12/4/95, Jeremiah's, Charlotte NC.
From the sublime to the ridiculous...this is an honest-to-Goddess
converted Western Sizzlin' Steakhouse. I swear. (Bands play where
the ice cream bar probably was.) --Everyone that we talked to
beforehand had expected MM to cancel the show as soon as they saw
the venue, which is about as tiny and scuzzy as they come. The venue,
on the other hand, had sold maybe 800 tickets to a place that legally
holds maybe 250. So the line stretches and stretches, and we wait,
chatting with local Spookies (including a tall kid beautifully
turned out in full Willy Wonka costume, and in character to boot.
His name's Chad and he inherits this bucket of Gobstoppers I've
been carting around for months - looks much better on him than me =).
..6:00, 6:30...still no black bus. Are they going to show up?
Frankie has already been here and gone, and we suspect he's at the
hotel giving the band the lowdown and waiting for their vote.
At 7:00 the bus arrives. Yahoo! --There's much hammering inside as a
barricade is hastily put up (they insist on it) and MM blasts through
soundcheck. The news circulates that Tony Wiggins is here tonight as
well...
The stage is tiny - maybe 12' square. Clutch singer Neil asks if
we got their sticker - they'd slapped one of them on our car last
night when we happened to be at the same hotel. (Yes, we know they
did it themselves.)--yeah, Neil, thanks a whole lot. (I'll save the
Us vs. Clutch battle of wits for another post, if ever. It's run
most of the tour. Briefly: they're born-again Christians, they
come from this very state, and they're sick to death of being
resolutely ignored by a pack of little devil-band fangirls and
boys in dresses - which has been the front row every single night.)
The Mansons' set is disarrayed and choppy, broken in the middle
by the onstage appearance of Wiggins. (No, he didn't do "White Trash"
--he did a new composition called something like "Can I Push In
Your Stool," described as "a pickup line in gay bars." Owtch.)
The Rev gives him a couple of nice deep chest cuts with a broken
beer bottle, Twiggy cringes to the back of the stage when Tony
professes carnal intentions in his direction, and Daisy looks mildly
dismayed by the whole affair. (Still, it was Tony Night - Manson had
"wiggins" written across his chest and Twiggy had "Tony" on his hand,
the rabbit was "just a Tony in disguise," and "Tony Wiggins was a
nigger" replaced the usual line.) About half the set is clipped -
no "Lunchbox," "Hate Anthem," "Wrapped in Plastic," "Cyclops" or
"Sweet Dreams." -the Rev launches a mikestand into the drums as usual
on his way out; it lodges itself far enough down that Ginger doesn't
see it, and in the tiny pitchblack space trips and falls splat as he
tries to leave. The other thing the Rev throws as he flings himself
offstage is Daisy, who he actually grabs and tosses out of his way.
Dais just laughs...
Afterward there's a sort of bus-to-bus party between the Mansons'
black bus and Wiggins' big cream-colored one, with people scurrying
back and forth for hours. We get Ginger to sign the used drumhead
we'd gotten and Daisy signs his photo in "Guitar School" magazine.
There's a wonderfully expressive - though silent to us - Daisy/Twiggy
conversation in the front window of Wiggins' bus (I wish I could've
heard this! Much patting of Twig's shoulder and gesturing of the
"well, what're you supposed to do?" variety...). At this point
I bail out, freezing and footsore, and miss the probably unforgettable
sight of Twiggy not only pretending to drive Wiggins' bus but cheerfully
displaying himself, pants down and in a number of *ahem* poses, to
anyone within viewing range. Coyote laughs herself nearly dizzy;
EVB has her camera...we'll, erm, see how they turn out...
==angelynx==
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Or go on to the next night.