We're All Mad Here, Alice
Went out last night to see the very fine southern rock band Cowboy Mouth tear apart the Bowery Ballroom down on Delancey. I was a little nervous about taking my 5-months pregnant date along for a number of reasons. First, Delancey is the kind of street where you can park your car, be it a brand new Lexus or a 1981 Corolla, and run into a deli for a cup of coffee. When you return, there's a good chance your car will already be in El Salvador, being driven by a ranchero down dusty streets. It's no secret that I've long had Marxist leanings, but seeing my car up on blocks is not the kind of collective reallocation of wealth that I had in mind. Second, the Bowery Ballroom itself is kind of a dive. The Bowery is the avenue for which the term "Skid Row" was originally coined.
Unlike the Less than Jake show, everything happened just perfectly: no getting lost, band went on stage at the right time, and played a fantastic set. The drummer Fred, who is also the lead singer, spends much of his time on his feet, during and after-song banter. Usually he exhorts people to scream louder, jump up and down, sing along. There was a couple sitting at a table up in the balcony, and he stopped the show to tell them the get the fuck on their feet and wouldn't restart until they had all stood up. A high-energy guy, no doubt.
Fred's all about love in the room, so at some point he said “I want you to turn and hug the person next to you, kiss 'em if you feel like it (after all, this ain't Milwaukee folks, THIS IS NEW YORK FUCKING CITY!!"). He yells a lot. So I hugged my wife, and there was a heavily tattooed guy on the other side of me, so I kind of ignored him. About five songs later, he repeated the request, so I did what I had done the first time. I glanced to the right and saw a couple little chickies dancing. I had done nothing more than slightly glance to the starboard when one of them grabbed me in a big ol' fuck-me hug, and kissed me. She was real cute too.
It was worth the silent ride home. Well worth it.