Is Anything Original?

To answer the question, no and yes. All we can hope for is an entertaining pastiche (the only word I remember from my mass communications class).

We waffled back and forth as to whether we should go see Living Things at the Creepy Crawl. I know we waffle quite a bit, but that’s how it is when all of your energy is consumed by the 9 to 5 portion of life. We had discussed this band a few times in the past. Their song Bom Bom Bom seems to be everywhere. It’s the soundtrack for television commercials and even background music for a portion of the film Lady in the Water. That’s especially amusing because one of the characters in the movie, a movie critic, states that there is no originality left in the world, how appropriate. When I went to Living Things’ website, I couldn’t believe how much the lead singer, Lillian Berlin, looked like a “Performance”-era Mick Jagger. K also pointed out the obvious T.Rex influences in their music.

The Creepy Crawl is a small bar and all of their shows are all-ages, so for a portion of the night, part of the club was roped off for the under 21ers. The bar also has a 30inch television behind the bar that plays movies constantly. When we walked in, one of my all time favorites, Office Space was on. There was also a sign on the door alerting all to a film crew in the bar. The bassist, guitar player, and drummer for Living Things were on stage being filmed running through a sound check. It was interesting to see the behind the scenes. The bassist and guitarist of The Living Things are so thin. At one point as we watched them during soundcheck , K said, “Does it hurt to be that skinny?” They cleared the stage and made way for the first band of the evening, Victoria. They had great energy, especially the bass player, but as far as I am concerned, they could have removed the quarter of the stage that held their female keyboard player. She didn’t match. I must admit, she might not have had much of a chance with me, because I’m not a huge fan of keyboards in most music. Unless it’s boogie woogie piano or 80’s synth pop, I can do without most. I love the musician who keeps a cigarette lit the entire time they play. The bass player in Victoria was dedicated to the cigarette! The faces that he had to make to keep the cigarette steady as he bounced around the stage kept me enthralled. Before Victoria took the stage, the movie on the television behind the bar had switched to American Psycho. Victoria was told they had about 16 minutes left to perform so they got a little jammy. The guitarist began using a tuning fork to create a wall of sound. At this precise moment that he was trying to be the hardest working man in rock n roll, the threesome scene from American Psycho came on the television and every male in the room no longer cared who was on stage. There were about 40 people in the audience at this point, and after Victoria played, most cleared out.

Next up was a group called Sexy Robots, a solid punk trio. It was bound to happen though. Before they came onstage, I saw some of the guys who work at the Creepy Crawl who do sound and what-not, break into “the robot” when someone asked, “Who’s up next?” Not only did they answer, but they had to demonstrate through dance. I loved it.

The high point in the evening was when Ghostfinger, a two-piece from Nashville took the stage. K and I were immediately hooked. We were cheering and whooping it up from the back of the club for them. Here is where I would insert the word “original” as far as performances of the night. As K states, there will be more about them in a later post.

Onto what was supposed to be the highlight of the evening, The Living Things. I had read before the show that they were native to St. Louis, which was kind of surprising to me. Here come the bassist, guitarist, and drummer out on the stage, then out struts Lillian Berlin. I told K he kinda scared me a little. I swear every time I have seen a musician or any celebrity in person, they are always these extremely tiny people. Lillian is very thin but also unexpectedly very tall. When he walked out on the stage it was a Tim Curry Rocky Horror Picture Show moment. He was full of attitude. At certain angles, he is a dead ringer for Mick Jagger. He also reminds me a bit of David Johansson. They opened with their single Bombs Below. After a few songs, Lillian mentioned that St. Louis held some very bad memories for them. After three or four songs, without playing Bom Bom Bom, they walked off the stage and the show was over. What the hell? I agree with K’s sentiments in her review of the show. Get bent about the pizza in St. Louis, not the folks who are gracious enough to come and watch you do your thing.

Now it’s Saturday afternoon and I am watching their set at Lollapalooza on the internet. Lillian has on the same outfit as Thursday but a much sunnier disposition. He has the nerve to have local St. Louis celebrity Beatle Bob dancing on stage with him and to also say during the set, “Hail St. Louis”! Yeah sure, asshole. --J