Ted's Polish-Mexican Page

Todd Lybeck commented that I have not posted in two days...well, dude, you haven't posted a reply in two weeks...back atcha. And...did you make Kool-Aid in the bathroom sink?


I went to Plush last night for what they termed an early show. I think early means that they open the doors earlier so you can stand around and wait for the band for longer.

Plush is a nice spot. At one point, I wanted to make it my hangout at one point. Just didn't work out. The bar staff there, 'cept for one guy, just isn't that friendly. I'd think it was just me, but a woman there last night told me that they even pissed off Dave Alvin. Plush is the only place I've ever been where a bartender gave me grief for not ordering alchohol. That's happened twice.

But, they bring in good bands, and it is a great place to see them.

The opening act was The Sweat Band, which I thought was a clever name, but apparently there is a band in South Dakota called that too. I could only find one picture of them. Sometime, try doing a Google image search for the term "Sweat Band", see how useful that turns out.

The Sweat Band is two women and a male drummer who's biceps are the size of my thighs. Their sound kind of reminded me of that thing that was going on in the late 80's before they called it Goth. I don't know, I thought of Phantasmagoria-era Damned. Yeah, the Damned sucked at that point...but its the only example I can think of. The stances of the singer/guitarist sort of reminded me of a young Joan Jett. And yeah, I think they own more than one Runaways album.

They did a cover of Jerry Reed's "Ain't That Lovin' You." Hey, if a band covers Jerry Reed, that's a good sign. Sort of like me giving the Okmoniks a chance because they covered a song by Tucson proto-scenesters the Dearly Beloved. It sounded like they heard the Jerry Reed version, since it was more like that than Link Wray's cover with his desperate missing lung snarl. (NB- Yes, Link Wray sang once in a while, and as much as I love his version of this song, hearing it will tell you why he is known as an instrumentalist)

Calexico put on a heck of a show, but I haven't seen them put on a bad show since 1999. They line up was Joey and Johnny, plus Jacob Valenzuela, Martin Wenk, Paul Niehaus and Volker Zander. Naim Amor and Ruben Moreno came on for a few songs near the end. Ruben Moreno was at the Tammies before he came to the show, and presented the awards for Best Local Band to them.

Calexico did a cover of the Bobby Fuller Four's "Let Her Dance." Wow, here I thought I was the only person who had heard that song, let alone like that song. This means that my band, when they finally are together, can't cover it or "Ain't That Lovin' You." Ruins my plans.

Calexico also did a cover of Al Perry's "Dreaming." I always thought there was a rule that bands couldn't cover songs by other bands in their scene. I'll have to go back and check the book.

Calexico ended the show with Güerro Canelo. At least they didn't write about Rigo's. Well, when I say ended, that may be the wrong word to use. They came back on for an encore that went, I think, 45 minutes. I'd like to think that they don't give audiences in other towns encores that long. They just love us more. Yeah.



Jim Hudson was at the show, big suprise. Any of you who go to clubs in town regularly have seen him, he's the guy who is WAY overdressed. Jim has a website now called TucsonScene, where he reviews local shows. It isn't Tucson Underground, but who could be?

Jim is really excited about the Sweat Band. I haven't seen him get this excited since the Okmoniks. Hmm. Say, that's a band that features young, attractive women too. I'd never do that...follow a band because I'm attracted to the lead singer...Kira from Winelord doesn't count.



Lucy died! No, not the early hominid, but Lucy...



Quick movie review from one of my students:

"Yeah, Titanic is tight: one hour of talking, two hours of drowning."



So, hopefully Todd is happy now. I suppose I should thank Elizabeth Rogers for jumping to my defense. Thank you.

Do zobaczenia. Hasta la proxima.