Minutemen

After hearing Minuteman bass player Mike Watt wax nostalgic on Mark Maron’s podcast, it of course set off my own string of memories about meeting the band for the first time. I had seen the Minutemen for the first time on a trip to L.A. around 1982—a show that blew me away in terms of the amount of energy a band could bring on stage. Watt broke a bass string which wasn’t unusual for him, but hard to fathom as a bass player myself.

The band made it to Chicago in 1984, playing the long gone West End on Armitage. There were two shows scheduled—all ages early show and an over 21 late show. I had bought tickets for both. The West End was my favorite place all time to see a show in Chicago. It was tiny, but there was a half-moon contour to the stage that made for more space to watch the band up front. Add the “balcony” to the mix and you were right there with the band. Some of my most memorable concert experiences happened there. Yo La Tengo (1^st Chicago show), Husker Du (Sunday matinee), The Feelies (best concert ever?), Green on Red, Alex Chilton (1^st time back in 80s) were just a few.

The Minutemen were great in the first set. They tore the place up. D. Boon was my new guitar hero “not soloing” on his Telecaster. It seemed like they were playing every musical style at the same time, all in songs that were less than 2 minutes long. I was happy that I’d be seeing them twice. But the second show would never happen.

The band might have figuratively been tearing up the club, but the owner started to literally do it. He was fueled on some combination of drugs and liquor, straddled his motorcycle into the club. He threatened to throw a bar stool at the mirrored wall behind the bar—luckily that didn’t happen. Sue Miller, who booked the club was trying in vain to get him to calm down. He smashed the peanut dispenser near the front door. This all probably didn’t last long, but we all high-tailed out of there when there was a chance to do it—we hung out in the street wondering what would happen next.

The news came down that the second show was canceled. We were all mingling out front with the band marveling at the chaos when Frank Loose, drummer for the band Get Smart, suggested we go over to his apartment on Ashland for an impromptu party and invited the Minutemen to join us.

It turned out to be a pretty great consolation for missing the second show. I spent most of the time listening to Watt rant, stuff that he has probably ranted about hundreds of times since, stories about his “ole man” and growing up in “Pedro.”

The first bass player in eleventh dream day, Shu Shubat, had D. Boon cornered for the whole party. She had him in a spell and they spoke about who knows what for hours. He was such a sweet gentle soul from my brief encounter. When we found a litter of kittens at our practice space later that year, there was one who stood out with that same personality and I named him D. Boon.

The Minutemen embodied all that was good about the indie scene; the comradery, the energy, jamming econo. They brought poetry to noise and paved the way for a lot of bands. Boon, Watt, and Hurley—three guys bringing very unique wavelengths into one amazing jam.

California

In 1988 with Prairie School Freakout hot off the presses, edd hit the road with Freakwater and headed west for the first time in Baird's brown Econoline. Raul Stober was on the trip too! We first hit Tempe, Arizona. A great rowdy crowd--some transplanted Chicagoan worked there as I remember. The first verse of Teenage Pin Queen (from Beet) was inspired by the spindly cacti surrounding the club.
We played the Gaslight in L.A. next and stayed with Keith Holland at Amoeba Records HQ.
Santa Barbara was the next night, and as the song Michael Dunne (Beet) described, it was rainy and nobody showed up at the club. There was the aforementioned guy sitting at the bar--a regular at Mel's who was one of the few who listened to us. He really did recite Rimbaud in French and Rilke in German--he really did write a poem about his teeth on the spot and gave it to Cathy Irwin.
Did we play in San Francisco on that tour? Could have been the time we met Sandy Pearlman. He was there checking us out! Maybe that was the next time when we were touring on Beet.
We hung out some more in L.A. before driving down to our show in San Diego. Janet wasn't allowed to be in the club until she played--under 21!
After that show, we drove through the desert all night, planning to drive all the way home without stopping, sun coming up and making everything a strange glow. We got pulled over the first of three times on our way back to Chicago. Trooper asked if we were running guns from Mexico and if he could search the van. Who said yes? Raul and I sort of got busted for less than a joint between us. Never heard from Arizona again on that one. Pulled over in Texas by a trooper who was going the other way on the interstate. He said the passenger wasn't wearing a seat belt. Truth is we had a beat up van and we were young and scraggly. By the time the landscape changed to something Midwest familiar we were ready for a breakdown.
We needed a new engine. We broke down in Sullivan, Missouri just several hours away from home after driving straight through from California. It would take three days to find and install a used engine--we holed up at a motel, watched Andy Griffith reruns, played cards, and drank lots of beer. One night we walked over to the bowling alley near the motel. Listen to verses 2 and 3 of Teenage Pin Queen--the scene is pretty well described.
We would tour the West a few times after this, but this was going it Econoline, and we lived to tell the stories.

New York New York

New York has always been a special place to play. I remember the first time going in to do a show--we booked ourselves onto a bill at CBGBs with Prairie School Freakout out. I was nervous on the drive as we came in through New Jersey--Baird actually drove us the wrong way out of the Lincoln Tunnel into the bus exit at Port Authority. I had been to New York City many times before, driving in from Ithaca where I worked for A.C. Nielsen in 1981-83, but it was different to be playing.
My first time ever in the city was a drive in to Times Square to visit. I parked my car for $20 in a garage (outlandishly expensive back then), walked toward Times Square with my head in the sky, almost got hit by a taxi, then was offered a ticket for $5 to see the Clash at Bonds International. I didn't even know the Clash was playing that day--it was a matinee and it wasn't sold out--it was a late add-on to their week long run. So, I saw the Clash within an hour of my first trip to New York. I came in for other visits later that year--New Order at the Peppermint Lounge, Gang of Four with R.E.M. opening at theRitz,The Cure at the Ritz, and a blind date with a girl from Jersey that ended up at the Mudd Club.
Walking into CBGBs that first time as a band was a trip. I had seen Tom Verlaine play solo there some years before on a visit, but now the first face I was seeing was Hilly Kristal's with his dog next to him. That night, I forget who we played with, but I'm sure we had a late, late slot on the five band bill. I know we played with Antietam, Giant Sand, maybe Run On at various times--we probably played there 3 or 4 times over the years though and it's a bit of a blur. One night when we were headlining, we were playing an encore. The soundman came on through our monitors loud and clear to us in the middle of the song-"You gonna be done any time soon?"
When we came back to the city after signing to Atlantic, opening for the Meat Puppets, we got out of the van with a few autograph hounds hovering. I didn't know then that these people probably had no idea who we were, but it was nice to get asked for what was probably the first time. The show was one of our biggest, and we had energy coming out of our eyeballs. Verlaine was there backstage with a kind of shroud around his head looking mysterious and it was also rumored that Scorcese was there in the crowd (to see the Meat Puppets, I know)
On our first visit to the Atlantic offices at 75 Rockefeller, we pulled up in our 39 foot R.V. pulling a trailer. I felt like the Beverly Hillbillies. We walked past Ahmet's office, saw him in there, but were advised to keep walking to our little corner of the floor. Then we got the media blitz--Janet and I got interviewed on MTV, but only 2 of us were allowed--we held up Baird and Doug's drivers license to the cameras.
The highlight of all NY visits though was to be able to live there for a month while making El Moodio. We had the chance to stay in Keith Richard's vacant apartment, but it had two floors and a spiral staircase--there was a worry that our then toddler Matt would toddle over the rail. We ended up in an amazing 3 story condo in Little Italy near Prince and Mott next door to Ray's Pizza. It couldn't have been nicer--crisp October beauty and a short walk to Sorcerer Studios to make music. When it was all wrapped up we had a listening party at the studio. Matt had a grand mal seizure and we had to rush him to the hospital. That was the end of the stay.
For a while, the band and/or I made it back to New York at least once or twice a year to play and make music. Those visits have slowed down in recent years but have never really stopped.