Meat Puppets
Last night, I went to see one of the bands that, for a time, was among my favorite of all: the Meat Puppets. Their 1985 album, “Up On the Sun” counts as one of the main soundtracks to the period of my life when I was living in New Mexico and falling in love with Jen, and it evokes some of my fondest memories: high desert nights, bopping around the land of enchantment, feeling like my friends and I owned the entire town of Santa Fe.
I’d not really listened to our thought about the Puppets in a long time until I noticed the ad for their show about a month ago. Then, coincidentally, I heard “Up on the Sun,” with its haunting chorus, “Not too much more/Too much more” being played on the sound system at 20/20 Cycle the other day. At first, I couldn’t quite place the tune, in spite of how familiar it sounded.
A quick web search provided the reminder and with it, an array of memories came flooding back. I wondered why I hadn’t kept up with the Puppets at all, while I have, of late, listened again to some of my other SST Records faves from that time, including the Violent Femmes, Zeitgeist, and fIRHOSE, natch.
Anyway, their brothers Kirkwood were in fine form last night, looking as long-haired and stony as ever. The opening band was called “Kirkwood/Dellinger,” and was apparently, Curt Kirkwood’s son’s band. They looked and sounded like a mini-version of the parental unit; perhaps they should call themselves “The Meat Patties.”
The effect, though, was to make the overall show almost like a “before” and “after” review; it had this strange multi-generational theatricality, almost like a PBS special or anyway an homage to Spinal Tap” or maybe “The Osbornes.”
I stayed for most of the show, long enough to hear “Up on the Sun;” I’m not buying the album, but I did download the song from Itunes.
I’d not really listened to our thought about the Puppets in a long time until I noticed the ad for their show about a month ago. Then, coincidentally, I heard “Up on the Sun,” with its haunting chorus, “Not too much more/Too much more” being played on the sound system at 20/20 Cycle the other day. At first, I couldn’t quite place the tune, in spite of how familiar it sounded.
A quick web search provided the reminder and with it, an array of memories came flooding back. I wondered why I hadn’t kept up with the Puppets at all, while I have, of late, listened again to some of my other SST Records faves from that time, including the Violent Femmes, Zeitgeist, and fIRHOSE, natch.
Anyway, their brothers Kirkwood were in fine form last night, looking as long-haired and stony as ever. The opening band was called “Kirkwood/Dellinger,” and was apparently, Curt Kirkwood’s son’s band. They looked and sounded like a mini-version of the parental unit; perhaps they should call themselves “The Meat Patties.”
The effect, though, was to make the overall show almost like a “before” and “after” review; it had this strange multi-generational theatricality, almost like a PBS special or anyway an homage to Spinal Tap” or maybe “The Osbornes.”
I stayed for most of the show, long enough to hear “Up on the Sun;” I’m not buying the album, but I did download the song from Itunes.
posted by Professor Dave at 10:27 AM
1 Comments:
Wow, Zeitgeist. Just the other day I heard "Translate Slowly" for the first time in maybe 20 years, and I was reminded how good they were. And, like you, I was taken back to the fun times I had around my town (Austin, TX) in the mid 80s.
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