October 24, 1997 1:00 am I'm writing this while my ears are still ringing from the Braid/RainerMaria/Sweep the Leg Johnny show tonight at the Oakland Red House. My head is spinning and my emotions are still undulating as though the songs had never ended...their most memorable sections still play on endless repeat in my head. I don't care who saw me dancing like a freaking monkey tonight or what anyone thought, all I know is that for a few hours tonight I was happier than I've been for months.
Sweep the Leg Johnny were just as incredible tonight as they were when I saw them at Denton Fest. I found my way to the front of the muggy, crowded living room and ended up being so close to the frontman that I could smell the bitter brass of his sax. The Oakland kids had to shut the doors and windows so they wouldn't get busted for noise violations, so the heat and desity of the air intesified so much that sweat dripped from the musicians' bodies and formed wide pools at their feet. I felt sweat rolling down my stomach and my fingers kept slipping while I attempted to photograph the show. It didn't matter, all that mattered was the piercing dissonance and sweet squeals of the sax, the pauses, the tempo, the fact that I stood among so many other kids who were helping shake the floor. The singer kept pointing to something ahead, something that couldn't be seen, but people turned their heads to look anyway. I almost missed that because I had a hard time looking directly at the performers...the lack of any kind of physical barrier between me and the band made me feel like a steady gaze would be too personal. I mostly looked at the drums and the end of the sax, took pictures of the sweat on the floor and the gleams of chrome and brass. When they announced the end of the set and the sale of their merchandise I felt sad that the set was over and sorry thatall I had was enough cash to give a decent amount to the band fund. Rainer Maria sounded so sweet with their male and female vocals volleying throughout the songs. The dual vocals really work for these kids. One thing I really liked was that Rainer Maria was so nice they even offered earplugs to kids in the front. I've never seen a band do that before. I don't know their music very well, so I stayed back in the crowd and just hung on for the ride.
I don't know what to say about Braid.
I've been listening to The Age of Octeen
so much the past few months that it's almost
obscene. I keep making tapes with that and
all their e.p.s that I have so I can listen to
them in the painting studio, but I
always end up giving them away to friends.
They played "nineteen 75" third in the set
and I was already in a full-blown state of
pure happiness. That's the song that always
gets me. There is this one line that makes
my eyes well up ("nineteen, the years
can kill a weak one and it will") from my
own associations and the energy and mood
of the music. Everything comes together so
well in their songs. I don't know if I get
into the music or if it gets into me. Bob Nanna
is one of the best song writers that I know of; those
songs are intense and true.I have no idea
who he is in life and I don't need to find out,
all I know is that he and the rest of
the band have the talent and skill to throw me
into a different world. They have my respect.
The cops broke up the show three songs
short of the planned end of the set...it
was still a night to remember though.
- dinki
As of Nov. 11 the Oakland House stopped having shows due to complaints by neighbors and threats from the APD.