that they are also produced by Nino Moschella.
THAT makes sense.
Nino's own personal work, (though painfully short performance wise,) —are flawless and the real deal in terms of musicianship.
-Whether it's his influence on Same Shape, or Same Shape's influence on Him, (I am not sure if any of the members swap between,) ---they are good company for each other in that BOTH deliver the goods in their songs and reward the audience with a very charged and solid performance.

(This evening we were graced with (I think) a two man mosh pit, or sorts, -which was hilarious, ---but rather than looking stupid, these folks just stood up there, all hand gestures and bouncing around, looking more like suitable hood ornaments at the front of something very very cool. ---I never thought I'd see THAT.)
For some reason I think of Steely Dan with unreal guitar work, (lets head up past Prince, and go right into speed metal, or grind-core…. Again, a cuisine that brings to the table two very different flavors, -yet, they work beautifully.)

To say that the guitarist was extraordinary would be a risk of saying that he was better than the other members of the band. Such would not at all be the case, they were all that good.

It was not high-tech.
We're back with the Russians flying around again, -only this time, instead of a moon shot, they're doing aerobatics and cutting up some serious rug on the dancefloor…
And like the Russians going to the moon, (or anywhere for that matter,) they were driving tractors, ox carts, satellites, Mig 21's, Rockets, Station Wagons, ---whatever they wanted, -and they were owning the sky, -and putting on one hell of a show.

Same Shape is a serious force to be reckoned with.

I, for one, am impressed.

PS.
To the lovely young lady who had the big pretty eyes who was standing next to me, who accidentally tapped my shoulder, (the surgery one?)
No harm done, sweetheart, I'm on enough vicadin to put an elephant on the moon.
And I think it was really sweet that you took care of your dad when he had his shoulder done too…. I'll be on the look out for those 'range of motion,' machines this upcoming week.
-And the stuff you want to help with your knee injury?
Glucosamine Sulfate, (without Kondroitin,) -it takes about a month to build in your system, but it's night and day for the joints, kitten, you'll see.

Frank, the lovely NewYawker who advises the faculty, Der Hyphenator, (and his charming Dr. Missus,) —and Even Mike, who was nice enough to ask about the shoulder… (nice meeting you, sir.)

It was a good evening.

Id've a paid 18.00 bucks, and still thought it was a good time.
Great show, Starline.