Hot Date

Greg went out last night on a date. We called it our anniversary celebration since we missed out on celebrating that on the actual date. We had dinner at Church Brew Works. We have never had a bad meal there. This was no exception. Then we were off to Thunderbird Cafe in Lawrenceville to see Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. I have never been to even a slightly less than awesome RCPM show. This was no exception.

Neither Greg nor I had been to Thunderbird Cafe before. Greg had read somewhere that it was small. Still, we weren't prepared for how small. The room was about 20 feet wide and the entire room was about 50 feet long. RCPM played like they were in a big arena, giving it all and sweating through their shirts. Greg and I spent much of the time prior to the music making fun of people. Not really sure why that always happens at concerts. Maybe just because there tend to be a lot of intoxicated people at live shows that are really putting it all out there, and they should really be holding it in. We saw our nemesis Hola Lola again. She had some fierce competition from a new addition, Chesty McPraiseSinger, who spent the entire concert practically in Roger's face with her arms reaching up into the sky towards the Lord. The stage was only about 18 inches higher than the floor so she pretty much blocked the view of Roger from the majority of fans in attendance. Several other people were complaining about her behavior too so I know it just wasn't Greg and me being catty. What can you do? The world is full of stupid people.

I had a great view of this one man whose age was nearly sixty. He played a mean air guitar and had some really snazzy dance moves. (And by really snazzy I mean totally ridiculous.) I love how music can span generations and economic boundaries an language and even ideals, and bring us all together just to enjoy life. I hope when I am nearing sixty, I am enjoying rock 'n roll concerts as enthusiastically as that man was - minus the air guitar, bad moves, beer belly, and thinning hair.

We saw our friends too. We don't have a clue what their names are. We call them The Old People since they are about 15 years older than us. We have hung out with them and danced next to them the past 2-3 RCPM shows. We didn't hang out with them this time though. They were at the back of the room, we were at the front. We talked with them a bit after the show and they invited us to look for them at another concert in June. See, they are our friends. They even invite us places!


(The only picture I took all night, from my phone.)

The concert was incredible. Like always, they gave it their all. They have a new lead guitar player that I had never heard before, Jim Dalton. I liked him better than Steve. Not sure if it was just because I was listening harder and paying more attention to him to see/hear how he was doing whereas Steve was always just there. At the end of Banditos he stepped off the stage, narrowly missed hitting a guy in the front row with the neck of his guitar, and walked out into the very crowded audience while tearing it up. Totally cool.


(I really love this band, in case you haven't picked up on that yet. This is a shot of the bumper of my mom-mobile.)

And it was loud. I always make fun of Greg for wearing earplugs to their shows. I envied him last night.

Setlist was okay. They played a lot of Turbo Ocho and it seems that album is either hit or miss. Got to hear Tributary Otis live for the first time, but never thought that was a great song so I wasn't too enthused. I've been trying for some time to get a RCPM guitar pick. All I got from the band this time around was a handshake from Roger and Jim. And because I care, here is the setlist:

i know you know
wanted
americano
preacher's daughter
mexico
contraband
your name on a grain of rice
state of the art
don't wanna know
banditos
mercy
girly
beautiful disaster
lemons
manana
persephone
i speak your language
down together
west texas moon
mekong

encore

green and dumb
tributary otis
counterclockwise
i do

Found out this morning that one of my other favorite bands will be back in Pittsburgh for the first time in about a year and a half this fall. They had to take bit of a break from the road after the lead singer was in a motorcycle accident. Can't wait to see them again! Hooray for concert season!