20 May 2000 NYC Bowery Ballroom:
The show was prefaced by a reunion with an old friend Joseph who's been
living the Jerseylife ever since his failed marriage and urban pressures
threatened his already fragile sanity last winter. We ate at Dojo with
some other pals and caught the last song of the Atombombpocketknife
in-store at Sound Fury. We grabbed St. wIde's 40's at a bodega for some
concert prep (Jo and me always do 40's for MM shows), but we weren't in
Sara Delano Roosevelt Park for 5 minutes before a squad car rolled in.
The cop was as sweet and apologetic as they come, but still gave me the
open container of alcohol citation, which, this one thankfully comes more
than six months since the last one, or my night would have been over right
then. But so, he let us keep the 40's and we walked over to Joseph's car
to drink them in privacy. Things get hazy and my memory less reliable at
this point. I returned to the bodega for more malt liquor and we killed
the battery on Joey's oldsmobile blasting Mouse CD's. Lord knows what any
passers by thought about a car with five kids drinking from paper bags and
listening to indie rock. But then we stumbled down Delancey and made it
to the Ballroom just in time to catch the last tune of the Les Savy Fav
set which, I was startled to see Walt Whitman singing for the band. But
Walt was from Brooklyn too. So then the between band lull and I wrongly
decided I needed another beer. But something I said or the way I walked
drew the attention of the large, over-zealous security staff and one of
those assholes dragged me out the door and told me my night was over
before I'd even laid eyes on Modest Mouse. My bitching and moaning drew
threats of violence from the macho motherfuckers at the door and I thought
it prudent to not add an ass-beating to my shitty, failed evening. I
heard later that they kicked out lots of people for being rowdy and
whatnot. I remember some guy on this list talking serious shit aboutthe
Bowery Ballroom some time ago. I concur.
22 May 2000 Philadelphia Theatre of the Living Arts:
Joseph drove me down to Philly and we went to his friend Eric's place who
insisted on playing nearly all of the new 3 CD album by Rob Walmart, a
kind of annoying Beckish philly outfit. Then we all went out for big
bottles of Yuengling (sp?) and gathered the troops for the evening's
festivities. Most of the kids I met that night were extremely aloof and
unfriendly and far more interested in the upkeep of their hairstyles than
in conversation with some outsider. I tried to enlist some of my
companions in conversation about Modest Mouse, but I guess it's just not
hip to admit interest in the band you're paying to see. After a
cheesesteak run we made it to the show after the opening bands had wrapped
up. The show itself was odd: excellent, long setlist and (despite a few
glitches) really good sound. The club is rather cavernous and I liked the
slight boomy echo the space created. But something was lacking. I feel
like Isaac really feeds off a crowd's energy and I have never, in many
Modest Mouse shows, seen a crowd with less energy than this one. Nearly
everyone stood stock still with frowns on their faces. A few betrayed
their enjoyment by barely perceptible rhythmic head nodding. Isaac's
performance seemed somewhat lackluster, a bit like he was just going
through the motions. The band didn't really cut loose until the encore.
Despite this, Broke and Grey Ice Water were both beautiful surprises. I
wasn't all that into the new arrangement of Tundra/Desert, but I'm glad to
seee they're changing things up. And I am anti the awful backup singing
on Polar Opposites by extra guitarist guy.
23 May 2000 Washington DC Black Cat:
My evening began with an initial scare when my pal Matt revealed he had
bought tix for the wrong night. But we showed up early and got in at the
door. I wasn't that into Stinking Lizzaveta so we retired to the
red room for awhile and worked on some Rolling Rocks. We came back out
for Califone, because I'm a big fan of their new EP. I had seen them open
for MM a few years ago at Tramps, and been kinda bored. But Lord, how
they have gotten things together since then. The sound was
absolutely perfect, the crowd was fairly quiet and those songs were so
goddamed beautiful. Haven't been that moved at a show since I saw Son
Volt last autumn, and I'd been stoned as hell for that one. Everybody
catching this tour down the road, I can't recommend enough you show up
early for Califone. Between bands I wound up standing in front and
blocking the view of a pretty blonde girl and so I shifted and we talked
and she was flirty which would turn into a problematic distraction for the
duration of the modest Mouse set. I kept paying far more attention to my
proximity to the blonde and the way her hand kept brushing up against
mine. Too bad, because the band was as good as I've ever seen them and
the girl left immediately after the show
