Guided By Voices Relives Its 1990s Heyday

My second favorite rock band of all time rolled in to the Black Cat on Saturday night and proved that, even after all these years, they've still very much got it.

I was a little surprised to see so many young fans up front singing the words to all the new songs GBV played early in its two-plus-hour, 43-song set. As leader Robert Pollard said in his onslaught of comedic comments, "We have 72 albums." So it's not easy to know lyrics (and that doesn't include the dozens upon dozens of side projects for Pollard).

From the minute Rachel and I walked in the door (we later connected with Francis Chung, who took this iconic photo along with many others for DCist), there was a special buzz in the air. We saw old friends before moving up front to witness Obama Press Secretary and GBV mega-fan Jay Carney hanging around backstage. After a solid set from the majestic former GBV lead guitarist Doug Gillard's new band, Carney announced GBV, "one of the three best things ever to come out of Dayton, Ohio."

Pollard was in excellent spirits all night, even if he didn't seem to drink the fish tank of alcohol he has during the several dozen other times I've seen GBV in concert. Some of the feel of the show and his banter were captured nicely by Valerie Paschall of DCist:

A significant chunk of the set was comprised of their most recent release, Cool Planet, and Pollard delighted in pointing out that they were now touring off three albums: Cool Planet, Motivational Jumpsuit and classic album Bee Thousand which turns twenty this year. 

"We're not like the Rolling Stones," said Pollard. "We don't release one song every 15 years." 

Mick & Keith weren't the only target of Pollard's slurring vitriol and he also took stabs at Bruce Springsteen, ("If he's the Boss, I quit"), the record industry in general ("I don't want to make 6 percent!") and Radiohead. Also, unlike the stint in 2010, he let the audience finish off his handle of tequila, so his barbs were more discernible. 

Although the first hour of their set showed more audience enthusiasm during the Bee Thousand tracks—"Gold Star For Robot Boy" was an early spark plug — the show really took a turn when opening act and latter-era GBV guitarist Doug Gillard joined the band for "Teenage FBI." Even the rest of the band seemed to enjoy Gillard's presence onstage—guitarists Mitch Mitchell and Tobin Sprout played the song within two feet of each other and Mitchell gleefully mouthed along with the words despite the cigarette that did not leave his mouth.

The beer flew around over the crowd just like those amazing shows 20 years ago. The audience, including me, pogoed and moshed just like 20 years ago. Pollard and "the classic lineup" kicked around like the showmen they were 20 years ago. What was not to love?

***** out of ***** stars

Best Magazine Reads: Top 13 Factoids from Rolling Stone's KISS Cover Story

      KISS Double Platinum was the first CD I ever bought. It contains all the essential KISS tunes you need. Going much beyond that into deep album cuts and the band kind of loses its charm. That said, the band's top 15 to 20 songs is as good as any power pop or hair metal bands' top tunes. 

      The other side of KISS is the mythology, and Rolling Stone Magazine recently captured that extremely well in its lengthy cover feature. Here are my 13 favorite take aways:

1. Bassist Gene Simmons’ freakishly long tongue, he swears, is not “grafted in from some unlucky cow” but is indeed real.
2. Simmons and frontman Paul Stanley have always been ambitious and not self-destructive, while original drummer and “Beth” songwriter Peter Criss was fired in 1980 for his drug use and guitarist Ace Frehley quit soon thereafter to follow his cocaine, tranquillizer, and booze affectations.
3. The four KISS characters are Demon, Starchild, Spaceman, and Catman.
4. Simmons once managed Liza Minnelli’s acting career.
5. Stanley, not Simmons, is the true mastermind behind the band and has kept it functioning as a corporation for all these years.
6. Paul Stanley was born Stanley Eisen to a dysfunctional family. He was deaf in his right ear, with only a stump there, which caused a kindergarten bully to call him “Stanley the One-Eared Monster.” It was later reconstructed out of cartilage from his rib cage.
7. KISS started as a band called Wicked Lester. They quit that band because it wasn’t hooky enough. It needed to be more like Raspberries, Small Faces, and Big Star.
8. Paul Frehley was nicknamed “Ace” because there couldn’t be two Pauls in the band and that was what his friends called him due to his prowess with women.
9. Peter Criss was a young Italian Godfather type who claimed to have a huge penis.
10. Frehley designed the band’s logo.
11. Simmons’ mother was in a Nazi concentration camp.
12. Simmons had sex with nearly 5,000 women – “not all of them had two legs.” He never had a serious relationship until 1978, when he dated Cher and then later Diana Ross.
13. Criss once drank a bottle of perfume in a limo after he discovered it had alcohol in it. He also shot one of Simmon’s big-screen TVs with a .38 revolver “after learning his girlfriend had slept with an actor shown on the screen.”

What Book Can Help Parents Raise Boys? Good Luck!

My friend and fellow blogger, Beth Behrendt, from Indiana, has just published a too-kind article about Pop Culture Lunch Box. Here it is, and definitely check out all her other great posts about being a mom, cooking, books, and life:

Period.

I enjoy Paul Mackie’s Pop Culture Lunch Box because I like the way he writes, he does some cool things, and often – not always (e.g. Shangri-La) — I like the same stuff he likes.

One post in particular sticks with me — much to my surprise it made me think “Why, Paul’s not just a good writer, he must be an awesome dad!”

In it he explains that — since he grew up up one of three boys  – the arrival of his daughter inspired him to maybe try to understand girls a bit better. How to understand girls better, you might ask? Why, read Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, of course. I love that reasoning.

Judy Blume a Must Read for Pre-Teen Girls (and Boys, For That Matter)

Pre-teen me was a huge Judy Blume fan — I still vividly remember buying Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret at the Glenbrook Mall bookstore (and feeling so clever, but a little guilty, that my mom thought it was a-young-girl’s-guide-to-praying type of book). I hadn’t thought much about Judy or her books in years – except to continue to be surprised that her books still keep her on the American Library Association’s  list of “Most Challenged Authors“. Seriously? Still?

However, not too long ago I was driving along half-listening to NPR and out of the blue JUDY BLUME herself was speaking — about Margaret and all her other characters — and I had to pull over because I started crying. Wow. Where did that come from? I guess there’s still some pretty deep rooted emotional reaction to her writing in my desiccated ole middle-aged heart. And if that’s not a great compliment to an author, I don’t know what is.

Now, Paul, since I grew up one of two sisters and have shockingly ended up mom to three of these goofy creatures called boys — what’s the one book I should read to get a handle on their psyches?

My (hopefully not too preachy) reply:

Thank you for such a kind shout-out, Beth. Since you have spent time with me, my brothers, and my dad, you know that there has not been a book anywhere in the universe that could solve that riddle. I suppose in the end I don't actually know how to deal with boys any better than how to deal with girls. But some things I try to keep in mind: be firm, be patient, never over-talk things because your smartypants ways will never matter to your kids (they don't get nuance), protect and prepare them for the world, and don't be offended when they clearly choose to listen to their friends instead of their parents (kids are hard-wired to do this). I'm not sure, but I think these guidelines will work equally with boys AND girls. Paul

Puerto Rico Day 3 - Ham, Cheese, Powdered Sugar, and Beauty in Old San Juan

Aaaaand. Getting back to the recap of our April Puerto Rico trip.

When last I left you, you were hearing about Day 1 and Day 2 of our family's travels.

After breakfast on Day 3, we jumped onto the bus near our hotel in Isla Verde to head over about six miles west to walk around Old San Juan all day. 

Beautiful colorful architecture and cobblestone streets greeted us. Jackson loved the walk from the bus stop to the famed fort El Morro, which is a can't-miss major attraction, with dramatic high walls, views of a crashing surf below, and dozens of rooms to keep exploring and adventuring kids excited to see what's in each next room (a chapel, jail cells, doctors offices, kitchens, and much more). 

We walked about 5 miles in the old part of the city (which totals an impressive 1.1 million inhabitants along its 25-mile coastline, by the way). Jackson was a real trouper, not complaining once, and Zoey slept on Rachel's back much of the time. 

We ended the trek at Cafeteria Mallorca, which served us the famous Mallorca sandwiches with ham and cheese and powdered sugar on top. 

Craving vegetables in a country that doesn't seem to focus much on them, we found a delicious place back near our hotel called Bajuice Juice Bar and got smoothies and salad for dinner. Jackson and I ended the day with a swim in the Embassy Suites colorful nighttime pool. 

It's off to the rainforest in the morning.

Guys Night Takes Us to Library for Famous Author Reading

Jackson and I enjoyed our "guys night," with Rachel and Zoey already in New Jersey for our upcoming Bat Mitzvah weekend for cousin Hannah, by going to the Takoma Park Library for a reading by Llama Llama Red Pajama author Anna Dewdney.

She entertained the kids by drawing her signature character and reading her most famous book, along with a new one. And I'm excited because Jackson and I checked out the first Harry Potter book to read for the first time.

We also played National Parks Monopoly in the basement and baseball (t-ball starts in a few weeks) in the front yard.

Guys nights are good.

Best Magazine Reads: 10 Great Nuggets About Heathers

Heathers is one of my all-time favorite movies. I didn’t include it in my recent 60 Funniest Movies Ever, but it would no doubt be #1 in a similar list of dark comedies. It was released in 1989 to slim audiences but built a huge following through home release.

And the cult still grows. Here are the 10 most interesting nuggets from Entertainment Weekly’s recent oral history entitled The Original Mean Girls.

1. Winona Ryder, whether or not she would have played protagonist Veronica Sawyer, absolutely loves Heathers. She said she’s seen it probably 50 times and can recite every line. She calls it “great literature.”
2. The original ending was that Christian Slater’s J.D. would blow up the school and there would have been a prom with all the students in heaven. Studio execs wouldn’t allow it.
3. A “pimply-faced” Brad Pitt auditioned and was not cast, but he told the writer his script was brilliant.
4. Jennifer Connelly and Justine Bateman both rejected the role of Veronica, even though they were the choices ahead of Ryder.
5. The crew had to retrieve Slater a couple of times because he overslept during filming. He told them he had a sleep disorder.
6. Slater says Shannen Doherty didn’t seem to have any interest in him during filming, so he just stayed away from her.
7. Ryder says she was a virgin during the time the movie was filming.
8. With her conservative upbringing, Doherty had some problems with the acidic language and swearing. Ryder grants her that she had just, after all, come off her role on the 100 percent innocent Little House on the Prairie.
9. After asking “did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?” in the movie, Kim Walker, who played lead Heather Heather Chandler, died of brain cancer at age 32 in 2001.
10. The new TV network Fox was starting up and execs there chose between two scripts – a Heathers TV show or Beverly Hills High. We all know what they choose, and what they renamed it.