Ice Cream Man

There were two very good reasons to head to Detroit Bar the other night. One was Middle Brother, a sort of super group consisting of the lead singers from Delta Spirit, Dawes and Deer Tick. The other was the infamous Jonny Corndawg. There was also a reason I rarely go to Detroit Bar. The setup isn’t great – tolerable if it’s not too packed, like the sold-out show this night, but it’s in the heart of Orange County.

A couple years ago when I was hanging out in Nashville a buddy, Jay, handed me a CD from Johnny Corndawg and told me a bunch of stories about why I needed to be into him. I think he traveled to India to record his last album then had the CDs pressed there and mailed back to the US so he could sell import albums. The album is I’m Not Ready to Be a Daddy and contains songs like “Keep Your Body Through Exercise,” “Torture Chamber,” and “Froggy.” The lyrics are all over the place and as much as you might want to categorize him as some sort of novelty act the classic country picking draws you in and keeps the music interesting.

Check out his Kickstarter project to raise money to release his next album.

Jonny took the stage in a cowboy hat and was flanked by Taylor from Dawes on guitar and Matt from Delta Spirit on bass. You could tell it was a good time for everyone but something was a little bit off. There was something funky with the monitor and he was having some trouble hearing. The latter issue was probably more to do with the fact that he said he found blood in his ear that morning. The other thing that made it tough was that a good chunk of his songs are mellow country tunes and the crowd just wouldn’t shut up. It was an enjoyable set but it made me want to see him again in a better environment

Middle Brother took the stage soon after and launched their set with my favorite song from their self-titled album, Blue Eyes. It’s one of the more rocking tunes on the album and one where they sound most like a full band, as opposed to the separate members writing their songs and the other backing them up. All three members can hold their own as front men and have been doing ‘the band’ thing for long enough to know what works with songwriting and performing. On top of that they can all belt out songs which is always nice for live shows. “Me, Me, Me” was a classic rocker where their harmonies stood out, “Thanks for Nothing” got the most sing-alongs for the night and “Daydreaming” a song by John from Deer Tick was also a crowd favorite. I wonder if that’s because the song is centered around a hungover morning and people were putting ‘em back.

OK.. now the fun part… down at the bottom here.

I had an idea of what to expect heading down to Costa Mesa for this show, I even prefaced it to my brother that it’s not a good venue to see ‘quiet’ shows because the diagonal, two-room setup carries sound in from the people talking by the bar. Since this wasn’t really a quiet show I didn’t think we’d have that much to worry about. We even posted up against the near wall right in front of the soundboard to not be close to the bar. That didn’t seem to help much because people just wouldn’t shut up. This could be a much longer article, either about concert ettiquette, why pay $20 to see a band then talk during their performance, or some level of narcissism, but I’m gonna keep it short and say that Orange County just isn’t a good place to see shows. I’ve had this happen at MMJ at House of Blues before, at Jonathan Richman at Detroit Bar and other venues. (Yes… this isn’t wholly exclusive to OC but you can only go through it so many times before giving up). Here’s just a few reasons this was so frustrating:

• The two girls in front of me were both on their phones the majority of the time, one was on facebook (couldn’t help but notice with a bright phone three feet from my face in a dark room) and the other was named Madison… just seemed too fitting.
• Overheard by the dudes next to me during Middle Brothers set: “You ever hear of this band before? …. No.”
• In the small main room towards the back there was a third of the audience that never shut up. The whole time they were talking and/or screaming.
• At the very back was the token drunk dude that felt so uncomfortable that all he could do was hoot and scream “Whooooooo… WHOOOOOOOO” over and over again after the band would sing about beer, girls or… about anything else for that matter. I don’t even think he was paying attention to the music, just chiming in with “WHOOOOOO” between most verses and choruses.
• And lastly… the girl to the right of me who actually answered her phone during the show… ahhhh

What I’m most curious about is how the concert experience has changed in the last ten years and what’s going to happen to keep people engaged, entertained and for them to be courteous to those around them and the performers on stage. Holding your phone or camera in the air for full songs at a time is a good example of something you wouldn’t have seen ten years ago but happens all the time now. On the way home my brother, Jackie and I were talking about this because we were all bummed out by the crowd (and all really liked the actual music). Jackie mentioned that at an A Perfect Circle show in Seattle recently they clearly stated beforehand that there was a no phone or camera policy and that they would kick people out for pictures or being on their phone during the show (even texting). She said it was so nice to have the place black and silent for the show and she mentioned that she wasn’t even a big fan of the band before the show but was so impressed with their performance afterwards that she became one.

OK.. I gotta wrap this up. One more thing, while I’m here… if you’re going to somewhere like the Hollywood Bowl to see a band like Pavement, don’t expect everyone around you to remain seated the whole show. get up and dance, how some fun, get a lil exercise. and… if you don’t wanna stand up, don’t get mad at the people around you that are having way more fun than you’d be, even if they sat down for you.