On The Y

I didn't think I'd be able to post because allegedly I have a lot of work today, but so far it has not materialized. Lucky readers!

BET had an R. Kelly special that I got suckered into watching. In case you don't know, R. is in the middle of releasing a five part epic song that starts with a lady cheating on her husband with R. and then the husband comes home and R. has to hide in the closet. I guess he's making a movie or a five part video-it wasn't that clear from the special. It started with the video for the first part, which was O.K., but then the rest of the half hour was just the making of the video and it sucked. You get to hear everyone talk about what a genius song this is (not really, it doesn't have a chorus or hook and the story seems pretty standard), and you get to hear everyone from the director to the set designer talk about how great the video is going to be. It's pretty funny to see the set designer seriously discuss the importance of his job when the ladies bedroom looks like a Motel 6. Also the entire video has the production values of an Afterschool Special. It looks like crap but R. thinks he's making Raging Bull or something. R. did say that he's like a scientist of music, and that's why he has to spend so much time in the lab, so that was cool. He also said his new album will be a return to the form of Twelve Play 1 and 2, which I hope is true.

So, I finally checked out On The Y. The comparison with Primos is apt. It has heavy metal posters on the ceiling, and last night at least, the tattooed bartender was wearing a bikini top. It seems like an OK place to watch bands, but I wish it was closer to downtown. If it was a weekend night it would be fun to ride bikes there. I paid five bucks to get in at 9:30 and my heart sank when I saw that no one had started playing yet and that there were 4 bands on the bill. I knew right away this meant that I probably couldn't stay for the A Frames. I know, I sound like an old woman, but I may have to be at work for ten hours today, so I knew I needed a good night's sleep. There were quite a few 9 to 5-ers in the crowd (and at least two teachers who had to get up at the crack of dawn) so I heard other grumbles about the bill. This was a definite bro show, with men outnumbering women at least 2 to 1. It was surprisingly sparsely attended for an A Frames show. Maybe it was because it wasn't downtown, I don't know. Everyone was supposed to play short sets, and Chad and Kevin did, but then Eat the People took a good 40 minutes to set up. They always play really long sets. I'm not sure if last night was an exception, because as the time approached 11:30 and they gave no signs of stopping I decided to leave. I didn't get to see SExxEEXXXEEE Prison or the A Frames. How was it?