Review: Pinkeye @ Meatball Magic.

It's 2:56 a.m. It still feels like Friday, but technically it's Saturday morning. Shit, I have to take my truck into the shop in a few hours. It's been running kinda weird these days. Figure I better get it checked on. I'm not a fan of breaking down in the middle of the road. It's never actually happened to me, but I imagine its not fun. I've a tire blow on the freeway, and that damn near sucked. I had to wait like 3 hours for AAA to come because my spare was stuck underneath the truck and I didn't have the right tool to remove it.

I was driving to Los Angeles and it blew right outside of Bakersfield. The tow truck guy gave me a ride back home. I had to listen to his ass talk about how he wanted to start a rent-to-own furniture business, and how some of his female customers want to have sex with him. It was interesting. But enough about that. Let's talk about what happened tonight at the Red Lantern. Hmmm, I'm setting it up as if some crazy shiz went down... No worries, it was just Pinkeye.

As some of you know, Fresno's Pinkeye "reunited" for a show at Meatball Magic. (p.s. there wont be any links because my computer is too slow and I don't feel like dealing with it.) I put quotes around reunited because I have a feeling Pinkeye will be "reuniting" many times in the years to come (which probably means every time Pinkeye frontman "Bad" Andy Bunnell comes to visit Fresno). Bad Andy - who recently moved to L.A. - was back in town to play a couple Pinkeye gigs. The first was at Fresno State late Friday (4/7) afternoon. Apparently, it was for a school project (or some shit like that). Do I care? No. The second show was at the aforementioned Meatball Magic (indie/electro dance party at the Red Lantern on Belmont).

In his blog, Fresno Bee music writer Mike Oz said something about the show being a CD release party for Pinkeye's new album, Ravishing. Technically, I dont think it was a CD release party, although it was the first time the band sold the new record. The album has been done for a while now, but for one reason or another, it's never been "officially" released. Whatever. I guess if whoever is reading this really wants a copy of Ravishing, they can find Pinkeyes Myspace page and contact them. I don't know the exact price, but a source in the band says they rang from $6 to $8. Oh yeah, the artwork on the album was done by Fresno native (Ronald) Dzerigian. I think he lives in L.A. now. (Random Ronald fact: his birthday is on 9/11).

Let's back up a second. I knew I'd end up going to Meatball Magic tonight, not only because I like Pinkeye a lot, but because I knew MM's Alan (aka Miss CoCo) would give me shit if I didn't show. He's one of the DJs there. (By the way, in case you didn't catch it earlier Friday evening, Meatball Magic "DJs" - Heinz, Cuddles and Cuckoo - were interviewed on Fresnos 88.1 on your FM dial. Alan said he was gonna try and stream the interview on MM's Myspace page.)

Every time Meatball Magic rolls around (first and third Friday of every month), I'm really tired and don't feel like going out. Tonight was no different, but I forced myself. Prior to leaving my house, I was sleeping. And before that I was watching "The Sopranos." Anyone watching the new season? It's kinda dark. Me like. It's taken a while to get rollin', but I think things are finally starting to pick up. Sunday's new episode should be legit. We'll see.

So... what should I say about the Pinkeye show? I guess I can start off by saying the opening bands were The Batteries, It'll Grow Back and a solo performance from James Brittain-Gore (formerly of No Cello). In between bands, DJ Kumar "Niilo" Santiago provided some tunes. I made up that DJ name because I cant remember the real one. But I'm guessing it's based on some character in a John Waters film.

I felt important tonight because shortly after I arrived at Meatball, James Brittain-Gore came up and handed me a copy of his upcoming self-titled debut release. The cover of the album has a cool drawing of Brittain-Gores face, sketched by Breanna Smeds. (Plug, plug.) Ha. Just kidding. James is on Myspace in case you want to chat with him about his new record. Its got 10 tracks, and it was recorded by Matt Orme at Gardenside Studios in Fresno. There's a bunch of guest performers on there. Should be interesting.

OK, back to Pinkeye. Well, here's the first thing that kinda sucked: Pinkeye didn't even step on stage until after one. Keep in mind the Red Lantern starts kickin' people out about 1:45 (as do most bars in this state). The place was pretty packed with a bunch of Fresno rock stars. I was disappointed to see Rademacher frontman Malcolm Sosa was NOT there. Shame, shame. Fresnofamous.com Editor Jarah Euston said Sosa was home asleep. She would know because she's his girlfriend. In case ya'll didn't know, Fresno Famous is a sponsor of Meatball Magic. FF has a sign and everything to prove it. Just thought I'd toss that fact into the mix.

So by the time Pinkeye stepped on stage, the place was almost ready to close. But that didn't stop them from rockin'. Bad Andy started the off by saying like, "Its been too fuckin' long Fresno." Um, didn't he only move away like two months ago??? Ha. I'm joking. Don't trip Bunnell. It's always interesting watching a Pinkeye gig. It's especially interesting for me to watch since I'm like the only one not dancing. I've said this before and I'll say it again: People can't help but shake their booty's while watching Pinkeye perform. I guess the music is really catchy or something. I haven't come across many people who dont like the band. I think it boils down to Bad Andy being a badass songwriter. That's my opinion, at least. It probably didn't hurt that Meatball Magic is a dance party and people attended the event with bootay-shakin' on their mind's.

Regardless, Pinkeye could play at a funeral and people would still dance. Speaking of which, the guys played their ever-popular KFSR 90.7 hit "Texas Funeral." Well, the song isn't a hit on the Fresno State station anymore, but it was about two years ago when I was a DJ there. Tonight's show also included such favorites at "Library Girl" and "Ravishing." That last song is one of my favorites. Apparently, it used to be an old American Sloth song. Yeah. There were more songs, but I already forgot which ones. The usual.

I got the biggest smile on my face when Niilo stepped on stage to play bass on a few songs. Niilo was Pinkeye;s original bassist until he left to pursue other musical endeavors. Now Niilo fronts the Magic Whores, who are pretty neato. It was nice seeing the old gang back together. Brought back memories of the good ol' days when I had faith that Pinkeye could actually have a presence in the music world beyond Fresno. Oh well.

That's about it. I'll end the blog with these words: The show was fun. And I think everyone else had fun, too. I guess I could write a little more, but I'm too tired. If anyone was at the show and wants to post something I forget to mention, the floor is all yours... Night.

p.s. does anybody know who those two really tall dudes were? One was wearing a K Records T-shirt if that is any help. They looked like there were in an hip band or something.