I’m so far behind. I haven’t updated this thing in a while which makes me sad. But I wanted to take some time to post a few items for posterity…so that in a few years maybe I’ll remember them. The Butthole Surfers concert at the Granada here in Dallas on Oct 22, 2008 is just the type of thing I’m thinking about.
When I found out that the Surfers were playing a series of shows with their classic late ’80s line-up (Gibby Haynes, Paul Leary, Jeff Pinkus and the twin drumming of King Koffee and Theresa Taylor), I was stoked. I managed to order tickets online three days before they officially went on sale. I had so much going on in October that I really didn’t have much time to get excited about the show however. The Granada is not one of my favorite venues to see a band. I take that back. It’s a great place to “see” a band but it’s an awful place to hear a band. It’s an old movie theater that I used to actually see movies in back in the day. The conversion to a live music palace was apparently little more than sticking some speakers above the stage. Sound vibrates off the bare walls and around the auditorium creating an echo-chamber effect.
Holly Tamale and I arrived early for the show and since it was on a freakin’ Wednesday night parking was not a problem. I didn’t recognize many people at the show. There were a lot of old-timers — dudes and dudettes who don’t really go out to shows anymore. I did see Jack with One Eye/Tomorrowpeople drummer/old friend Ben Burt there. We shared a laugh. I managed to drink a few beers but kept it rather sedate — a far cry from the days of yore when a Butthole Surfers show meant a night of debauchery. But I did mention that this was on a Wednesday, right?
Some technical glitches spoiled the reveal of the band. While they droned on with “22 Going on 23,” the show’s visual portion was derailed by malfunctioning connections. After a while, things gelled. It was one hit after another. Seriously, I’ve seen the group several time previously but this time, they really did play almost everything I wanted to hear! Except “Sweatloaf.” They even played their version of R.E.M‘s “The One I Love.” I felt like I was in the middle of a recording session of DOUBLE LIVE. We stayed for the whole two hours and I wanted more. I couldn’t hear Leary’s guitar for shit but everything else sounded real good. Dated? I dunno. There was a sludgey vibe throughout everything. I think one could make a very good case that the Butthole Surfers were the deadbeat daddies of grunge. Or one of the gene donors, anyway.
After the show, Holly and I made our way to the parking lot and who do we spy but none other than Gibby Haynes himself. Snapped a few photos with Gibby and Holly together. The iPhone’s lack of a flash prevented me from getting anything really good but there ya go…
