MOG

King Khan & The Shrines live was a hell of a thing. If they come anywhere near you, get there. Khan has stage presence that most frontmen couldn't dream off and their keyboard player is a human fucking whirlwind. The guys opening for them here, The Jacuzzi Boys, were pretty good and very Black Lips-ish.

Concert definitely cheered me up a bit when i was needing it quite a bit post the weekend of near-death experiences. It also, sadly, reaffirmed pretty much all my misgivings about goin out here in Phoenix. It was even more obvious than normal after being back home and having people dancing and singin and talking to one another  even though they've never met before. It's fucking miserable to go see bads here, usually. People not showing up till the headliner goes on on a regular basis, nobody speaks to anyone they didn't show up with or already know, singin along, dancing, or even fucking smiling or move, half the time, are completely out of the question. If you're a bar owner and painfully shy me s the most outgoign poerson in your bar, you should be crying yourself to sleep at the fucking state of your place.

The indipendent/alternative sort of scene in Phoenix is pretty much the most incestuous culture possible. When, even at a show like tonight where the band is putting everythign they've got into making the audience sing and dance and get into the show, you've still got more people sitting completely motionless and expresionless, you ahve a problem. Bar owners and local bands should be ashamed of themselves for condoning and sometimes even encouraging it. (Except Peachcake. Try and pull the detached hipstery shit at their show, god bless the wacky fucks.) It halfway makes me question the whole "Support local independent business" thing that goes on here, as a lot of those businesses are owned by the same few people. Who also own several of the venues and promoters here. Who also employ a lot of the local musical types. IT sometimes feels more like "support our wonderful little circle jerk so we can stop from isolating ourselves into complete irrelevance a little longer." Who knows, though. Maybe my experiences in Louisiana and England were complete flukes and everywhere else is like going to a damn wake when you see a show.

Anyway, I've gone way off on a tangent here, courtesy of lack of sleep and perscription medication, probably. So back to my point, go see King Khan & The Shrines. Just be prepared for screaming and stripping and really a little bit of audience baiting.