I don't mind not getting wet up front
the TJ record is one of the greatest
live recordings of ever all timeness

The Black Lips came next, and I didn't know what to expect since there were great reviews and piss-poor reviews of their Crocodile show. From the get-go it wasn't the borefest that some reported from the Croc. The crowd at the Brotherhood was eating it up big time, who knows though, maybe it was all the hype. They certainly didn't put on the type of show that gave them all the hype(i.e. excrement, vomiting), but shit, they weren't terrible. Not any worse than any name ROCK band like the White Stripes. All in all, it was a decent, not great, show with some highlights in the middle. Their energy was a little lacking in a lot of spots, which was unlike other times I saw them. I got tired of it all at the end and amused myself by imagining Calvin Johnson snorting big piles of cocaine off the commemorative Black Lips collecter's plates. The Lips bashed out the rest of the songs and the crowd seemed satisfied. Sound wise they have always struck me as a new-nuggets group that mines different territory than new era garage-cum-rock gunslingers. They're grabbing the more melodic "back from the grave" stuff. My man Ruben calls them the swell maps/early strolling bones. But you know as long as they make guitars, amps, and drums, kids are gonna bash the shit out of em and somewhere along the line they'll discover old and new garage rock just like 808 toting freaks discover early electro and new wave.

After the show, doing the dance of "After party or drive back" we found out one of the guitarists was really sick at the Seattle show and also in Oly. Too bad, but that's life on the road. This really sealed the deal and we split

On the way home, driving up I-5, my man Ruben put in a promo of the upcoming live Black Lips CD, "Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo", which was recorded in Tijuana, Mexico. And this shit killed, I fucking loved it. More than the (also) Mike McHugh-recorded "In Bloom".

Sitting there monday night, watching "I Love You, Alice B. Toklas", I thought back to the song "Dirty Hands", with it's surf-psych sound and shit-snot vocals repeating, "Do you really wanna hold my dirty hands" and the singer talking about getting Chupacabra tatooed on his belly button. Maybe it was the mood from being on the road or the four vodka sodas, but I really rode on that.

My band played that funhouse show with them. Before playing the show I must of had 7 different people tell me how great the black lips were beforehand. And every single one of these people follow the statement of greatness with "i heard they play guitar with their dicks". So the day of the show the black lips play a great set, and also do some dick guitar playing and all those people come up and say "wow the black lips are so great. You see them play with their dicks?" poop and pee is what sells.

I was much more impressed by the barfing while playing though. That was awesome!!

and they have some nice songs too.