ticket stubs

i was driving home tonight from dinner and a song by 'grant lee buffalo' came on which got me thinking, for what reason i don't know really, about some of the great shows i have seen over my life time...get ready, a top ? list is on it's way....

i first heard grant lee buffalo on the old jon stewart late night show and saw them perform 'mockingbirds" that night. i was a little stunned i have to say. years later i finally got to see them perform at the starfish room and remember having a conversation with, then, entertainment writer for the globe and mail, chris defoe, and him saying he had no idea they were so good...they were.

i saw wendy o. and the plasmatics a the gardens at the pne with my pal barry while were still in high school. the show was wicked and what made it even better was the conversation i had with joey shithead, who we ran into there, about the state of rock and roll in general while he fillled his mouth over and over again with sunflower seeds and kinda spat them out as he spoke with us.

don bull and i made the scene in 1981 or so for a at the old laundromat on richards street, now called richards on richards, for hardcore 81. we may have gone both nights but the night i remember best was a bill that had doa, seven seconds, black flag, bludgeoned pigs and um..someone else...my girlfriend at the time, karen, wasn't as impressed as we were.

in 198? guido and i were in LA hanging out and doing whatever it was we should be doing in LA and eneded up at a show in anaheim that featured the vocal stylings of ice-t, NWA and someone else...halfway, or so, through ice-t's set a riot, literally, broke out and it was time to split...it was one to the craziest scenes i've ever seen...or felt...you know you just gotta get outta there right fucking now..

on a beautiful sunny baseball kinda day, i headed to seattle after working for tony at pacwest in the morning and had a perfect sport/rock and roll day. i made my way to safeco field and watched the royals play the mariners and then headed over to the sit and spin and watched wheat, a band who - to this day - made what i feel is one of the greatest albums ever, mederios. i had a nice conversation with scott form wheat and made my way home, satisfied. i had another simliar day where i saw the mariners and then went to see shudder to think...so great.

the subhumans did a show at the old roxy movie theatre on hastings when i was still in high school....they showed the night of the living dead first and then the subhumans played...and some guy took off his clothes and danced around and on stage a little too i think...no one seemed to concerned. it was good fun.

i had seen nirvana a few times before i saw them at the ok hotel in seattle but...this show was shortly before nevermind came out and everyone knew this was it, that something big was on its way and nirvana would never be the same...they were right and we got to hear smells like tenn spriit for the first time ever....kinda cool.

tom petty and the heartbreakers boxing day 1979 or '80 at the gardens at the pne with the fabulous poodles opening....pretty cool. the police at the gardens with the specials opening was pretty good too..

ok...now my head is running too many shows through....but some highlights....

babes in toyland, freedy johnstone, uncle tupelo, tad, nation of ulysses and ween with just a boom box for backing all at the cruel elephant...that was a great place...

bobby bare jr. at the tractor tavern in seattle...a mishi approved show...

pj harvey at the commodore - both times...stunning.

queens of the stone age at richards on richards with dave grohl on drums...a corie approved show.

the jesus lizard at the commodore on halloween night with vocalist david yow dressed in nothing more than fishnets and high heels. several years earlier the best halloween show was nick cave and the bad seeds at the town pump....

ok there's a million more...but nevermind...(thanks for putting up with my trip down memory lane....)

g. xo