Living Vicariously

I haven't seen a live band in quite a while...I'm almost ashamed to admit it. The last concert I saw was George Thorogood at the Tampa Theatre (quite awesome I might add), but as far as local music, I honestly can't remember.

Sad.

Part of the reason is certainly my preoccupation with electronic music. Another part is that the local music scene has been rather bland...or more likely it was my perception that it was bland. Perhaps the biggest part of it is that I simply hate waiting for a band to start playing. Alternative music bands notoriously never start on time and I feel stupid sitting around the bar with my gin and tonic just waiting. That reflects my age, I guess.

There was a time that I loved going to see local music. I would spend my weekends (and some weeknights) waiting with my gin and tonic to see bands like Pee Shy, the Baskervilles, Joe Popp, and Clang. I wouldn't see them just once...I would see them multiple times to catch differences in how each song was performed, to watch Laura Taylor do her magic on the theremin, or to sing along with Julian Koster as he rambled on about sticking two dogs together with crazy glue.

My faith in the local music scene was restored somewhat on Wednesday when I found myself at the Crowbar in Ybor City. I wouldn't even have been there if it wasn't for 4 liter Bruce. The Saturday before I found myself visiting a friend at a little neighborhood bar, when Bruce, deep into his 4th liter of beer (hence the name), struck up a conversation with me because he liked the music I was playing on the jukebox. That morphed into an almost endless conversation about how we just simply had to go see this band on Wednesday. The 4 liters of beer made him sound convincing enough that I decided to go.

The opening band (the band Bruce convinced us to see) was called Vicarious ...appropriately named after a Tool song from their 2006 album (yes, you can still call them albums) since they are a Tool cover band. I honestly don't know Tool's songs very well, but I have always had great respect for their musicality. Vicarious' members reflected that. They were tight.

Next up was Zombie Dragstrip Hookers. Think Ministry meets White Zombie, although I guess if you want to describe White Zombie you would end up comparing them to Ministry anyway. Blake, the lead singer, growls, screams and shakes his way through each song with aplomb.

We didn't stick around for the headliner, Citizen Seeks Revenge because it was a weeknight. My days of staying up past 1 and still making it to work on time are practically gone.

Lots of people I know from the Castle were there rocking out. I know I'm not really part of their inner circle, but part of me thinks I got some sort of street cred for coming out. I had agreat time...I'm glad I did.

I don't think Bruce remembered me, though....he was probably only on his 1st liter of beer.