Friends, Matt Gentile Club Superstar Last Of the Famous International Playboys and I have a tradition. We go see The Sisters Of Mercy. Every time. While everyone else has given up. We still go. This is mostly cause of Matt. I honestly don't go for the Sisters, I go for the tradition. It's the MOGpac way. It's why Dan Hamill saw HARLEY DAVIDSON AND THE MARLBORO MAN on opening night and it's why I once went to a Pete Townshed listening party in midtown. You just do things.
Now, of course I love the sisters. Well, I loved them. Once. A lot. Tons. Then Eldritch decided not having a bassist was a good idea. Well, considering my earliest bass playing was all along to Sisters album it was now over. The fact that Eldrtich hasn't put out a new album in 18 years is kinda stupid too, especially since he has been playing "new" songs for the last ten years (which mind you are actually pretty good) But we keep going. And if you recall the blog entry about the last tour, it sucked, but didn't cause of the new guitarists who were young and energetic. So here they are again, and prodded by Matt, he got me to walk a few blocks to see them at Irving the other night. For tradition. For MOGpac.
This ended up being the best evening I think I ever had seeing the sisters since the very first time I saw the with Dr Fury at the Ritz back in the day (when they had TONY FUCKING JAMES on bass). Why? Well, first off the company was top notch. Matt, his extremely muscular cousin, his sister (who is a big fan of your hero), and her asian friend joined us for drinks at Shades of Green, and Michelle, god bless her, seems to be born with this inability to let anyone else pay for drinks so thanks to her, Matt and I renewed our love affair with Jamesons whiskey. So we went into this gig with the right altered mindset.
After buying Matt his birthday present, a sisters pin set, which he loved, we got ready for the gig. The big difference when they came on was how good it sounded compared to the usual mud. Realizing we had to take it up a notch, I got our crew to move way the fuck up into the packed crowd to enjoy it. Wisely, they now have the guy controlling the drum machine onstage to make it look more "band" like. They still need a bassist. This is a crucial error. The "new" songs are still good and yes I would like to own an album with them on it, but the company, the booze and the tunes made for a great show. I know they played Giving Ground, so that's a positive. However, Michelle, i think. was lied to about the bar having Jamesons, cause we had some fucking seriously vile whiskey. But at that point, they were playing Flood one AND two, so you can't really complain.
Then, we went BACK to shades and got so drunk that all I remember was eating garlic knots. Of course I lost my credit card, but can't remember how that happened though that might have been in a fight with Michelle to actually stop her from paying for drinks. She always pays for drinks. Lots of them. For everyone. She also puts 3 grand in the jukebox in which you would have to stay in the bar for a week to hear everything she selected. But most importantly, the birthday boy had a helluva 31 and is still talking about, which to me is the ultimate sign of, as we say, a top nite out.
And so, what I thought was a tired tradition has new life breathed into it. And that little corner of hope Matt and I still and will always have for the sisters remains just a little bit brighter than it was. So maybe they should either always play NY on one of our birthdays. Who knows. But we'll be back. Again. Cause we want more.
F
No comments:
Post a Comment