[Above: Lou Reed on his fourth victory lap.]
By Jeremy Krinsley
Lou Reed, after the four hour tribute in his honor, having played “Walk on the Wild Side” with no other than Moby playing backup guitar: “I love punk rock,” (quickly turning from the mic as if to walk away, then shaking his finger at the audience), “and I was the first one.” Roar of applause, exit.
An epic close for the Don, though it was hard to decide which punk rock bands he loved more from the slew that performed for him that night- could it be My Morning Jacket? Perhaps Dr. Dog. Or maybe, and we don't want to overstep or boundaries and make any serious conjectures here, but was Moby his favorite punk rock band of the night? You pick:
Laura Says Thinks, Feels Paper Route, Oh No! Oh My!, Ezra Furman, Joseph Arthur, Dr. Dog, Mark Kozelek, Yo La Tengo, My Morning Jacket, Dr. Dog, Thurston Moore & The New Wave Bandits
[Above: Moby feeling awkward after the big kiss.]
After Moby planted one on Lou Reed's cheek, there was a shudder running down our spines: what else is there to live for now? But seriously. Joseph Arthur? What was he doing there? Despite any odd curatorial choices, had it been the last act, the show would have ended fittingly with Thurston Moore's rendition of “I'm Not A Young Man Anymore”, since Moore is the real usurper of Mr. Reed's position as our contemporary Godfather of punk, and his performance pulled the seat from right under Reed.
[Above: Thurston Moore, Godfather of Punk II.]
In the end though, the whole thing, while extremely cool in concept, left me willing the Velvet Underground to transcend space and time in order to wash away Joseph Arthur's rendition of “Pale Blue Eyes” once and for all.
[Above: UGK family. Bankroll Jonez and hypeman.]
That wasn't the only thing I did on Thursday. I also ate at a “southern comfort” restaurant across from Ms. Bea's that made me a burger about as comforting as a stomach full of cardboard. The joint held a few members of the greater UGK family, who jumped behind the mic for an impromptu, unbiased self-interview of Bankroll Jonez, who got signed to their underground label by Pimp C only months before the rapper passed from man into legend. There was a lot of hyping and talk of shared underground shit (skater kids love Bankroll Jonez; read: white people), and Jonez likes Austin weed. Anyway, it was probably my favorite part of the day.
[Above: People who are not me waiting to see indie rock.]
[Above: Monotonix strength training.]
We also stopped by The Typewriter Museum, a venue on E. 6th street that looks like a barn, an adequate space for Monotonix's animalistic hijinks. Their frontman ran out of beer-filled cups to head butt and/or spill on himself and everyone else, so he resorted to holding his drummer's bass drum menacingly over the audience.
[Above: These Are Powers.]
[Above: The guys compensate for all the goddamn smiling.]
Later, we did an interview with Gowns, whose album Red State is one of Nate Dorr's favorites of 2007. I'm on the bandwagon too. This is slightly arbitrary: though I do like their music, I like it more because they're part of the Cardboard Records family.
I had big plans to check out KVRX's late night show at the Children's Museum: Mika Miko, The Mae Shi, Indian Jewelry, Clipd Beaks, Knyfe Hyts (members of Ex-Models), Best Fwends, Lucky Dragons, Mammoth Grinder, Crime Novel. Instead I listed all the bands that played there in this blog post.
