Ween Mach II: Scoping the Lobe with the Shit Creek Boys

By the time Ween came back to town a year later, I had become a big fan. I had picked up much of their catalogue to date in that first year, and even got the latest recording, their classic Country Album. And with all that excitement and harping about them to friends, I could still find no one who wanted to go. I decided that since I had seen them last year, I could skip the show this time around.

CFNY, a Toronto radio station, at the time interviewed many alt bands, and I found out that Ween were stopping by their studio before the show. Since I was not going to the show, it seemed like a good alternative to see them at this interview for free. I headed for the CFNY studio on Yonge Street.

I was there with about 10 other fans... one group brought Lasagna in answer to Ween's request for hot meals from the back of Pure Guava. I brought my copy of The Pod to get it signed. And they were great about it... not only did they sign my CD (puzzling, since Gene dated his signature "97" even though it was October 1996), but they gave me a pair of free tickets to the show. Since I had no one to take the second ticket, I had Deaner sign it so that I could at least give this bit of memorabilia to my friend Craig.

After Ween left, I ran over to the Phoenix as quick as I could. I managed to get a good spot about 3 rows in. The red curtains were closed, but a fan in the front row pulled the curtain aside to peak in. "Can you see anything?", it was all I could do to get out the words "Yes, wonderful things".

The back stage was flooded with smoke... it was a thick haze. In front, Gene sat on a bench, looking really messed up. He held his head in his hands. Other members of the band milled around, and bottles of Jack Daniels could be seen everywhere.

They started the show without Gene, but he joined in shortly after and did not seem too set upon. The show was nicely spaced with country numbers and their classics. The Shit Creek Boys was a solid backing band.

Years later I found out that they recorded this concert for their Live in Toronto show. The actual show was about twice as long as what made it to the album. I wish they had included "Vallejo" on the disk... this song was a 20 minute salute to chest medallions and wine. And this version had some really messed up chanting. They did put their cover of "Piano Man" on it – possibly the brownest song ever recorded.

This show went on to be referenced often, and I can boast that I saw that show and met the band that night.

Ween 1994: The Obesssion Begins Here

The first time I saw Ween, I went to the show on speculation. I had their latest album, Chocolate and Cheese, that I had just bought from my friend Charless at the Orange Monkey in Waterloo. Charless always had good stuff, and he would set aside a pile of music for me each payday. That's proactive customer service!!!

I thought the album was cool, but I knew nothing of the band. I did feel that something lurked behind this band too, because they could be poignant and offensive with equal enthusiasm.

I went alone because I could not find anyone else who was interested. I got there early and staked out a place in the second row. In front of me were two flirty EMO girls and I was surrounded by what looked like Grateful Dead fans. Well the joints started flying around, and all of a sudden I was in the midst of a very messed up scene. It was incredible... the crowd had been following these guys for a while, everyone seemed to know the songs. Calls for "The Stallion" and "El Camino" really resonated, and I made a note to track these songs down pronto. Deaner launched into the set with a raunchy, feedback-laced version of "You Fucked Up" that was so heavily distorted, it sounded like a buzzsaw. It was the classic lineup: Deaner and Gener up front, Claude Coleman on drums, and Andrew Weiss on bass.

About halfway in, the flirty girls started making out with each other, and then the bassist came over to the edge of the stage and got into the action too. The girls began to rub his crotch, but he never missed a note... all of this insanity unfolding right in front of me. Gener was laughing, and hamming it up... starting a number of songs with "We're Ween".

I went to the show knowing nothing about the band and left realizing that I had just stumbled onto this vast underground band and fan network.

Over the years, most of my friends have adopted Ween as their own, and when they now come to town, it requires careful planning and coordination of tickets. The influence of this first Ween show for me was far reaching. This concert was the spark that ignited a huge following that runs like wildfire through my network of friends.

Neil Young: From the Country to the City to See the Country

My first real concert was Neil Young, in the summer break after my freshman year of university. I had seen other bands before, but no one particularly famous, and no one in a real concert venue, like Exhibition Stadium. I was living back home with my parents for the summer, which meant that I had to drive about 3 hours to the show. Four of us were going... Craig, Brad, my brother Richard, and me. Brad was already in Toronto doing a cattle show, so I borrowed my parent's car, loaded Craig and Richard, and headed to Toronto.


The ride was uneventful until we got to Lakeshore. We immediately got stuck in traffic, and inched along to Bathurst, where the car overheated and we had to pull over. Fortunately for three hayseeds, we could see a gas station a couple hundred yards ahead with a service bay, so we pushed the disabled car to the station, and a mechanic looked at it immediately. That kind of thing never happens, right?

As it turned out, the thermostat was broken, so we could either wait for the part (a few days), or have the guy remove the thermostat and replace it when we got home. I believe the bill for that hack job was $35. Again, good fortune. And then things turned sour.

We ditched the car in a parking garage on Queens Quay and walked to Ontario Place where we would meet Brad. We met him at the gates and headed to the cafeteria there for food and beer. I had a burger and a quart bottle of Blue, and fell ill almost immediately after the burger was done. Yup, I had a nasty case of food poisoning. To the toilet a few times, barfing in bushes, the whole bit. I even told the guys to leave me back and I would head for the car to sleep. They convinced me to go anyway, and somehow I found the strength to go.

Neil started as the night fell, and as the show went on, I felt progressively better. Now Neil had for several years before been screwing around with genres, and this time he went straight from New Wave to Country. He was unrelenting in his commitment to the country sound, and had a full Nashville band backing him up. Now at that time, country was not my thing, but there was enough of the hits to keep me going. When he played Down By the River, the show headed for the stars. Incredible.

1. Country Home
2. Comes a Time
3. Looking for a Love
4. Heart of Gold
5. This Old House
6. Bound for Glory
7. Southern Pacific
8. Sugar Mountain
9. Helpless
10. Nothing is Perfect
11. California Sunset
12. Down by the River
13. Old Man
14. Powderfinger
15. Get Back to the Country
16. Grey Riders



My stomach had settled by the time the show ended, and we spent the entire ride back home in silence. We pulled down that gravel road to home at 3am.

Falling in Love: Sonic Youth 1990

I came to Sonic Youth too late for some, yet they were still, by 1990, bursting into this force of nature. Looking back, I would argue that this point in time was the best moment for this band.

They played an oversold venue in Toronto, the Great Hall, which is just down from the CAMH main campus. It seemed like a great location, not too far away from crazy central.

When they came out, the crowd pushed a bit, but they played Tom Violence, a down tempo song. The second song was Eric's trip, a huge swelling clash of energy, the crowd exploded, and somehow I pushed through to the front row, wedged against the stage, immediately under Kim Gordon.

They played for about 40 minutes until they ran into technical difficulties The cops eventually got to the stage and shut the show down because of the fire regulations... Thurston Moore left the stage with a police escort, but not before he ripped into Silver Rocket, and the maxed-out crowd when insane.

The next day, I developed a great bruise that ran along from one hip to the other from being wedged into the stage. I definitely felt that I witnessed a happening with that one.

Here's the set list... a fleeting moment in time... not the best set list, but it somehow did not matter. This was a happening, and I fell drunk in love with Sonic Youth that night.

01. Tom Violence
02. Eric's Trip
03. Cinderella's Big Score
04. White Cross
05. Schizophrenia
06. Tunic (Song for Karen)
07. Dirty Boots
08. Catholic Block
------- about 30 minute timeout-------
09. Mary Christ
10. Kool Thing
11. Silver Rocket

Bruce Springsteen: Lost Time is Never Found Again

At this point, at 20 years of age, I was really still a concert newbie. I had not been to a real concert outside seeing Neil Young 10 days earlier. I was pretty stoked too. I loved Nebraska (still do) and saw Springsteen as this undeniable force of nature. The concert blows into town at a hurricane velocity, spins chaos for at least 4 hours, and veers away again, leaving fans drenched and exhausted.

Weeks before, my high school friend Gus and I waited in line overnight in London Ontario to get tickets to the show. We had been living the summer of Springsteen, and were psyched to see him play. The shows themselves were these infamous marathon experiences.

10am arrived and the line moved disturbingly slow. We stuck it out, becoming more nervous as the hours passed. By the time we got to the ticket wicket, we were looking at seats at the top rim of the Exhibition stadium. It didn't matter... we got tickets.

Gus drove us to the show, and brought his sister and cousin. We got to our seats just as the show started. I remember loving the whole vibe of the place, the merchandise vendors and the sheer size. And that was as good as it got.

Once Springsteen started, my heart sank. This show just blew. From the opening notes, it reeked of some passionless, choreographed and maudlin antic. Bruce and Clarance were hamming it up like kids in some after school special. And the songs that I thought were cool sounded really insincere and a sell-out. They had these rotten, stinking segues between songs, and someone found them poignant enough to record for posterity. You can be the judge: folksey, down-homey, or just moldy. Phooey! http://www.brucebase.org.uk/stories/270885.htm

I left the show a changed man, musically. I vowed I would never again go to a stadium show. I still listen to Springsteen and admire some of his work, but that show, along with my then recent discovery of the Velvet Underground and Nico, cemented my musical path as an adult.
I am reminded of something Neil Young said about his success with Heart of Gold: "'Heart of Gold' put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride but I saw more interesting people there."

I headed for the ditch that night.

Komakino Flexi-Disc

This disc was originally given away in UK record stores. It is now long out of print.

I scored this gem in the late 80s in a record store in Toronto... the stellar Vortex records, back when it lived on the second floor in a building on Queen Street West. It was a Mecca for music and collectibles. My friends Garth, Mike, and I would make trips to Vortex with as much money as we could afford to bring and just skim the stacks, seeing where the store took us.

For a zealous Joy Division fan, this nugget was a prized possession. It is a piece of history.

Exile on Main Street

The Rolling Stones reissue of their classic "Exile of Main Street", complete with 10 never-before released tracks, grabs my attention. Exile has been a favourite album of mine since my mid-teenage years. It is a touchstone for a slew of childhood memories. I bought my first copy, a vinyl original copy with the 12 postcards, somewhere on Young near Massy Hall, in a long-defunct record store. I think it was the summer of 1977. I bought a couple of other Rolling Stones LPs that day: Sticky Fingers and Beggar's Banquet. Looking back,that was quite the purchase.

I was crazy about the Stones when I was a teenager. While they are not always the coolest band to follow, they saved me through my teenage years of bad Elton John, Huey Lewis, and Billy Joel. And Styx and Cheap Trick, and Kiss.... The late seventies and 80s were uncouth musically, especially in the mainstream. I credit albums like this one for helping me live through this bleak time unscathed.

The album sounds as laid back and wasted as the guys who recorded it. This album exists in a time when Gram Parson's and Keith Richards were close. You can hear the result of this friendship clearly here and in Parson's solo albums.

In my list of top albums of all time, Exile on Main Street comes in as #2. Nothing can beat The Velvet Underground and Nico for the #1 spot though.