Melvins in Cleveland 9/29/07

[TGH]

amoeba knievel
(((microwaves)))
brown angel
magic wolf
and brain handle were there

I was there. Caught myself a stick from Coady. I think the only problem I had was that I was so close to Big Business, I couldn't hear Buzz at all. Other than that, I thought it was a great show.

Oh, I also made sure to tip John the Merch guy. It was only two dollars, but he really appreciated it, so that was cool. He made sure to ring me up next after that. 

[Chief Ten Beers]

Killer show, I thought the Melvins played great given the shitty venue and the minor technical difficulties. I don't judge a band's performance on how the audience reacts. I don't think the Melvins really care or feed off what the crowd does, like some hardcore bands always have to try and whip the crowd into a frenzy? I can't stand that. Just play your set and rock out. Who cares what the crowd does?
Has to be the worst venue I've been to in Cleveland. Stood out in front for what seemed like forever, watching homeless guys try to hustle people for money.  I'll take the Grog or Agora anyday over that place. Basically a shitty old first floor warehouse turned into a club. Fucking big I-beams in the middle of the floor that could block your view depending on where you stand.

I liked the flow of the show last year better - Porn going into Big Biz, morping into Melvins with no waits. Show started late enough as it was, and it took too long between POD & Big Biz. I could have done without the film, since I have it at home. Hardcore fans probably already own it, a casual fan won't likely drop $30 to take it home.

This year's setlist is more varied and no complaints. Great to hear Shoved, Gardener,Blessened, Hog Leg, etc. Nice lyric mutation on Lizzy .  I like how they mixed in the ASA material - Civilized near the beginning, most of the latter half as one big segue near the end.  How could I forget?, Big Biz fucking destroyed. Toshi sounded great with them and looked like he was having a blast. Dale on 2nd guitar was nice too. An Altamont tune or two would have been nice, but oh well.

[EGO the Living Planet]

The Flaming Lips were there.

Like in the audience? Wow. That's interesting.

I've been thinkin' that the Lips, Sonic Youth, MELVINS, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds should tour together. They've all been at it since the early to mid 80's and are still doin' quality stuff that isn't like what other bands do.

[bUTTHOLEmAN]

The Flaming Lips were there.

Like in the audience? Wow. That's interesting.

I've been thinkin' that the Lips, Sonic Youth, MELVINS, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds should tour together. They've all been at it since the early to mid 80's and are still doin' quality stuff that isn't like what other bands do.

Add Einsturzende N. , and that would be too much greatness for one night.  Have all the aforementioned bands play, two a night at a time, in a row, and that would be most excellent.

[Dog Tired]

TGH i was right in front of big business when they played... i was with the guy who had the annoying screams.

[Chief Ten Beers]

The Flaming Lips were there.

Like in the audience? Wow. That's interesting.

I've been thinkin' that the Lips, Sonic Youth, MELVINS, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds should tour together. They've all been at it since the early to mid 80's and are still doin' quality stuff that isn't like what other bands do.

I wouldn't have recognized the Flaming Lips, other than that singer. Didn't realize they were from Cleveland.  I wonder if David Thomas & Peru Ubu were in the house? Probably not, David's pretty easy to spot out.

[glen]

legend has it I was there.   and I was.

too much to say. to little time.

[bUTTHOLEmAN]

legend has it I was there.   and I was.

too much to say. to little time.

spill the beaaaaaaaaaaans!!! 

[Idlehanz]

The Flaming Lips were there.

Like in the audience? Wow. That's interesting.

I've been thinkin' that the Lips, Sonic Youth, MELVINS, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds should tour together. They've all been at it since the early to mid 80's and are still doin' quality stuff that isn't like what other bands do.

I wouldn't have recognized the Flaming Lips, other than that singer. Didn't realize they were from Cleveland.  I wonder if David Thomas & Peru Ubu were in the house? Probably not, David's pretty easy to spot out.

The Lips are from Oklahoma.

[Dog Tired]

the best part about this is that glen and josh came up to me calling me a legend and then the guy i was standing next to who plays in brown angel... was in awe of everything. ha

glen:

www.myspace.com/amoebaknievel    my own and tommy's band
www.myspace.com/weirdpaul              famous band i play in

other bands that was around with my group of friends

www.myspace.com/microwaves
www.myspace.com/br0wnangel   (*the "o" is a zero so make note of that.. it does not show up in formatting)
www.myspace.com/magicw0lf      (*ditto)
and uh brain handle doesn't have a myspace but check this kind of sweet video out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWOiUpbAmio&mode=related&search=

[TGH]

TGH i was right in front of big business when they played... i was with the guy who had the annoying screams.

Do you have a beard and what not? If so, I remember you. I was standing right in front of Jared, and my friend was next to that beam.

[norecess]

The Flaming Lips were there.

Like in the audience? Wow. That's interesting.

I've been thinkin' that the Lips, Sonic Youth, MELVINS, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds should tour together. They've all been at it since the early to mid 80's and are still doin' quality stuff that isn't like what other bands do.

Add Einsturzende N. , and that would be too much greatness for one night.  Have all the aforementioned bands play, two a night at a time, in a row, and that would be most excellent.

Except that Einsturzende Neubauten started to suck big time. Just add Blixa to the Bad Seeds. I nominate The Ex, making awesome music since 1979 without starting to suck.

[glen]

okay, here we go.

got to Cleveland early after a hung-over, 2.5 hour drive.  figured I'd walk the town.  I found out quickly that 98% of what was in that neck of the woods was out-of-business,  the other 2% was closed.    about 6 o'clock I took a dry run down to the club which was about 100 yards from my hotel.   I turned the corner to see Buzz playing catch up ahead of me with toshi across the street.  I was a slightly nervous to approach the King but I figured after 20 years of dedicated fandom there was no way i was going to miss this opportunity to shake his hand.   I walked up and stuck my hand out. he took it graciously.   I  told him what an honor it was to meet him and complimented the previous evenings show. this inspired a brief conversation about where I was from and how far I had traveled to see them.   again, buzz seemed very gracious for my dedication to see them.  I was even slightly shocked to hear that buzz had heard of my hometown, saginaw.     we spoke a few minutes but I tried to keep it brief so as not to interupt the game of catch too long. I apologized for "bothering" them and buzz said "no worries" and thanked me again for coming out.   I swallowed my stomach back down and moved on.   finally, after all these years I got to meet the legend, Buzz Osborne. and I must say I was surprised at how friendly he was.

so anyway... came back down to the show about 10.  Purge of Dissidents was already playing inside.  got in and hooked up with jgarver and a friend of his.  nice guys.  over the course of the evening garver proceeded to contribute greatly to my increasing drunken state by buying me a few rounds of budweiser's.    it was a pleaure to meet garver and his buddy.

during Big Business's set I saw my old pal (from the previous evening) John Raymond standing all alone at the merch table.   I spent the next 45 minutes discussing the finer points of everything from life on the road, to europe, to baseball, to buzz, to his brother dan, to more baseball, to my wifey and baby, to more baseball, to the amount of money the melvins bring in on any given night in merchandise, to how he got the gig, to more baseball.   the dude was cool as fuck.
he seemed to really be enjoying the conversation. as was I.    he wound up giving me a bunch of free schwag.  plus I served as educated opinion man for his stray customers that were considering what album or single to buy. he kept telling the people "this is the guy you want to ask." when they'd say "which one should I buy?"    it was pretty damn cool and I was frankly honored.   

then I went and staked some claim for the melvins set.  not as good as the previous night in detroit but still pretty damn good show.   it was odd for me being from MI where you can smoke in bars and normally get lung cancer just breathing at shows.  it was smoke free in there and my lungs didn't know how to deal with all the fresh air.   melvins had a brief technical difficulty so Buzz asked the crowd what they wanted to do during the wait.  some kid yelled "smoke pot".
buzz responded with a sarcastic light-hearted rant about how stale and boring pot-smoking was.

near the end of the melvins set toshi came walking through the crowd right at me.  over the last year I've made slight friends with toshi via myspace so I stopped him to say "hi".   I pointed at myself and said "glen".   toshi grabbed me and hugged me.  no bullshit.  it was a tender moment.  he said he remembered seeing me earlier when I interupted his game of catch with buzz.  we spoke for just a couple minutes and he went about his busy business.    incredibly nice guy.

after the set I hooked up with dog tired.  a pleasure to meet him.  he seems like he'd be a cool guy to have a few beers with. if he wasn't flippin 19!    stopped and said by to garver and on the way out to John Raymond.        he said "see you next time".   he actually tried to talk me into heading to philly the next night but the family was calling. 



truely a memorable melvins weekend.   worth every second.     the highlight being finally meeting buzz.  call me a 34 year old loser-fanboy if you will.   but the man is more than a simple man to me.  he's an icon.   I shall never forget this weekend.


and like I said... it was also a pleasure to meet jgarver, dog tired, ego the living planet, and all the associated friends.

good times were abound.

whens the next tour???

[Rev. Mike]

Yea, the Lips are Okies, but Tim Moss said they had a day off in Cleveland so they came to the show.

[DubEMC]

glen, you got your stuff ok then?