Curt Kirkwood @ Mercury Lounge 7/20/06
Driving into New York City is always an adventure. Sometimes trying to find parking in NYC can be an even bigger adventure. My wife and I were heading in to catch Curt Kirkwood, of Meat Puppets fame, doing an acoustic set at the Mercury Lounge. Driving by the Mercury Lounge at just after 8pm, we began our search for a parking space....that's a fire hydrant, that's too small, that's a driveway, that has a no parking sign...next thing I know I've turned down the wrong street and ended up on the Williamsburg Bridge heading into Brooklyn. 10 minutes later I had managed to U-turn and get back into Manhattan by the Mercury Lounge. Defeated, I decide to pay the $20 (which when you're living paycheck to paycheck, does not make me happy), and pull into the lot next door to the venue. After waiting 5 minutes watching the attendant moving cars around the garage, he finally comes over and tells me that they are currently full. Well thanks for not putting up a sign, and making me sit here for 5 minutes...jerk. So I was on the prowl again for another street spot. It was now 8:50, and I had been told Curt was going on at 9pm sharp. Luckily something finally went my way, and I found a spot less than a block away.
I'm rushing to get into the Mercury Lounge thinking I'm about to miss Curt's set, when I see on the door he's now scheduled to go on at 9:30. Ok, that gives me a little leeway. So I enter into the venue and tell the door person that I am on Curt's guestlist...only they don't have a guestlist for Curt. Thankfully I had printed out the confirmation e-mail from Curt's record label saying I was on the guestlist, and who they spoke to at the venue. Several more minutes go by, a phone call is made, and finally they let me and my wife in.
When we entered the opening act was still on, a folk rock band, whose lead singer sounded more and more grating the more I listened. My wife said his voice was akin to fingernails on a chalkboard. When 9:30 rolled around and he finished his set, we were both thankful.
Finally Curt took to the stage, along with his son Elmo (who played acoustic guitar with his dad). Opening with the title from Curt's new solo CD, snow, I was instantly taken in by Curt's voice and finger picking on the guitar. Many critics have characterized the solo CD as a big change in musical direction for Curt, with it's alt-country sound, but throughout the set Meat Puppets songs were interspersed with tracks from the new disc, and all the songs sounded cohesive side by side. What many people seem to not get is that whether it's a Meat Puppets song or a Curt Kirkwood song, many of them have had that alt-country feel to them.
The 45 minute set included about half of the new album, and at least a half dozen Meat Puppets classics including, "plateau", "severed goddess head", and a rousing closing segway from "The Ballad of Pee Pee the Sailor" to "comin' down". For part of the set Curt played a banjo, adding even more of a country feel to his songs.
The set was a lot of fun, and while Curt didn't talk much at all between songs (he said something off-mic at one point, and thanked everyone at the end of the set), the music was what it was all about.
Driving into New York City is always an adventure. Sometimes trying to find parking in NYC can be an even bigger adventure. My wife and I were heading in to catch Curt Kirkwood, of Meat Puppets fame, doing an acoustic set at the Mercury Lounge. Driving by the Mercury Lounge at just after 8pm, we began our search for a parking space....that's a fire hydrant, that's too small, that's a driveway, that has a no parking sign...next thing I know I've turned down the wrong street and ended up on the Williamsburg Bridge heading into Brooklyn. 10 minutes later I had managed to U-turn and get back into Manhattan by the Mercury Lounge. Defeated, I decide to pay the $20 (which when you're living paycheck to paycheck, does not make me happy), and pull into the lot next door to the venue. After waiting 5 minutes watching the attendant moving cars around the garage, he finally comes over and tells me that they are currently full. Well thanks for not putting up a sign, and making me sit here for 5 minutes...jerk. So I was on the prowl again for another street spot. It was now 8:50, and I had been told Curt was going on at 9pm sharp. Luckily something finally went my way, and I found a spot less than a block away.
I'm rushing to get into the Mercury Lounge thinking I'm about to miss Curt's set, when I see on the door he's now scheduled to go on at 9:30. Ok, that gives me a little leeway. So I enter into the venue and tell the door person that I am on Curt's guestlist...only they don't have a guestlist for Curt. Thankfully I had printed out the confirmation e-mail from Curt's record label saying I was on the guestlist, and who they spoke to at the venue. Several more minutes go by, a phone call is made, and finally they let me and my wife in.
When we entered the opening act was still on, a folk rock band, whose lead singer sounded more and more grating the more I listened. My wife said his voice was akin to fingernails on a chalkboard. When 9:30 rolled around and he finished his set, we were both thankful.
Finally Curt took to the stage, along with his son Elmo (who played acoustic guitar with his dad). Opening with the title from Curt's new solo CD, snow, I was instantly taken in by Curt's voice and finger picking on the guitar. Many critics have characterized the solo CD as a big change in musical direction for Curt, with it's alt-country sound, but throughout the set Meat Puppets songs were interspersed with tracks from the new disc, and all the songs sounded cohesive side by side. What many people seem to not get is that whether it's a Meat Puppets song or a Curt Kirkwood song, many of them have had that alt-country feel to them.
The 45 minute set included about half of the new album, and at least a half dozen Meat Puppets classics including, "plateau", "severed goddess head", and a rousing closing segway from "The Ballad of Pee Pee the Sailor" to "comin' down". For part of the set Curt played a banjo, adding even more of a country feel to his songs.
The set was a lot of fun, and while Curt didn't talk much at all between songs (he said something off-mic at one point, and thanked everyone at the end of the set), the music was what it was all about.