I just got home from a surreal and crazy show at the Hemlock Tavern in SF. The opener was 60 Watt Kid, and I have never seen them, or heard them - but they are apparently from SF. It was some weird, hallucinogenic drugged out shit. I don’t know how to describe it, except that you just have to see it to experience the freakiness of it. It was just two dudes and they made tripped out music and did freaky, neurotic dances and movements; weird, but good weird.
Next was a video artist/poet named Bryan Lewis Saunders. His act was completely messed up and bordered on psychotic. He tells stories with his poems and videos, but it’s not happy Hollywood types of stories, it’s intense and hard reality tales of tortured animals, prison life and asphyxiation thrill seekers. It was some thought provoking, wake-up-calling and psycho-analysis-needing perspectives on the world; also weird, but not necessarily good weird. Intense.
The next act was Captain Ahab. Now that was something completely different. I have seen this act before and knew what to expect: Pre-recorded music played from a computer with mixers, a dude on vocals and another dude dancing in his underwear. It was the audience that was different this time. They were so into the act. Many of the men in the audience took off their shirts and danced like crazy to the tunes. There was at least one guy on ecstasy (perhaps more). It was mayhem from start to finish.
After that, I couldn’t stay for the last act, Battlehooch. Sorry Battlehooch, I was too fried from the opening acts to make it through one more. I’ll catch you next time.