September 01, 2006
Radio Birdman - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco 8/30/2006
I bought Radio Birdman's Radios Appear LP from one of those black guys on the street in NYC selling random batches of cutouts...this was in the early 80's, probably '82. I filed it as a coulda-shoulda-been-a-contender, the victim of a castrated mix. Great songs, guitars way too low, shoulda been a howler. Hell, I was 20, what the fuck did I know. At least I had the goddamn record in my stacks.
In the latter 80's when WEA Australia put out the Radio Birdman Box Set (which we carried at Blacklist, the MRR related non-profit distributor for whom I volunteered) I was able to partake in the rest of their catalogue, particularly becoming enamored with the Burn My Eye EP, which appeared in 12" form in the box. A near perfect 4 track EP, with "Snake" making the cut most often on my angst ridden mixtapemaking obsessions.
It wasn't until Sub Pop's unlikely issue of their compiled greatest hits a few years back with perhaps a better mix (or was it my turntable needle all along ???) that led me to become a Birdman disciple able to sing the praises of the Radios Appear LP.
At this year's earlier Flesheaters reunion gig, Roehrs said it's only worth going out to shows 2 or 3 times a year now. Well, we both ended up at the Radio Birdman reunion gig on thursday. Two simultaneous orgasms down, maybe one more to go for the year (could the third be the upcoming Slits gig?)
Radio Birdman was playing on U.S. soil (which they never actually did to support their U.S. Sire records release) at last. Their second gig, the first being in LA the night before. After loading up on large hunks of meat at nearby Tommy's Joint (der Hof-brau institution), the aging fanboys loaded up our guts and hauled them over to the Great American Music Hall.
Nevermind that I'd have to suffer through opening band The Sermon again. The Great American Music Hall is notorious for putting on strange bills...Carmaig De Forest opening for Television was a joke, while Faun Fables opening for Slint was nothing less than infuriating. Fortunately, we spent our time walking around the block a few times while The Sermon delivered, but felt obligated to check out The Black Furies simply because it got real cold outside! The Furies on headphones might come off as a passable second rate MC5, but live they needed to be scolded for the most laughable stage patter I've ever heard. "We're on MySpace, we're on iTunes...we are ALL OVER THE FUCKIN' Internet" declares the lead frat boy singer...and what's scary is HE MEANS IT....MAN. Maybe this was a warmup for the CMJ convention or something. The bamalama quotient of Frat Boy coupled with the Wayne's World guitarist had many-a-roarin' in the stands.
But this is now all in retrospect, because the present and the near present was all preoccupied with the presence of RB. Somehow I was a few rows back of front and center but the initial mosh transported me straight into Chris Masuak's line of sweatfire...his Marshall Stack pummelling me with riffs peeled off effortlessly by the man behind the cool shades. Rob Younger was just to the right and front of me, looking a bit frail yet roaring couplets with mastery. Deniz Tek on the far right. Despite their new record in tow, they played mostly the oldies, with the fastest "Burn My Eye" I'd ever heard. As the "Yeah Hups" out of the audience started to grow and grow, they did do "New Race" too. Coulda done without the cover of "Search and Destroy", especially since their own material was so strong, but man, this was as close to the sun as I'm gonna fly this year, 4 more months pending regardless.
I bought Radio Birdman's Radios Appear LP from one of those black guys on the street in NYC selling random batches of cutouts...this was in the early 80's, probably '82. I filed it as a coulda-shoulda-been-a-contender, the victim of a castrated mix. Great songs, guitars way too low, shoulda been a howler. Hell, I was 20, what the fuck did I know. At least I had the goddamn record in my stacks.
In the latter 80's when WEA Australia put out the Radio Birdman Box Set (which we carried at Blacklist, the MRR related non-profit distributor for whom I volunteered) I was able to partake in the rest of their catalogue, particularly becoming enamored with the Burn My Eye EP, which appeared in 12" form in the box. A near perfect 4 track EP, with "Snake" making the cut most often on my angst ridden mixtapemaking obsessions.
It wasn't until Sub Pop's unlikely issue of their compiled greatest hits a few years back with perhaps a better mix (or was it my turntable needle all along ???) that led me to become a Birdman disciple able to sing the praises of the Radios Appear LP.
At this year's earlier Flesheaters reunion gig, Roehrs said it's only worth going out to shows 2 or 3 times a year now. Well, we both ended up at the Radio Birdman reunion gig on thursday. Two simultaneous orgasms down, maybe one more to go for the year (could the third be the upcoming Slits gig?)
Radio Birdman was playing on U.S. soil (which they never actually did to support their U.S. Sire records release) at last. Their second gig, the first being in LA the night before. After loading up on large hunks of meat at nearby Tommy's Joint (der Hof-brau institution), the aging fanboys loaded up our guts and hauled them over to the Great American Music Hall.
Nevermind that I'd have to suffer through opening band The Sermon again. The Great American Music Hall is notorious for putting on strange bills...Carmaig De Forest opening for Television was a joke, while Faun Fables opening for Slint was nothing less than infuriating. Fortunately, we spent our time walking around the block a few times while The Sermon delivered, but felt obligated to check out The Black Furies simply because it got real cold outside! The Furies on headphones might come off as a passable second rate MC5, but live they needed to be scolded for the most laughable stage patter I've ever heard. "We're on MySpace, we're on iTunes...we are ALL OVER THE FUCKIN' Internet" declares the lead frat boy singer...and what's scary is HE MEANS IT....MAN. Maybe this was a warmup for the CMJ convention or something. The bamalama quotient of Frat Boy coupled with the Wayne's World guitarist had many-a-roarin' in the stands.
But this is now all in retrospect, because the present and the near present was all preoccupied with the presence of RB. Somehow I was a few rows back of front and center but the initial mosh transported me straight into Chris Masuak's line of sweatfire...his Marshall Stack pummelling me with riffs peeled off effortlessly by the man behind the cool shades. Rob Younger was just to the right and front of me, looking a bit frail yet roaring couplets with mastery. Deniz Tek on the far right. Despite their new record in tow, they played mostly the oldies, with the fastest "Burn My Eye" I'd ever heard. As the "Yeah Hups" out of the audience started to grow and grow, they did do "New Race" too. Coulda done without the cover of "Search and Destroy", especially since their own material was so strong, but man, this was as close to the sun as I'm gonna fly this year, 4 more months pending regardless.
posted by Henry @ 7:34 PM 
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