Mike Doughty's World Renowned Question Jar Show

 

Former Soul Coughing front man Mike Doughty, 44, played two shows at the Dakota Jazz club tonight. I was lucky enough to score a ticket to the late show, and I gotta say, the late show was a great show. It was just Doughty on guitar (acoustic, electric, and banjo), and admirable cellist Andrew "Scrap" Livingston on (what else?) cello.

 

On my inaugural trip to The Dakota, I gave my name at will call, which was just a table set up outside the restaurant's door in the lobby of a Target HQ. That lobby started to fill with hipsters, young and old, waiting to get in. Around 8:50 the early show let out, and the people exiting had to stick-and-move their way through us. Finally we were let into the club at 9:20.

 

See The Dakota in the bottom left?

 

I found my seat, which was at a table with a couple, Todd and Amy. I was less than ten feet away from the stage. When I heard about this show I thought it was going to be in December. When I started researching it, I realized I had snost and lost as it was already sold out. I checked the site a few days later and they were selling single tickets, and I bought one without delay. Todd and Amy were cordial; Todd telling me that Doughty is a recovered addict. I can't believe I didn't know that, and now his memoir, The Book of Drugs, is next on my reading list.

 

The question jar was sitting on a small merch table on the way into the intimate venue. I entered Will you take a selfie with me? and What is your favorite Minneapolis memory? The 9:00 show started promptly at 10:00. Doughty played a couple tunes and then asked Livingston for a question from the jar. The two have a great rapport on stage after Scrap reads the question aloud.

 

I was hoping for some road stories, or stories about how he writes, or any stories at all, but the questions were yes/no, or easily one-word-answer questions. A few examples:

Q: Rollerblading Yes or No? A: He shouted NO! for the laugh, but then said do whatever you want.

Q: Is mayonnaise an instrument? A: No.

Q: What is your favorite flavor of milkshake? A: Vanilla

Q: Where are all the white women at? A: Minnesota (he had some fun with this one)

 

The music was tight, Doughty's voice was on, and every song in the 85-minute set was enjoyable. It was a treat to hear the handful of Soul Coughing songs I've heard a million times in the stripped down, acoustic arrangements. The highlight of the night was Lazy Bones to the cello, and Doughty fiddling with a plastic box with knobs that may have been a synthesizer. What ever it was, it sounded like music from Mars, and I'd pay for a version of it; were it on iTunes.

 

I love how he handled the obligatory "encore." Before playing the penultimate song of the main set he announced "this is the last song before the fake last song." Then after the fake last song, he thanked the crowd, said goodnight, and they both turned around and stood onstage with their backs to the audience. After just a few seconds they faced the audience again and played two more songs.

 

Despite the lack of stories, the music carried the Saturday night show. The relaxed, comedic banter between the two was refreshing between songs, and Doughty came off as easy going and quite approachable. Neither of my questions were read, but Livingston would read some to himself and throw them out to get a different one. Maybe they've learned that the quick answers make for a better/tighter show. I would see this show again. I give it an A.

 



Dice's Book-The Filthy Truth

In the early 90's I started high school (1991), and discovered Andrew Dice Clay. Here was this guy dressed in leather, smoking cigarettes, and telling dirty nursery rhymes. It was nothing I'd ever seen, and I couldn't get enough. I loved his whole character. 

Other kids listened to Milli Vanilli or Paula Abdul in their bedrooms. I listened to Dice's comedy albums, and knew them word-for-word. I edited all of the curse words on the album Dice Rules together in one long string of vulgarities. I found a poster of The Diceman at Spencer's Gifts and had it on my wall. He's always been an inspiration to me. 

I got to see him live with my buddy Jimmy D

On 11/11/14 Andrew Dice Clay's autobiography The Filthy Truth was released. I downloaded it on my Kindle that night. Clay, 57, has been out of the spotlight for years, and I couldn't wait to see what he's been up to. Unfortunately the book doesn't live up to the legend. It started when he's six years old. He talks about his parents and sister, referring to them throughout the book as The Originals. 

Personally I don't like when celebrities start their books with their childhoods. I don't buy their book to find out that they were a class clown in elementary school. I want it to start when their career started. Clay waxes on about his childhood for the first 15% of the book, finally mentioning a comedy club around there, and doesn't start talking about the beginning of his career until about 20%. 

His first bit was coming on stage as Jerry Lewis's Nutty Professor, then he'd drink the elixir, there'd be a black out, and when the lights came back up, he'd be Travolta in Grease singing Greased Lightning. He references that it was the 70's, before YouTube, and he had to see Grease in the theater three times to learn the song and choreography. The way it's written, this was the only bit he did, and his dad would book him at discos for $800-$1,000 a night. 

The chapters are short without much substance. The book isn't written in the Dice voice, but Clay's Brooklyn dialect sneaks in from time to time. A lot of pages are devoted to sexual encounters he had. These parts come off as a high schooler bragging that he had sex. They're not funny, and go into too much detail. The worst is when Clay describes a couple he heard having sex in the next hotel room. He describes the whole encounter. I started skipping through these parts.

He discusses coming up through LA's famous Comedy Store, where he lived in the comic house with, most notably, Yakov Smirnoff. He describes some of the antics that happened in the house, but is derailed by talking about women. He mentions a young Sam Kinison and how they were friends, Dice even writing Kinison's opener. He talks about their feud later in the book,  and even memorializes him in a short chapter.

The interesting stuff is around the filming and release of Ford Fairlane. He talks about how he was banned for life from MTV, and his subsequent appearance on Saturday Night Live, which was boycotted by cast member Nora Dunn. These too were interesting, because I knew that they happened, but Clay gives his side of these stories. I feel like I learned something reading them.
Clay was featured in a short-lived VH1 reality series, that I think only I watched, that he only gives one paragraph to. He never mentions his appearance on Arsenio Hall in 1990 where he cried.

The book is a quick, easy read. Because I'm such a fan, I would have liked the denser version of his career, and comedy stories. It's a fun sized bag of potato chips when I would have liked a steak off the grill. I hate to have to give the book a C-.

Sleater-Kinney Reunites

May 3rd, 1997

I didn't know it when I woke up that day. I didn't even know it for several years, but my life changed forever 5/3/97. I had read about a new band called Sleater-Kinney that was coming to First Avenue's 7th Street Entry. It was a Saturday, and I must not have had to work at Subway that day, because I was able to go to The Entry and see this band that I knew nothing about.

Three girls took the stage for the early show. It was a 6:00 all-ages show. I remember thinking that I was seeing something special in the 250-capacity room. I watched as the two guitarists sang different lyrics over each other. I'd never seen anything like it, or thought that was even possible, but I loved the sound. I immediately bought their album Dig Me Out from the small merchandise table after the show, and couldn't wait to get home to listen to it on my CD player in my bedroom.

I played it constantly, and felt cool that there was a small indie band that only I knew about (in my circle of friends). Since then I've seen Sleater-Kinney live two more times. Once for the tour in support of All Hands on the Bad One in First Avenue's mainroom, and the last time they were in town, 6/15/05 also in the mainroom after The Woods came out, before the band went on indefinite hiatus in 2006. 

I remember the day they announced their hiatus on their website. It was sad news. Usually if you have a favorite band, you know that they'll always be there, unless one of the members dies. My favorite band died. I never thought they'd be back. At least I had their seven albums to listen to for the rest of my days. 

At that last show in 2005 someone peeled a setlist from the stage and threw it into the crowd. I leapt with my 4-6 inch vertical jump, and snatched it out of the air amongst dozens of reaching hands. 

Andrea Swensson of The Current recently wrote that she loves music (in general) "to an uncomfortable degree--so much it hurts; so much I wish I could eat it." That's exactly how I feel about Sleater-Kinney's rock and roll. In 2011 I heard a song on The Current and I thought I heard the accomplished drumming of S-K's Janet Weiss in the song. It was Wild Flag. I learned that Wild Flag was a new band including Weiss and S-K lead guitarist Carrie Brownstein. I bought that album when it came out, and it's a good listen with 2/3 of S-K in the band. 

I heard about S-K releasing a box set of all of their albums on special vynal this October. It sounded neat, but I don't have a record player, and even if I did, I have all of their albums already. Maybe some day down the road I'd find it used for cheap and could add it to my memorabilia, but didn't give it much thought. As people who ordered it started to receive it in the mail, they reported a 45 that came with it that has a new song on it, and nothing but a date of 1/20/15 on the sticker. 

On the morning of 10/20/14, I sat at my desk at work with a music hangover from seeing Pearl Jam the night before. I checked Facebook and saw the announcement that Sleater-Kinney is REUNITING,  releasing a NEW ALBUM ON 1/20/15, including a TOUR WITH A STOP AT FIRST AVENUE!!! 

After seeing the news, it was hard for me to concentrate the rest of the day. I started thinking of ways I could see them in Omaha the day before they're here, or in Milwaukee the day after, or hell, go to all three shows! Then I came back to reality and realized that I'm a married Nerd Dad now, and life doesn't go on hold for a weekend the way it could when I saw them in 1997. And lived with my parents. And worked at Subway. 

I worked from home on the day that tickets went on sale, and I'm so happy I did. I was able to buy a ticket the minute they went on sale. After I got my ticket in my email, I went back to see if they were still for sale. They went on sale at 12:00 and by 12:09 they were sold out. I still hold out hope that they'll move it to a bigger venue with seats. I don't want to sit during S-K, but with MS my muscles fatigue after standing too long, and the doors open at 8:00. The show starts at 9:00 with an opener. I want to get as close as possible, so if I get in line before 8:00, I might be standing for 3 hours before they even take the stage. 

The reunion is a dream come true. I'd die if I could meet and/or just get a picture with one or all of them. Comment below, or PM me, on ways I could make that happen. My dad was a great influence on my musical tastes, and I hope that Ozzie follows the path of passion for music his dad likes. With Sleater-Kinney back together, I might be able to take my son to see them when he's older. 

That'd be all right.