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August 15, 2004
Hoot '04 - Worth The Effort?
HOOTENANNY 2004
Was it worth the effort? I think so.
By Kevin Hillskemper
A lot of people had a hard time getting there. Enough about that.
I arrived in time to catch most of Deke Dickerson�s set on the side stage. He did his usual aw-shucks, gee-whiz, Mid-western corn fed countrybilly rock thing and did it well. It�s the same old bag of groceries, but he delivers it on time and with the courtesy to ensure continued customer satisfaction.
I wanted to see the Kingbees but I didn'�t. Did they even play?
I caught a little bit of Ricky Warwick. He had a song that went something like "�three sides to every story � yours, mine, and the truth"� over and over for about six years. I wonder if he has seen "�The Kid Stays in the Picture�?"
I liked James Intveld. Not only is he an accomplished musician and songwriter, but he makes a strong fashion statement with his grizzled old prospector look. He�s only about 40, but it seems like any second now he�s going to lose his teeth and start walking all hunched-over and bowlegged. See him now before he changes his name to �Muley�.
Big Sandy and the Fly-Rite Boys were next. Very good as expected. It takes a lot of talent for a man to remain so cool in a black suit on a hot day.
Then came the Blasters. Phil Alvin was drenched in sweat before the band even started playing. I'�ve seen the �Blasters Mach II or whatever� several times and they'�ve never really overwhelmed me �until today. Something clicked in place after a few songs and they just caught fire. It was one of those things that could only be described with a mixed metaphor. Part of the greatness of the Blasters legacy has to be Phil Alvin�s repertoire of rock grimaces. Mick Ronson may have invented the highly influential �rock guitar solo face� (watch the �Ziggy Stardust� concert movie and �Spinal Tap� back-to-back sometime), but Phil Alvin has given birth to countless facial contortions for singers that few could ever come close to duplicating. It must be said, however, that very few people would actually want to.
I watched the Horrorpops for a few minutes. They really had a good visual thing going on with the dancing skeleton chicks and stuff. They were a little too goofy for me so I ventured back over the side stage to see Jesse Dayton. It was a wise decision.
His recordings that I�ve heard do not do justice to his live show. He�s an amazing guitar show-off and he whooped the tar out of the rinky-dink sound system.
The Supersuckers belong outdoors. They have great larger-than-rock stadium anthems. In a club setting they can come off as overblown and obnoxious but at an outdoor festival they make perfect sense.
The Reverend Horton Heat reminds me of Ted Nugent. Don�t ask me to explain it because it doesn'�t make any sense.
The Cramps were a powerhouse rock and roll machine. Former Blaster Bill Bateman played drums and he made them even stronger. They�ve become downright legitimate and that�s bound to offend somebody.
Anyway, Lux and Ivy are aging tastefully. Lux Interior looks eerily like Boris Karloff and I�m sure he would take that as a compliment. Boris Karloff was a consummate professional. As is Lux.
It doesn�t matter what songs The Cramps played. What matters is that when a pair of panties were thrown on stage, Lux put them on over his face and chewed through them. He also crawled on his belly like a reptile, chugged a bottle of wine, dropped his pants, bent a mic stand into a pretzel, climbed the PA speakers, ripped his clothing into shreds and all the other things that Wayne Newton should be doing if he really wanted to wow them in Vegas.
I enjoyed the show very much.
Posted by Big Kev at August 15, 2004 12:21 PM
