Well Hello There...,

[cheeseburger]

i just got a question:
how many times you saw the melvs?

in march it'll be about eigth or nine times.......

[popeye]

All you people who filled me in on the Chicago thing (singer lives there, etc. ....) Thanks that's exactly what i was looking for, and all the other comments about chicago and the music scene there, Thank You Very much.  That's the kinda stuff i like to find out, i'm curious about the venues, all that kinda stuff, How well attended are the shows?  that kinda stuff, Did anybody attack Buzzo?  oh no, not again.  
  And anybody that thought my original post about why Chicago was somehow being Critical of Chicago, Wow!  That never crossed my mind, if it came across like that - oopps - sorry!
  So anyway tks again
   I've seen the Melvins at least a Dozen (13) times, when I try to count i always end up laughing myself silly right on to the floor, remembering how high i got for some of those shows, some of the people i took to see the melvins for the first time, and of course how absolutely unfucking believably good Buzzo and the melvins are, and what Quality "product" they deliver night after night to America and the World.  
 Buzz - tks alot Dood. you fucking Rool man.

[The Stranger]

Hey popeye, that is pretty often. I saw them 4 times. The first time in 96, where they played the three sets. It was a very good show. We got in while they made their soundcheck. Thats was the first time I saw that guys live, at a soundcheck. We just sat there and saw our heros play. They spoke short with us and threw us out. That was in Berlin at the "Huxley

[popeye]

I liked the old days - when theMelvins used to play 2 long sets, sometimes w/o an opening band and call it "An Evening with theMelvins"
Those were the days.  
The last tour was incredible, the Melvins - Buzzo - they've never been better.  I mean the music they are making now is incredibly intense yet searingly Beautiful, same old Formula - just an updated sound.
I have huge respect for the Melvins as musicians and as human Beings.
So last tour(Hostile Ambient Takeover) i saw the Seattle Show and was so Blown away by the Ferocity of the Show that i drove down to Tacoma (50 K) for the show the next night.  the Show was sold out, i had no ticket, But i had to go.  I had no idea where the venue was, but drove right to it.  Got there early enough to get in the Tavern (Hell's Kitchen) and have a couple beers with the locals before they threw everybody out for the show.  Hit up the club manager, the singer for Dead Low Tide (I even liked those guys) got a chance to hear soundcheck and Talk with Buzzo for a couple minutes, you know shook hands, told him how much i loved his stuff - his music - his band, and got him to autograph my copy of Hostile Ambient takeover, Permanent ink felt tip, That was so cool, he's so unassuming, I'm convinced he's in fact a "Boddhisattva", I'm a Buddhist (I think) and a Boddhisattva is a semi-deity who has achieved and Found "Nirvana" but has returned here to earth to share his knowledge with us.  Oh Well - Honestly - that's the way i feel.
Of course i got in to the show that night, and assumed my usual position at Buzz's feet, I was too Burned out from the night before in seattle to Really Enjoy by Getting Way into it, Become the Music, that's my motto.
It was a surreal show for sure, basically the same set, can't blame em for that, It was all hostile Ambient takeover with a few other gems attached.  They Blazed, that place was so packed.
 So 3 day's later i drove down to portland oregon to see the show at the Crystal Ballroom, an interesting (large) venue, another old Big Band Dance hall fro the 40's , musta held 1500 , it wasn't sold out but there was close to a thousand peeps there.  The Seattle Show at the Showbox was sold Out - as it Should be for one of the Best RocknRoll(?) Bands in the World.,  wow- I've said too much....

[Vcavallo]

I'm convinced he's in fact a "Boddhisattva", I'm a Buddhist (I think) and a Boddhisattva is a semi-deity who has achieved and Found "Nirvana" but has returned here to earth to share his knowledge with us.  Oh Well - Honestly - that's the way i feel.

i totally agree.  i've studied buddhism, and i know what you are talking about, it relates well.  i have thought things like that in the past, like how they can they make music that somehow is woven with some sort of inaudible aspect that makes me love it.  like actually BE in love with it.  there is something in their music that you can't hear, but it gets in your soul.  when i spoke to buzz i felt the same way as you, he put his palms together prayer-style and bowed to each of us and was just, uh, i can't really describe it.  you know what i mean.  
melvinswhoa

[popeye]

tks for the reply - reading it kinda made me think about what it is in the music that touches me so strongly- and it kinda is like a guided tour into the void and a safe trip back, and while in the void you are exposed and overwhelmed by all the horror and all the beauty of existence in general, Hilarious huh? how watching the Melvins perform can make a person say shit like that.  it's hilarious, luckily I'm laughing - at myself and everything else, that's positive, i'm not crying, and that's the bottom line with the Melvin's - It always makes me feel so damn happy to be alive and be able to "share" THE BEAUTIFUL THING THAT BUZZ AND THE MELVIN'S BRING EVERY NIGHT.  sorry about the caps - a happy accident.

[cheeseburger]

make a person say shit kike that. .

who you callin' a kike?

just kidding.
it was funny seeing you talk about trying to remember all the times you've seen the melvins. i'm the same way. do you remember the first?
for me it was 93 when they opened for NIN.
it's amazing the pure power they exude form the stage, you can feel it entering the body, up the spine, then your head explodes...

[popeye]

shit kike huh, duhhh, I better edit that.
Oh yeah - i remember the first time i saw the melvins.
It was jan-93 they were doing a Northwest tour- An evening with the melvins at the RKCNDY club.  Lorax really blew me away, they were deep into sludge at the time, of course Buzzo was Ripping occassionally, just often enough to keep it real interesting.  Drunken Fool that i am (was) - I hung around and hung around and of course eventually Buzzo came out and greeted the few people that were still there, and i got the chance to shake his hand - introduce myself- tell him it was my first time and that it was (had been) an incredible musical experience for me. yeah!

[alnis]

I don't know about Buzz being a bodhisattva, but I see where you're going with it. There's definately a cult around him.

But I've been saying for years to anyone that will listen (which is very few people) that the Melvins are extremely zen. The non-duality of duality and non-duality. It's right there.

Mmm hmm.

[eddie]

Sorry about the blowup Popeye, you dirty kike! What other Seattle area bands have you seen besides Mad Season, Soundgarden, and Melvins?

Anyone think V.C. will play "Zodiac?" I believe that's one of the highlights at the Melvins shows.

[popeye]

no problem eddie, yeah i have seen a lot of shows here in seattle.  i live right in the City and all the clubs and venues are pretty close.
Let me name a few you didn't - Pearl jam (I love these guys!) & Nirvana.  Today there are some excellent bands playing the clubs - two of my favorites are Kinski, and Post Stardom Depression.
 I wish i was gonna be in Chicago next weekend though, to see you know who.  I am just so intrigued by all the different people Buzzo plays with.
Just a couple years ago  a friend was trying to get me interested in Tool, so - on my own i checked the Tool website - and in the News Section there was a picture of Buzzo hanging out with the band at their practice space.  Tools interesting but i like the melvins a lot more.  the new Fantomas album - that's reall good, I saw the band a couple years ago and they were playing a whole different kinda music than the new album, and except for the fact that Buzz was in the band i wouldn't have been interested at all.
 One things for sure, Sleater-Kinney sure is overrated.  They're awful bad, and they just keep getting all the incredible Hype.  Chicks.

[popeye]

Oh Duhhh, for all you Melvins Diehards (Fanatics?) you know who you are - Well, all my raving in the above posts about the "last" tour and all the shows i went to..., Yeah well - actually - that was two tours ago, i completely missed Last tour with Tomahawk.  i was out of town and Missing.  i'll bet some of you already figured that out (the vast multitudes) - so - well - hopefully that explains why I'M  getting all worked up.  I like anticipating shows, it makes em better somehow.  Especially melvins shows.  seeya....