26 June, 2008

A Night at the High Noon Saloon

The Dulcinea and I spent Tuesday night at the High Noon Saloon. There was a happy hour show featuring Tancho Tancho! opening for Dick the Bruiser. This was to be followed by Gomeroke where The D would be the first to croon a particular 1980s hit.


Tancho Tancho! started the evening with their moody brand of indie rock. This time around I find that they've added a new member – Lisa. I recognized her as being from Mae Rae, though she's been in many a band in her time. Lisa has taken over bass duties allowing Dave Zero to pull out his axe and start shreddin'. OK, well maybe not but the music sounds a bit less brooding now and has a bit more swing. And while the addition of more guitar and vocals has filled in the spaces left by the former 3 piece, the overall effect of the changes is to make the tunes sound more expansive and open, if that makes any sense. Plus they've been playing to together longer than they had when we saw them last autumn. The D and I agreed that they were much improved all around.

Singer/guitarist Alex F. told me that they're looking to do some recording soon and probably won't be seen onstage until late summer.

After a brief intermission Dick the Bruiser took the stage and proceeded to hurt my ears. But in a good way.


The band are Tony and Kevin from P'elvis (now there's a name I haven't heard in a while), a rhythm section plus theremin. These guys are loud and brutal with a lead Rickenbacker bass chugging away as the maniacal drums are pounded behind. The first thought that came to my mind was that they're like The Minutemen without guitar. Instead you get a bit of theremin.

(For superior photography of the evening, do head over to You Be the Mouse.)

In typical rock star fashion, Gomeroke started late yet The D managed to end up with the top spot in the first set. She'd been wanting to do "Harden My Heart" by Quarterflash for some time and, although the song is not part of The Gomers standard repertoire, they agreed to do it.

Now, lest anyone think she was singing about me, let me reassure you that she wasn't. Indeed, she explicitly said that it was NOT dedicated to her boyfriend.


She nailed it despite the lyric sheets flying away in some kind of onstage wind tunnel incident. Hell, even if her singing were off, I would be of no help since I couldn't sing my way out of a paper bag. My only complaint is her stage presence. I'll have to work with her on shaking her bum a bit. I am going to try to get her to do some King Crimson next time, though this will probably take a lot of prodding. (Or a bribe.) But I think she'd do Adrian proud with her take on "Elephant Talk" and this would give Biff a chance to do animal noises.

I would also note that Gordon debuted(?) his shiny new Danelectro double neck geetar that night.

I got wind of it last week when I met him at the grocery store. It sure is purdee and I think it will be absolutely perfect for the next PROG show when they (hint, hint) do a medley of "Cinema Show" and "Riding the Scree". (hint, hint) And I certainly think it would be the perfect addition to "Firth of Fifth" or "Awaken". (hint, hint, hint)

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