A while back Judi Chicago member Travis left Atlanta for NYC. I feared this spelled the end of what had become my new favorite band, but they assured fans they weren’t splitting up and are, in fact, working on new material. However, they aren’t playing as often as they used to so when they booked a Halloween show at Whirlyball I got advance tickets as soon as I could.
Then I ruminated for weeks on costume ideas, finally landing on a member of the Guild of Calamitous Intent from The Venture Bros. animated show on Adult Swim. I doubt a single person in the room other than degenerate SG, a fellow fanatic for the show, had any idea what I was, despite the amount of time, effort and money I spent on the ensemble. Yes, I am a geek.
(Oddly enough, the red lights in the room made all my crowd photos appear just like everything looked through my goggles.)
I neglected to print out the ticket confirmation and arrived expecting the venue to have their own will-call list. Alas, they had no such list. Whirlyball is also a non-smoking venue (which I like, but others in my group did not.) Though the drinks are cheap, the layout of the room is horrible when there is a large crowd. However, turnout for the show was dissappointing. I suspect driving to Roswell on a Sunday night, even if it was Halloween, didn’t appeal to that many in-towners. Too bad, really, because the lineup was fantastic, the performances were good and you got the added bonus of whirlyball.
What is whirlyball? It’s like basketball. Except in bumper cars. With a whiffle ball and one of those basket scoop things. While drunk. It’s worth the $5 per person for a match or two but if you really enjoy it get some friends together and rent the place out. One regular, Henry of Chunklet Magazine and organizer of occasional shows at the venue, said it’s something like $200/hour.
First on stage, Mathis Hunter. Mathis is in Noot d’Noot and is a former Selmanaires member.
Not only does he share Tommy with his former band, but Mathis Hunter (the band, if not the man) sounds a lot like The Selmanaires’ latest music – a little spacey, a little jammy, a bit on the downbeat side. But Mathis Hunter is considerably less sleepy, probably due to his guitar work.
A few more folks trickled in, with almost everyone in costume: Hall and Oats, Dolly Parton, Pochahontas, Wayne and Garth – lots of fun characters to look at. Degenerate CD reprised his Lonely Groom costume, proposing to just about everyone in the place.
Next on stage, Gentleman Jesse & His Men. I saw them last Halloween, coincidentally, where they’d done themselves up as a Nordic death metal band, even playing a loud dirge or two before switching gears into their usual stuff. This year they were all glammed out, something like the New York Dolls. Their Jam-meets-Paul-Collins-Beat sound remained the same, however.
As each band wrapped up they’d rush into the whirlyball court for a match, making for some funny costumed competition.
Degenerate SG pointed out Judi Chicago member Ben done up in a white tiger costume, “Is that the stuffed tiger that they used to put on stage with them?”
The animal had suffered over several shows, getting tossed about and abused, so Ben had used its remains as a strange Sigfried and Roy get-up, with Travis in a similar costume and drummer James as luchador El Tigre.
I’ve never seen Judi Chicago put on a tame performance. Even at an afternoon in-store appearance at Criminal Records, they put on a show. Tonight was no exception. They came off the stage into the crowd, climbed speaker stacks, got tied up with mike cables, rolled around on the floor – the usual antics, all without losing a beat (well, only losing a few beats anyhow.)
They played a few new songs and mentioned a new recording in the works. The next day they made mention on facebook of a show sometime in November so watch the Prophesy page for that.
