Soccer chants do not belong at ska shows, or When I say Whole Wheat you say Bread

Aldous Huxley once said :"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." I have one thing to say to that....... yup. Last Saturday, July 8 in the year of your lord 2006 a little musical get together got together at the House of Blues in downtown C-Town. The Vacancies, Transition, Whole Wheat Bread, Streetlight Manifesto, and Reel Big Fish all did that thing they do at the house the $6 Guinness pints built. This show was, for me, one of those moments that I will remember 60 years from now (if Im alive that long), kinda like September 11th or the Kennedy assasintation for our parents, for three reasons: Whole Wheat Bread, Streetlight Manifesto, and the crazy fat chick at the bar.

To start with. Whole Wheat Bread is a straight up 3 piece punk band (and when I say punk I mean it, no pop-punk or other derivations). Their musicianship is solid, songwriting okay, and the lead singer sounds like any other punk vocalist when he sings. But not when he talks. You see, there is a reason they're not Whole White Bread. Take a look:

No, those are not 3 members of G-G-G-G-G-Unit and no, they do not rap. They are Whole Wheat Bread and what they do is ROCK! Indeed, the second best part of the show was hearing the lead singer rile the crowd with the ever popular "When I say Whole Wheat you say BREAD!" When I heard that, it made me warm and tingly inside. Fucking awesome.

Now to the crazy fat chick at the bar. Originally, I was going to attend this show with this guy I used to know. Lets call him Whizzer. He promised me he was all about seeing the show, yada yada yada, but his proverbial ball and chain is about the size of Connecticut and he hasnt the marbles to do what he wants, but thats an entirely different post altogether. Whatever. So I'm going to a concert alone. What to do, what to do? Oh yeah, get drunk and try not to think about being lame. Order a Guinness (as mentioned before six bucks, Im still walking funny) and strike up a conversation with what looks to be a nice, normal, rather large girl.

After the usual exchange of pleasantries (she drove in from Youngstown to see RBF, shes 24, etc.), we delve into a more specific brand of bullshitting, and this is where things start to get hairy. keep in mind now, I have known this person for a total of about 30 minues when i learn that one of her "friends" is in a Pennsylvania correctional facility for the remainder of his life. She has also done heroin (snorted, no needles), used to be heavy into the ecstasy, and does not particularly like black people. Yeah, kinda wierd. She also meets guys on the interweb and once flew to new York the day before Christmas to hang with some fashion designer guy she met in a chat room. After hearing this, methinks its time to jet, so I tell her that Im going to be leaving soon. She tells me to see her when I go, she might go to the bar with me, and besides shes all alone and just got paid so she might as well get herself a hotel room. What the fuck did I just get myself into? All I wanted to do was shoot the shit with someone, anyone to pass the time, and I pick this fat crazy chick with an "F" cup size (she was really proud of her boobs and liked to talk about them and show them off. Shudder.) Needless to say I gave her the slip and got the hell out of there.

So that brings us to the number 1 reason the night was memorable and the reason I strated this post with the Huxley quote anyways: Streetlight Manifesto. I am not exaggerating when I say that Streetlight Manifesto is the most original, hardworking, and important band in the whole "scene" today. Lead singer, guitarist, writer, and producer Tomas Kalnoky flat out knows how to make music and puts on one hell of a show. What really impressed me was how close to the album the songs sounded. Its hard enough to replicate the studio sound with a 3 piece band, but imagine doing it with seven! Kalnoky and co. came on stage, said hello, and went right into the first number, a new song that sounded good and one I look forward to hearing on the forthcoming CD (originally to be released in '04, its now coming out in the beginning of 2007. Grrr.) Then came That'll Be The Day, not my favorite SM song, but it sounded good. point/Counterpoint was next (I'll be coming back to this one in a minute), followed by A Moment of Silence/A Moment of Violence, which rocked more than a little. Everything Went Numb, the title track to SM's first CD was next, and it was frickin sweet. Another new song after that, a little bit slower ska song with pop flavor (whatever the hell that means, its the only way I can describe it). Since RBF was the headliner, SM got about 40 minutes and thus ended their amazing set with Here's to Life, originally written while he was with Catch 22, originally performed by Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution, and perfected by SM, this song is essentially a "What the fuck were you thinking?" to some of Kalnoky's literary and musical influences and is also what prompted me to read The Stranger. "How did Camus really die that night? Was it really his time, or was it suicide?" Awesome.

Holy shit that is one long paragraph, so I'll try to keep it short. Point/Counterpoint is my favorite song off Everything Goes Numb, catchy chorus, awesome lyrics, sweet horns, et cetera. It reminds me of a five and a half minute jam session that you never want to end, and it is a continuation of the song Keasbey Nights off the CD of the same title. If you click here, the Wikipedia entry even has a lyrical juxtaposition for reference. So, when they play live, they play both songs together, which turns into an eight minute singalong that topped any other concert moment I have ever had, and that includes hearing Ice-T say "Less Than Jake's some crazy motherfuckers!", so thats saying something. I cant even describe how it made me feel, but I do know that it will be hard for any other band to make me feel that way again. As I said, I wont be forgetting last Satuday night for a long, long time.