Review: Anarchist Prom Night.

I know most of you won't read this whole thing. I don't blame you. If I were you, I wouldn't read it, either. To be honest, I'm just in the mood to write. No more, no less. But once you get past the bullshit two-graph intro, I actually talk about music. I promise.

Man, I'm really tired. Maybe it's because I'm on my second glass of red wine. It's sitting on a TV tray to my right. What's funny is that sitting directly in front of the wine is a cup of black coffee. I'm drinking both simultaneously. A few minutes ago I had some cheese from Italy. It was tasty. I'm not lying.

There's some family over. We're all having dinner. Armenian style. The only way. This is the reason why I'm drinking wine and eating cheese from Firenze. The wine, by the way, was a Christmas gift from a co-worker. It's good stuff. While I'm waiting for the lamb chops to cook, I sit at my computer. I'm doing two things: working on an interview for work and checking Myspace. No messages. A sad day, indeed.

Last night (Saturday, May 20, 2006) I went to a weird show. Weird in a good way, I guess. Apparently, it was to raise money for this community center on F Street. 935, to be exact. I paid a five dollar "donation" for several bands. I'd say it was well worth it. I got to see my buddies from Rademacher, They Call Me Greyhound, and Needy Eevy. The theme of the show was "Anarchist Prom Night." I think. If you think I'm fooling you, I still have the "A" with a circle around it (anarchy symbol) on my right hand. I was branded with a Sharpie as I paid and walked in. But if you want to see it, youd better act quick: it's fading by the hour.

The whole atmosphere of the show reminded me of that scene in "American History X." You remember, when that little kid from "Terminator 2" (Ed Furlong, I think) was at that Nazi skinhead party and his brother - a former skinhead - comes and starts some trouble. Sorry if you don't recall. And if you haven't seen the movie, I suggest you stop reading this foolish blog, go to Blockbuster or whatever, and rent it. (For the record, Anarchist Prom night was NOT a skinhead shindig, nor was it affiliated with anything of the sort.)

Anyway.

Last night's show didn't remind of the movie because it was a skinhead shindig. To be honest, I can't explain why it reminded me of that scene. It just did, OK? Now that I think of it, there was this really drunk guy who was being obnoxious. He kinda looked like a skinhead. I don't think he was, though. That's a good thing. Moving on...

As I mentioned above, the theme of the show was "Anarchist Prom Night." Everybody dressed up in weird looking prom gear. I didn't. Why? Because I'm not fun. Plus, the tux shop screwed up on my measurements. Two things I won't forget about last night: most of the guys were wearing dresses (for which I have no explanation), and another guy (Logan, I think) was wearing see-through underwear and suspenders. Nothing else. It was quite the spectacle. I wish I could erase it from my memory, but I can't. Oh well.

It was an all-ages show, which is good. The only thing that sucks for a person of almost 25 years is that all-ages shows usually don't server beer. Instead, Stephanie kindly offered me a Tecate. Too bad there weren't any limes. It was good, nevertheless. Thanks.

You (the reader) don't realize this, but I took a short break from the time I wrote "It was good, nevertheless. Thanks," to what I'm writing at this moment. Approximately 30 to 45 minutes. You see, I went and had dinner with various members of my family. And, Jillian: If you're reading this, my parents and aunt & uncle mentioned their past trip to Argentina during our casual dinner conversation. I had to tell you. You'll make it there someday, I'm quite sure. xo.

It's nice having dinner with family. You (the reader) should try it sometime.

Back to the show. I got there about 10:30, hoping to leave around 12. I left at approximately 2:30 - that's my alibi, at least. I wasn't even going to go, either. I had planned on spending a nice evening at home doing nothing. I came home at about 9 after having playing a few games of chess with former/future guest blogger, Seb (K), who always manages to defeat me. It's quite frustrating. I beat him once or twice back in Armenia, though. The quote of the game came from me: "I wonder if Dostoevsky was a good chess player?" The reason my buddy Fyodor's name came up is because I brought with me to the chess game "The Great Short Works of..." There are some great stories in it: "White Nights," "Notes From (the) Underground," "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man," etc. I suggest you either buy or check it out from the library. Short works my ass.

So yeah. I got back home around 9, checked Myspace bulletins, and saw that They Call Me Greyhound was playing. I hadn't seen them perform in a while, so I called up "Greyhound" Mike - who plays keyboard in the two-man show - and asked what time they were going on. He said about 10:30. I showed up around a quarter till and spotted "Greyhound" Mike, who told me they weren't going on until later. Luckily, I got there right in time for Rademacher, who seems to get better and better each time I see them. Boy, I'll tell you. They had the crowd going good. It was like watching a real band. I think Fresno finally has a group that looks and sounds like a band.

Speaking of Rademacher, I had a good but short conversation with the band's guitarist, Brad. He's the guy who kinda looks like me (not that many of you reading this actually know what I look like). And the reason we look somewhat similar is because we're related in some way or another -cousins, to be exact. If you still dont know who Brad B is, he's the one in Rademacher who's either wearing a headband or flip flops. Long hair, beard, etc. The memorable quote of the conversation came from me, asking: "So, is anyone in your family a farmer?"

Anyway. He talked about Rademacher's upcoming nationwide tour. I was rattling off questions about it like some kind of reporter. Ha. He told me all about how they're renting a mini-van and playing 15 shows in 17 days. I have very much respect for Mike M and the rest of the Rademacher crew. They've put a lot of effort into making this tour happen. And they did it all on their own - no booking agent. I love people who start from scratch. It's the only way to learn.

Unfortunately, the conversation between Brad and myself was cut short because of his allergies. What was it he said? His allergies haven't been this bad since he was in fifth grade? Something like that. Hope you feel better, man. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Brad's excellent car-reversal skills. As he was leaving the show, he managed to back his car out of a very tight spot. It was extremely impressive.

Another interesting conversation I had was with Brad's girlfriend, Greer, who also serves as Rademacher's bass player. Greer and I go way back. We met at Fresno State several years ago. She and I shared an MCJ class. Before we get to the aforementioned "interesting conversation," I just remembered something else. As we stood watching Fresno's Hop Skotch Heros perform a cover of Bikini Kill's "Rebel Girl," Greer reminded me of the time I burned her a copy of Bikini Kill's Reject All American. Man, that's a great album. Go buy it. Don't download it - BUY IT! Or I will be forced to tell Kathleen. Hanna, that is.

Since you've all waited so very patiently, I'll reveal this "interesting conversation" Greer and I had. It's not certain or anything, but she's hoping to open some kind of independent record store in Fresno. At first, I didn't know if it was such a good idea. You know, because CDs are slowly going the way of the Dodo and downloading is in full force. But after some thought, I think this could be a really cool thing for our humble city. If it ever does happen, I expect each and every one of you to buy CDs from her. That means no Tower Records, no Best Buy, no Amazon.com and certainly no Soulseek! (that goes for you, too, Cuckoo.) Deal?

What else happened at the Anarchist Prom? Well, this band called Tree Wizard was really pissed because they didn't get to play. Needy Eevy was the last band to go on and, apparently, Tree Wizard was supposed to go on before them. I heard the guys ranting and raving in the parking lot about how unorganized the whole thing was. Eh, shit happens. Sometimes you get screwed. It sucks, yes, but that's the price you pay for being a rock 'n' roller.

This is totally off subject but before I forget I'd like to mention what happened during a visit I made to Starbucks (aka: Satan) today. I went there to work on this interview I'm doing for work. I had my laptop and everything. I went to the counter and ordered a medium-sized black coffee. The reason I say "medium" is because I can't bring myself to say the ridiculous name they use for "medium." I believe it's some Italian word. Another interesting thing. After I ordered, the girl working the counter said: "Wow, nobody really orders straight coffee anymore." To which I replied: "Do they usually all that mochacino crap?" And she answered: "Yeah."

Aside from that, while working on my interview, I had a fantastic listening reunion with my old pals L7. Oh, how I love L7. Remember when they made a cameo in "Serial Mom"? Fabulous, simply fabulous. After seeing L7 in that flick, I went out and bought the cassette soundtrack the very next day. Please tell me: how can one beat songs like "Pretend We're Dead," "Andres," "Drama" and "Shitlist"? One can't. Simple as that.

I'm getting tired of writing, so I think I'll wrap this baby up. On the way home last night, I listened to Tapes 'n Tapes. I like the second song called "The Iliad" on their latest album, The Loon. In no way is this an endorsement for the band. I pretty much only like that one song. And since my car doesn't have a CD player - or FM radio, for that matter - I'm forced to illegally listen through my iPod and/or portable CD player. That means headphones. I've never understood why it's illegal to wear headphones while driving, but it's perfectly legal to talk on a cell phone. One will never know. I won't lose too much sleep over it. Believe me.