Frank Black & the Catholics (04.22.02)

the Band: Frank Black & the Catholics
the Date: Mon April 22, 2002
the Venue: the Engine Room (Houston)

(Photo credit to someone on the internet)

Believe it or not, I’d never been to a Pixies show! I found myself in Houston for work (again) and Frank Black (a.k.a. Black Francis, a.k.a. Charles Thompson) was performing in a small club. I was a HUGE Pixies fan and to be honest, I blamed Charles for their demise (who else was to blame?). Nonetheless, I was interested in catching a Frank Black show. I figured, it would be the closest I would ever come to seeing the Pixies.

The show was nothing short of AMAZING! Frank looked and sounded great. The Catholics were then made up of David Phillips (guitarist), David McCaffery (bass), Eric Drew Feldman (keyboard), and Scott Boutier (drums). The set was a perfect mix of “Catholics” material, Frank’s solo albums, and Pixies tunes. The entire set was superb, but my favorites included Headache, Nimrod’s Son, Holiday Song, Gouge Away, and Monkey Gone to Heaven. The absolute highlight of the night was a long version of Where is My Mind? … my absolute favorite song of all time.

your head will collapse and you’ll ask yourself … where is my mind? . . .

Tenacious D (04.17.02)

the Band: Tenacious D
the Date: Wed April 17, 2002
the Venue: Verizon Theater (Houston)

(Photo credit to ROCKZONE.com http://www.rockzone.com/pictures/tenaciousd-041702.shtml)

Tenacious D, the self-proclaimed greatest band in the world, rocked Houston … and, rocked it hard. Jack Black (J.B.) and Kyle Gass (K.G.) make up the acoustic, metal, rock duo. They began the night with the theme song from Flash Gordon (NICE!) and then continued to play for over two hours! They covered pretty much everything from their self-titled, debut album and the show included a couple of short films. Ridiculous! Fun! Amazing show!

Full setlist (not from this show, but from one around this time … sorry, best I can do): Flash (Queen cover) / Wonderboy / Kielbasa / Explosivo / The Wind / Karate / Kyle Quit the Band / Friendship / Dio / Lee / The Road / Tribute / Cosmic / Rocket Sauce / Fuck Her Gently / Rock Your Socks / Double Team / ENCORE / Star Trek (Alexander Courage cover) / City Hall / Beatles

It doesn’t matter if it is good, it only matters if it rocks . . .

the Big Wu, Robert Randolph, Strangefolk (04.06.02)

the Band: the Big Wu, Robert Randolph, Strangefolk
the Date: Sat April 6, 2002
the Venue: 9:30 Club (DC)

(Photo credit to Stu Karp and his Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/people/stukarp/)

This was my first tour into hippie-jam-band-land. I think it was a split-billing between the two bands, the Big Wu and Strangefolk … with a solo artist in the middle. First up was the Big Wu, made up of Chris Castino (guitar, vocals), Andy Miller (bass), Terry VanDeWalker (drums, vocals), and Al Oikari (keyboards). Then, a solo act, Robert Randolph, took the stage with his pedal steel guitar. The last act was Strangefolk who consists of Jon Trafton (lead guitar, vocals), Erik Glockler (bass, vocals), Luke “Patchen” Montgomery (rhythm guitar, lead guitar, vocals), Don Scott (keyboards, vocals), and Luke Smith (drums). I didn’t know any of the songs (well … except for the Fat Albert theme in Strangefolk’s set and I think I heard the theme for Sanford and Son in Robert Randolph’s set) or really even the bands, but the entire night was full of great energy, good tunes, and lots of dancing. The 9:30 crowd absolutely loved it! So, peace, love, and happiness, DAMNIT! I’m off to buy some Birkenstock’s.

Full setlist for the Big Wu: Break of Day / Ray Charles Can See / Boxing Day / Shoot the Moon / House of Wu / Mean Spirits / Two Person Chair / the Weight / Chateau in the Know / Roo / All Good

Full setlist for Strangefolk: Fat Albert Theme Song / All the Same / Get You Movin’ / Anchor / Water / Porch Song / Escalator / I Wish (with Al, the guitarist from the Big Wu) / Go to a Show / Paint / Carry On / ENCORE / Lines and Circles


na, na, na, gonna have a good time, hey, hey, hey . . .