happy hardcore/afro beat

OK, this will be a little rushed because I do in fact work hard for my money & you all had better treat me right. But the Lyme Regis/Losin' Streaks show deserves a mention because it ruled. The night started off innocently enough. The Regis & friends caravan started off with plenty of time to get to Nevada City. We got there around 8:30, settled in to some brews & checked out the venue. It was at this place called Cooper's that's a good timin' bar full of OG Nevada City bikers & partiers. The deal is basically that they have shows every night of the week & it's only around $5 to get in so people just show up regardless of who's playing & check out the scene. Cooper's had apparently looked up Lyme Regis on MySpace & used that description for the poster advertising the show - so while Those Darn Losin' Streaks were described as "60's tinged garage rock", Lyme Regis were "happy hardcore/afro beat". I think irony & Nevada City is the new oil & water. It ruled watching all these bikers read that sign. Rolling around somewhere in their brains is the term 'happy hardcore'. We started talking to these drunk ass bikers & their old ladies - they had been at the Fun Run all day - and they were kinda trying to sort us out. I told the lady that is seemed more like they were on the Beer Run and she said "oh hell yeah!". By the way, it was the sort of place where nobody had to come up & ask us "are you the band?" - it was just painfully obvious! The main biker dude (also a clamper) was kinda showing off by saying "do you sound like the Dead Kennedy's?". I think he was fishing around for us to be amazed that he'd heard of them. Him & one of the drunk ladies were throwing all sorts of bands out trying to get close to the Rege sound (of course fucking Steppenwolf was first!) & it was finally decided that (and this is a ridiculous stretch) maybe The Cars weren't too far off the mark. Then he commented on our yuppie fashion (hey, I was sporting the look!) & told this joke: "How do you satisfy a woman every time?" "Who gives a shit!!". Or maybe it was "who fuckin' cares!!". Either way, top joke! About this time, the bar manager is coming up to us asking when we're gonna play (it was kinda like our whole 10 person crew was the band) & the unfortunate answer to that question was "when the Losin Streaks get here". And not just because Stan can NOT miss a Regis show, but also because they were sharing some equipment. That answer didn't seem to go over that well but there was nothing that could be done. I assured the lady that it would be 10 minutes tops - since the Streaks had also left in plenty of time. Another half hour or so passes (shows start at 9:30 - it was about 10:00 now) when finally someone gets in touch with Foster & gets the news that they had had a blowout on the way there but it's just been fixed & they're on the way. Now the real tension begins. Some bar patrons are asking for their money back, the manager is stressing the Rege out and Patrone even had to go upstairs to the office & talk to the owner on the phone who wanted to know if he "had a situation on his hands". Some drunk lameass was messing with Ed insinuating that if they were worth anything, they'd go up & play acoustic. It's probably 10:30 now & finally the Streaks show up. Yay! The amp's here. But where's Matt K - he has the bass drum? "Right behind us" assures Foster. Another half hour passes. They finally discover that he's taken a wrong turn on to highway 20 or something like that (more like highway 420 - boing!) & doesn't know how to get back. This is the kind of situation that tests a band because for some reason being in a band makes it OK to say all types of things to one another that you'd normally not say - but everyone was trying to keep cool. So not only are these people waiting for a band - but the band that's finally gonna get up & play isn't exactly AC/DC. It's 11:00 now, Cooper's is a fucking powder keg of tension, & Tristan finally says 'fuck it' & gets up there to play Spanish Harlem. Patrone & Ed follow him up there, Ed turns the floor tom on it's side & uses it as a bass drum & they get the show started. Next they kick in to a totally brilliant version of Be True To Your School which I figured they'd been working on but it turns out was totally spontaneous & Patrone & Ed had never played it before! People were starting to dig it & right as they were about done playing it, Matt K walks up to the stage with the bass drum, they hook it up & kick in to USA. (all night we had been joking that with this crowd, perhaps the line "I'm not living in the USA no more" should be changed to "I'm still living in the USA fuck yeah!") Anyway, the Rege totally had this crowd dancing by the end, they sounded fantastic (definitely my favorite band in Sac right now) & it might sound cheesy but I was proud of them for kicing ass in front of a potentially disastrous audience. Then the Streaks played & they of course went over great & sounded totally tough & amazing. Mike Farrell once again comes off as the cherry on top of the Sac music scene & fucking Matt K - that dude is on fire! So that's that. Sac bands proved that they not only bring the sarcasm but the goods. Oh yeah, and the only person there who looked like a hipster looked exactly like a SF version of Charles. I wish I had a picture of him & Mike Farrell talking!

miller