Brian Jonestown Massacre at the Independent (Sept. 4, '06)

I've been a fan of the Brian Jonestown Massacre (BJM) pretty much since High School, after hearing one of their songs "That Girl Suicide" on the local KVHS 90.5 radio station. I had initially thought this was some classic 60's rock band like The Yardbirds or maybe even the Rolling Stones with Brian Jones on lead vocals. But it turns out it was actually a band that actually took it's name from the infamous Stones guitarist and welded it to the famous cyanide Kool-Aid "People's Temple" incident (which you should all know about).

The only problem back then was that it was pretty difficult to get a BJM CD since they weren't signed to any label and you were lucky if you could find a copy in the Indie section of Rasputin Records. So keeping their easily remembered name in my head, nearly an entire year would pass before I got my hands on the album "Thank God for Mental Illness", a great album to say the least. But I was still missing out on something, I'd heard of their live performance antics (cussing out audience members, fights, etc.) so I really wasn't ever motivated to go see them anytime soon.

Fast forward 10 years. In 2005 the documentary "Dig!" was released on DVD which was basically a scrapbook for a two year span of insanity and jealousy within the group and competition with arch-rival/friends The Dandy Warhols. Let's just say I was happy to have missed out on witnessing all that at such a young age. But it wasn't until just recently that I've gotten the courage to go see them.

They played at the Independent on Divisadero St. here in San Francisco. A really small venue/club that actually turned out to have a pretty good sound system and a stage that was of good height so there really wasn't a bad place to stand and watch the band perform.

Initially, things got off to a really slow start. Because of the Bay Bridge's lower deck being closed this weekend, there was a huge backup so the BJM weren't able to make it in time for a sound check. So it took nearly an hour for them to set up their gear and get everything in order. We had to listen to Anton's (lead singer/songwriter) iPod the entire time we waited. At least he had some good tunes on it, and I forgot to ask who some of the bands were that we heard, but ahh well. So again, after an hour of waiting they finally took to the stage and started playing. The last one to get on stage was the fan favorite Joel Gion, the band's long time tambourine player. The guy turns tambourine playing into some form of simian artform, it's a marvel to watch.

They broke right into "Whoever You Are" which is my favorite song of theirs, so I was instantly stoked but also really hoping that this wouldn't be the highlight of the show. The sound wasn't too great because of the soundcheck issues, but they still played great and I was really able to enjoy Anton's interaction or lack thereof with the audience. It was very strange, between songs the entire band would kind of take a 2 to 3 minute smoke/beverage break before then went into the next song. It as kinda cool though, it showed that they weren't just there to play and ignore us, they were talking with the people up against the stage and everyone seemed to be having a great time. Well, that can only be cute for just one hour it seems for some people.

At almost exactly an hour into their set, people started getting restless and yelling "Play!!!" during their little intermissions. Some jerk somewhere in the middle of the crowd started throwing ice cubes at Anton and Joel, and suddenly it was like watching a scene from "Dig!" again. Anton got pissed off and started cussing out the guy and telling us, "If you really care, you'd be kicking the s*** out of that guy right now. Here, how about you guys kick the s*** out of that guy and we'll provide the soundtrack? OK?"

Thankfully though, Anton was able to regain his composure, calm down and play again. Bursting directly into an awesome rendition of "Servo", another of my favorites. After this song, Anton began to rant, as I suppose he still had something to get off his chance. He started bragging about the BJM being one of the best San Francisco bands ever, having more good songs than the likes of Jefferson Airplane (which is very true). Some guy right behind me started yelling "F*** Jerry!", referring to Jerry Garcia of course. Anton responded, "No, it's not a f*** Jerry situation. If you truly believed that, you would have told him when he was still alive. But he would have said, Whatever man, at least you're doing what you wanna do." Which got a good laugh out of the people still in the club.

The amount of people still there had diminished by at least 50% at this point. It was mostly people who didn't know what to expect that left so early, but if you were a fan of BJM and loved everything they stood for, then you stuck it out. And the payoff was great music to go home and reminisce about. When all the dust had settled from all the drama, they went right into "Telegram" which was a perfect way to end the evening and send me home before it got too late for me to stick around any longer. (It was 12:30 am at this point)

I'm glad I finally got to see them live, I'd see them again, so long as they got the chance to do a soundcheck before their set. But one thing I can say, the reality that we're able to experience in the documentary "Dig!" is still somewhat a reality now. Sure, there's probably less boozin', less drugs, and considerably less violence, but the "F*** You" mentality is still there. And it wouldn't be BJM without it.

MTV VMA's 2006 = Lamer than usual

Did anyone notice the utter lack of creative videos that were nominated this year?

It's obvious that the nominees are mainly named by MTV marketing execs who are painstakingly trying to appeal to all generations and genres simultaneously with each category.

OK, well, the VMA's probably matter the least as far as awards go, but how can the year's best video belong to "Panic! At the Disco"? They're not a horrible band, I like their slightly operatic Meatloaf influenced style, but their video was like something out of "Big Top Pee Wee".

Ohhh, who am I kidding, I haven't respected the VMA's since Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice" lost to "Lady Marmalade". Not even Jack Black could save it this year.