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Blues Explosion are a BLAST


dangero

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[color:#8000ff]Tonight we went and caught BLUES EXPLOSION live at The El Rey Theater. WHAT A BLAST!! Man, can these guys rock!

[color:#8000ff]bxd.jpgMe and my gal-pal Aki arrived as they were setting up Blues Explosion's instruments. We walked up the left side of the ballroom-style El Rey, and eased onto the floor in front of the left side of the stage. Ten minute later the stage went black and the rap music playing came to a stop. Everyone started screaming. A minute passed and the red curtain behind the drum kit closed completely, blocking the new black and white Blues Explosion logo hanging just behind them. Then the music started again as we waited a few more minutes until it stopped again.

[color:#8000ff]The curtains pulled back revealing Judah, Russell & Jon standing before their logo, Spencer standing stoic, Simins bear-like, Bauer sheepishly grinning. The audience went wild as the trip took their respective places on stage.

[color:#8000ff]We were standing under Judah Bauer, close enough to see the embroidery That lined the outside trim of his black jeans pockets,and cuffs. His black sleeves were rolled-up past his elbows as he slid his guitar on.

[color:#8000ff]Jon Spencer was impeccably dressed in blue pin-striped pants and vest, his black and red shirt buttoned at the cuffs.

[color:#8000ff]Russell took a seat at the drums ostensibly wearing the same jeans and denim jacket he wore when we saw them a month ago on CBS' The Late Late Show. Amusingly enough, Russell had one sleeve rolled up to his elbow while the other was rolled down and butoned at his wrist.

[color:#8000ff]They they began..."Damage" - the title song off their latest release. They raised the roof on that one, then slid into "The Sweat of the Blues Explosion".

[color:#8000ff]"Good Evening Ladies & Gentleman," Jon Spencer howled as he's so good at, the ultimate Showman, "It's good to be back" and went into another off of Damage":

[color:#8000ff]When they seemed to break for longer than 5 seconds, people started shouting from the audience.

[color:#8000ff]"Russell Simins you're an [bleep]," the chick with the spiky hair who, earlier, had walked through to the front talking to seemingly everyone up against the stage and preceded to wildly jump up in place and spasmadically twist around, bumping into people, said. BTW - RUSSELL SIMINS' FIRST SOLO CD - "PUBLIC PLACES" - IS NOT ONLY THE BEST RECORD BY A DRUMMER SINCE (well, since I don't know the complete 1st album for The Foo Fighters I'll have to say) PHIL COLLINS' - "FACE VALUE! R.S.'S IT'S ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITES - I'M TALKING DESERTED ISLAND FAVORITES. And if you're like me -- and let's hope you're not, if not for your sake at least for mine (unless, of course your own sake is actuallysake,Japan's traditional rice wine served hot or on ice) -- and love P.C.'s - "In The Air Tonight" - (which I think is an euphamism for masturbation - think about it) with that great drum beat, Russell's first song is so strong, so incredible, I feel it should be mandatory at all dance clubs at least twice a night 12am + 1am. Not that its a dance tune either, per se, but when you listen to it a second time, and you're not being lulled down a crooked path of uncertainty, but see just how hard, fast and furious a song can go, while still remaining melodic and clever. And the video's the coolest I've seen from anybody, 'specially a white hard rock drummer, in a long, long, long time. Check it out http://www.sputnik7.com/shared/plugins.jsp?back=%2Fvod%2Findex.jsp%3Fsection%3Dmusic%26key%3Dinam

[color:#8000ff]"Judah Bauer you are the [bleep] man!" Judah smiled.

[color:#8000ff]Another guy began shouting, and though it was meant to be a compliment, it came out a bit ambiguous, leaving a near-tension hang: "I know you got somebody behind the curtains!" He tried again: "You can't tell me that's all 3 of you, you got something behind the curtains doing all that power!."

[color:#8000ff]Jon walked over to the microphone, his arm shot out in our direction, as the guy was over my right shoulder, and said, "Ladies and gentleman, the Governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura!" Everyone laughed as they started up. Spencer pointed to the red velvet curtains behind him and said, "And pay no attention to the Man Behind the Curtain!"

[color:#8000ff]For two hours these guys jammed rarely taking more than a second before leaping into another high-powered song from their lengthy playlist of songs. Spencer bounds down to his trademark bended-knee crouch as he wails on his guitar facing his Fender stack and some sort of sound-streching toy. Simins has gotta play harder than any drummer since John Bonham of Led Zeppelin. Bauer and Spencer share guitar duties, crunching chords and mind-blistering solos.

[color:#8000ff]Quite a different impression they left on me this time at the El Rey than the previous occasion. That time, I had gone alone. Somehow, I scored a small amount of magic mushrooms and ate them on the way there. The show started at 8, but there were 2 bands ahead of them. Therefore the mushrooms came on 2 hours before the Blues Explosion did. All I kept thinking was...'Now you find out what kind of people are fans of your secret little unknown favorite band." They were a strange and eclectic bunch. But I didn't consider some might be there for the 2 opening acts. They seemed less weird-looking when the Explosion finally took the stage in 2002. Except for the chic with a set of plastic fangs still in the package which was sitting in her lap.

[color:#8000ff]At one point, a woman started speaking to me in the cramped smoking section out front, that when I finally twisted my body in such a way as to see around me, to determine if somebody was talking to me, and when I confirmed that the tall, kind-of-thick woman next to me was talking to me, it had been so long since I had spoken, that I couldn't remember how to, or how to be sociable, or anything as I stammered through my agreement  with her on the smoking laws in L.A.

[color:#8000ff]By the way, that chick who said Russell was an [bleep] was the same chick when the Blues Explosion were finished -- Jon disappered, Russell followed suit, leaving Judah to shake hands from his side of the stage to the other -- she jumped up on stage, ran to Russell's tiny in comparison 3-piece drum kit, an= nicked the two spare drumsticks from their holder at the front of the bass drum. She then casually strutted off the side of the stage, past us, who hadearlier moved to Jon's side of the stage, and went back to her spot amongst the people who showed no recognition of her friendship status with them.

[color:#8000ff]All in all a DYNAMITE show -- I Love These Guys

:rockon:

(This is copied from my AOL journal entry:

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dude I loooooooove Jon Spencer!!!! That's one of those acts I still have to see live :rockon: :rockon: :rockon: :rockon: :rockon: :rockon: :rockon: :rockon: :rockon: :rockon: :rockon: :rockon: :rockon: :rockon: :rockon: :rockon:

:happybanana: :happybanana: :happybanana: :happybanana: :happybanana: :happybanana: :happybanana: :happybanana: :happybanana: :happybanana:

I always thought the ultimate show would be Jon Spencer and Beck :guitar:

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