do you know what this is?
this is X playing, not that you could tell from this photo. (will someone please teach me how to take photos properly and also get me a camera that doesn't suck so hard?)
it is spring break.
how did i spend my last day of winter?
oh you know, watching the beautiful losers documentary with pearl, writing my paper about my favorite theorist and my favorite movie and LOVE LETTERS, having a beer with MY DAD at jimmy's and then going to my favorite restaurant where i ate my favorite sandwich (fake buffalo chicken wrap minus tomato plus avocado and siracha, duh) where my favorite person was working (lizzie) and then i ran into everyone i love in chicago. pearl, hannah, blake and lizzie all under one roof. does it get much better? oh, wait, it does. as i am drinking my current favorite beer (tecate) the babe waiter totally blasts black flag's first four years. i mean, come on! my dad and i are sitting at the bar drinking and talking to all of my friends listening to black flag and then we have to run because we have to go see my favorite band that i never thought i would get to see play. what? how am i so lucky?
x was so good. billy zoom is such a tight guitar player. john doe is one of the dreamiest people i have ever seen. he looks so punk when he was playing his beat-up bass. he kept knocking over stuff on purpose, mic stands, waterbottles and really enjoying the performance. exene killed it. my jaw was stuck open during the first three songs. it was during nausea that i actually got a little teary eyed. i was half-drunk with my dad at the show, both of us grinning ear to ear. exene's voice, moving between caterwaul and croon most of the time, really struck something deep during the chorus. "poverty and spit, poverty and spit." dude. her face was amazing scrunched up and focused. holy shit. i have listened to x for as long as i have been alive. when i was about 12 i made a crucial decision: "wild gift" was officially one of my all-time favorite records. it has been ever since. tonight in the car driving back to hyde park, dad said that "white girl" was one of his favorite songs in the world. he was glad that they had saved it for the encore. it is strange to realize that something like an old band, something that feels outside the range of your moment can suddenly be immediate, can feel alive, can make you feel alive. usually, i without thinking will refer to myself as punk. in the audience there was i think the most wide-ranging group of people that could fall under that moniker that i have ever seen. mohawks, old dudes, really young suburban girls with marilyn piercings, alot of rockbillies, my dad, the occasional grooveball, the basis of jack black's character in high fidelity and everyone all so excited to feel like they could participate in this. it wasn't unifying necessarily, but still there is something exciting and affirming in seeing so many people really enjoying something genuinely even if it was outside their typical range. it was the least "scene" show ever.
tomorrow is the first day of spring, john doe reminded us from stage.
hell yeah.
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