Well, coyote and I just got back from Cleveland and the two shows at the Odeon and we had a great time & it nearly turned into a mini list party!!! met up with sara lee/reptile who crashed with us, and also in attendance both nights was DJ blue who is gonna have to change his sig block now cause he got his ride to Cleveland after all! Then the 2nd night we also found Tim "Vegan from Hell" and former listers Hagen Kirk & demon girl.

Opening both nights was a band from New York I had never heard of before but was pleasantly surprized with, Johnny Skilsaw. They looked like they prolly live in a couple of large cardboard boxes near heat grates & order their instruments from the cast of Mystery Science Theater. One guy played a bass with a keyboard duct taped on (both at the same time!), there was a "regular' drummer & another guy who played this thing that was made out of vacuum cleaner hoses that he hit with a baseball bat - it's kinda hard to describe so you gotta take my word for it. Anyway he was a total riot to watch as he was jumping all over the place bashing everything & going at it with circular saws in a budget pyrotechnic display when he wasn't serving cupfulls of Jack Daniels to the other band members. They did a truly amazing cacophonus (sp?) version of "I am the walrus" which I finally recognized by the time they got to th "coo-coo-ka-choo" part. Anyway I REALLY enjoyed watching them... hopefully so did Trent Reznor who I noticed was watching them from the edge of Stage left on Thursday night!

As for Manson, of course they were BRILLIANT! Sets were different than the other times I've seen them this tour - on Thursday they opened with "tThe Family Trip" and Manson in a long black coat (I was THRILLED as I'd never heard them do "Family Trip" before) and then charged into "Organ Grinder". And they did not one but TWO new songs that night, my new favorite "Tourniquet" followed by "Irresponsible Hate Anthem" and 2 encores ("Sweet Dreams" and "Misery Machine" followed by "Rock and Roll Nigger"). A gal next to me threw a bag of glitter onstage at one point and Twiggy had fun dumping it over his head and there was glitter EVERYWHERE!!!!

The second night they opened with "Get Your Gunn" and rocked as hard as I've ever seen them - the beat was furious, only slowed slightly by the time they got to "Down in the Park". The only new song was "Hate Anthem" but they added back "Cyclops" which they hadn't done for a while. Manson came onstage in a tattered rabbit fur coat & had written "unsafe" across his stomach, underneath the coat he was wearing long opera gloves trimmed in green maribou feathers! Again, two encores, this time "Rock and Roll Nigger' followed by "Sweet Dreams" and "Misery Machine". Unfortunately manson decided to grab on of Daisy's guitars with its stand that was off top the stage and throw it across the stage & then dismantled Daisy's amp, Daiz didn't look too thrilled at all... hope they are in a better mood by tomorrow night in NEW YORK CITY!

- EVB
Best quote of the weekend:
Ginger Fish (on their trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) "the mannikins all look like Ronald MacDonald!"

2nd best:
Maxie (of the MM road crew) "why does he always take it out on my drum kit?" (as he literally tried to hammer the metal part of the bass drum into shape on the sidewalk outside the Odeon.... unfortunately Mr. Manson has a MEAN swing with that mike stand...)