Smells like shoebox

I've had a few ideas for what to do when I have nothing to blog--not eating anywhere new, seeing anyone new, going anywhere different, or doing anything that would interest strangers. I think it's time to initiate my "pulls from the shoebox" idea. I've got three shoeboxes crammed full of tickets, stubs, etc. that I've been keeping since I started going to shows in junior high. Here's a sampling...


This is actually the second time I saw the Jesus & Mary Chain. The first time was on Christmas Eve at the Roxy. It was the band's first U.S. show and they only played like 20 minutes with their backs to the crowd. That was before their first album even came out. The second time I saw them was on Easter Sunday with Specimen (Batastrophe era) and the Butthole Surfers (post dress, clothespins, and pus-packs, but still had fire and go-go dancers) opening. You don't get weird lineups like that any more.


This ticket is thrashed not because it went through the wash but because the Palladium is a sweaty, disgusting place to see shows. The sound sucked and the security would strip-search you on the way in. Nonetheless, I saw tons of great shows there in the mid-'80s, including this one, which was The Cult's Love tour. I gave blood the day before and wound up fainting in the pit!


The first time I saw the Ramones was on the Animal Boy tour at Fender's with The Vandals and Tex and the Horseheads. When I first met Joe Escalante, I told him I was at this show and he pretended to be impressed. This was back when punk shows were full of big, bald, scary guys. Wait, the ticket stub says 1987. I guess this was the Halfway to Sanity tour.


I saw PE on the Yo! Bum Rush The Show tour at UCLA, but they were way better on the It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back tour. Funny thing is that these days people are more impressed that I saw EPMD and Stetsasonic than PE in their prime. Actually, the live show probably peaked when they toured with Anthrax a couple years later.


For better or worse, Jane's Addiction kind of changed everything. Punks got into metal and glam and Guns 'n' Roses happened. This show was part of their one-week stint at the JAF in the Hollywood Hills after their live debut album came out. I went to three of the shows and one of the openers was The Flaming Lips before they were good.


Historic Fugazi show where Calvin got brained by an ashtray when Beat Happening was opening.. This was Fugazi's Repeater tour.


I actually saw SY earlier on the Sister tour, but that was at Scream and I don't have a stub to show for it. This was a warm-up show for the Goo tour with fIREHOSe and Superchunk opening. The Whisky is a tiny, tiny place to see a band of SY's stature and loudness. (Well, that's what I thought until I saw them at the Orange County Museum of Art a couple years ago.) This bill was kind of interesting since it signaled a passing of the torch from SST's stranglehold on "college rock" to the emerging era of "indie rock." Thurston and company were equally respected on both sides.


Finally, a benefit show for one of the members of Mary's Danish. There was a punk-funk scene sorta in L.A. at the time and all the bands came out to help the dude out. Thelonious Monster was on the bill and I remember the singer Bob Forrest saying how one of the Beasties was dating his ex (Ione Sky) but it was okay because they were like brothers. Um, okay. This was one of the RHCP's inbetween lineups with someone like Blackbird or DH Pelligro filling in. I believe it was one of the first Beasties shows after Paul's Boutique. I feel like Fishbone should have been on the ticket, too.

More tickets and ramblings when I run out of stuff to write about or upon request...