MC5 - Roseland Theater, Portland OR - Oct 15, 2018

[from Detroit, MI] I don’t really know this band. I just know they’re rock royalty. And I have a long-term infatuation with Detroit, for all sorts of reasons musical, sociological, Dara. So Wayne was non-stop smiles and you couldn’t help smile along – all sorts of goofy moves. He was perfect in his messy dark afro, all loose skinned and slack jawed – shitty black pants and a nice black business shirt made shitty with its untuckedness. He had all the moves. There were Who arm swings. Guitar sways back and forth. There were some uncomfortable butt shakes to the crowd. There was a guitar-off while the vocalist was off to the side with arms raised up and hands twinkling, belly out. The lyrics weren’t mind-melding: “Sometimes you get off the pot and check it out. Get in the streets” – are they talking toilets or weed? Based on my very informed stereotyping, the band was a ‘fantastic’ mix of genres. The Soundgarden looking guy was pensive, all sweet and grunge like. And, oh, the joy when we got a smile out of him. Faith No More and the drummer from Fugazi (comparisons of my crafting) looking bald and harcore. The guitarist headbanging. The crowd. The crowd was full of rocking dads – lots of flannel – but, like, original 90s flannel. Then the band said: “do you find us boring?”and got all strange and psychy. The vocalist started playing a curved recorder type thing that had a funkadelic sound. The guitarist started picking at cobwebs in the air and throwing them. No. And then there was a tambourine. No. Focus on what you’re good at. They are blues rock, punked up soul, …. rock and roll. They’re rock and roll. Who can legitimately claim that? If I was their grandmother, I’d pat them on their heads and call it a good day’s work done. Ultimately, the show felt like a mockumentary. Like Anvil (if you love music and haven’t seen this move, please please watch it – hilarious, heartwarming, heartbreaking all in one). And like Blues Brothers – guys I’ve met over the course of my life love this movie, for reasons I don’t really understand. Their best song was a song that sounded like Redd Kross’s “Jimmy’s Fantasy” - a song that legitimately ROCKS.