Just got back from the LA Propagandhi show, which surprised me because it was actually a better show than the Pomona show. Usually big-city rock crowds are all self-aware scowling, but people seemed really excited to be at this show. I internalized the first wave of Propagandhi records without really sharing my enthusiasm with anybody, so it was cool to be around a bunch of people who were listening to the same things I was in 1996.
Highlight of the evening: "So, this isn't as daring to say here as it was in 1993 in Bakersfield, California, but we're a gay-positive band." I still love it when people talk bad about Bakersfield. I don't care if Danny is from there, it still makes me laugh.
Lowlight of the evening: the inevitable segue from Bakersfield-bashing into Proposition 8 - somehow it never occurred to me that people from other countries know about this and are thinking about it, and it made me more ashamed to be from post-Prop 8 California. The whole thing seemed like such a flip of the coin, I'm hopeful it will be overturned next year. Cross your fingers, I guess.
Other highlights: "Back to the Motor League," "Dear Coach's Corner," "Rio de San Atlanta, Manitoba," "A Speculative Fiction," and a rad version of "Fuck the Border" sung by a member of the opening band, the unfortunately named Bridge and Tunnel. (Despite the name, they are also pretty good. They play Hot Water Music-era hardcore-ish stuff, and the lead guitar player is cool because she plays like Eddie Van Halen.)
As a teenager this band was so intimidating, a mountain of radical politics I would never live up to. But what struck me seeing them Friday and tonight was that they are really just hicks with no pretensions. There's dignity to what they do because they do it as well as you'll ever seen it done, but they don't seem to think very much of themselves. They obviously love it - Todd Kowalksi in particular is a giddy, fist-pumping teenager up there - and you can tell they grew up doing it together. It left me feeling sort of sad that I've never really found something that I love doing like that.
Check them out when they come back in four years. They are still getting better after more than fifteen years, almost unheard of among the 90's punk bands that are still around.
Related: despite being from Bakersfield, Danny is also pro-gay. He sent out the following video today, which makes fun of Prop 8 and Pat Robertson, and looks oddly like a fake rap video if you watch it without the sound on.
One-half of this duo played at the same show as Jessica's new band, Old Lumps, yesterday. That show was also great, and I like Jessica's new band even though the name makes me uncomfortable, and this duck-video lady is obviously also talented and funny.
Three-rock show weekend gets a thumbs up.
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