2001:
-January 16: "Pipeline", WMBR-FM, Cambridge, MA*
Bob Dubrow, Host
Money Earned: 0
Notes: Covered "Knocking on Heaven's Door". The band remains unashamed by this, a testament to the Takers' power of self-denial.
Set: Knockin' On Heaven's Door/Second Time/Funk 69/The Visit/The Only Reason/My Solution/One Last Chance ->/Looking Down/Rubber Bullets/Infinity ->/Crash Safely
-January 19: O'Brien's, Allston, MA*
With: Six Finger Satellite, Foreign Auto Body, Guerrero
Money Earned: 90
Notes: This was the first time 6FS had played in Boston in over two years. They haven't returned since.
-February 7: Emily's, Boston, MA (cancelled)
With: The In Out
Money Earned: 0
Notes: Show Cancelled
(P.M.N.: This was really too bad because Emily's was a pretty funky "venue" [really a former dining room I think] in Downtown Crossing. The show only got cancelled because the booking agent, better known to some as Supachik, was fired and got her shows 86'd. I think Emily's is now some sort of Eurotrash dance club that does not have live music. So goes history...)
-February 22: TT The Bear's Place, Cambridge, MA
With: Arab on Radar, Olneyville Sound System
Money Earned: 50
Notes: Arab on Radar paid $350.
Set: Black And White/The Only Reason/Twin Peaks/Acting Beautiful/Funk 69/The Visit/One Last Chance ->/Looking Down/Rubber Bullets/2nd Time
-March 7: O'Brien's, Allston, MA
With: The Burnouts, White Trash Deluxe, The Franklins
Money Earned: 70
Notes: White Trash Deluxe reviewed in The Noise by Sleazegrinder (whatever). No mention of us. We were also snubbed by the Burnouts after loaning them our equipment. Nick announced us as Scritti Politti. This was the last bad show we will ever play.
(P.M.N.: My mother was Miss Denmark 1962-well, she was, at least, at a Chicago World's Fair event-and I felt certainly that warranted better treatment from this Union Carbide Productions ripoff. This show was also the source of a broken snare drum for Chris [thrown against the wall after our set] and my "we'll be in Schenectady tomorrow night with Scritti Politti" announcement as, yes, a direct mockery of The Burnouts' lame "we'll be at CBGB tomorrow night". I think Scritti Politti kept coming up because I had just received a bootleg tape of them from Jim Manniello [see the SXSW show].)
Set Included: Funk 69/The Only Reason/Rubber Bullets
-April 24: Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge, MA
With: The Melvins, The Folk Implosion
Money Earned: 150
Notes: The Melvins are all great guys, and just keep getting more and more amazing. During "White Fuel", a "You...SUCK" was distinctly heard. As great as this was, the "Opening band, you rock!" comment at the end of our set was even better.
Set included: White Fuel (opener)/Twin Peaks
-May 13: Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge, MA
With: Cul De Sac, Black Helicopter, Box Patrol
Money Earned: 0
Notes: We refused money on this sadly underattended show. Be sure to catch any and all of these other bands before you die.
(P.M.N.: I remember almost nothing from this night. I'm pretty sure I was there. Box Patrol were their usual incredible selves-they were most certainly the Coil of Boston.)
-August 10: Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge, MA
With: The Murder City Devils, Cracktorch
Money Earned: 100
Notes: We played a nearly flawless set. This was later reviewed by the Noise. They said our guitar player looked scared, our singer was a little guy and referred to our bass player as "Baby Huey"...so we sent K a gracious thank you note (really).
-August 12: Knitting Factory, New York, NY
With: The Alchemysts, Aytobach Kreisor, Medicine Ball
Money Earned: 40
Notes: This was the first time both Kenny and Dave from Rubric got to see us play. Kenny handed us the forty bucks presumably out of pocket and hopefully as a token of more financial support to come. The Alchemists should have drawn better, and covered Suicide's "Ghost Rider" and Thee Hydrogen Terror's "Plate In My Head". Medicine Ball left after their set.
Set included: Infinity (Between 8 And 9)/White Fuel
-August 31: Abbey Lounge, Cambridge, MA
With: Mr. Airplane Man, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Money Earned: 120
Notes: A great show with great people. The other two acts on the bill were reviewed in The Noise by a nameless blindman who was not Slezegrinder (again whatever). Chris managed to make it onstage before the first chorus of "Here Comes a Regular"
Set included: Here Comes A Regular (opener)
-September 14: Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, NH (cancelled)
Money Earned: 0
Notes: Show postponed due to the preceding week's events. We still look forward to playing a prep school, if only as an opportunity to test how well we can curb our on and offstage behavior.
-September 20: Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge, MA
With: Easy Action, Liquor Tricks
Money Earned: 75
Notes: Ever look back on the wake of emotional destruction caused by your actions, wonder "what would I do differently", and conclude that you'd just end up doing exactly the same thing? Yes, I know that's what all our songs are about, but it makes me long to be playing somewhere where we don't know anyone; to just leave all that baggage behind so it's just us and the music.
-October 18: TT the Bear's Place, Cambridge, MA
With: And You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead, Black Helicopter
Money Earned: 50
Notes: Why do people say they want to break stuff when we play? I don't honestly understand our connection to violence. I can only hope it's because they really want to fuck, but just feel too repressed. Maybe people just aren't drunk enough by the time we play. Ah, I'll leave this matter for the critics, of whom there were at least two professionals in attendance (and God knows how many amateurs).
TT's was pretty packed when we played, and filled up even more as the night passed. The door was ten bucks. We went home with fifty; Black Helicopter got $100. I can only speculate where the remaining money went, but I highly doubt Trail of the Dead is a thousand-dollar band.
-November 1: Abbey Lounge, Somerville, MA
With: Mr. Airplane Man, The Operators
Money Earned: 52
Notes: Another great show with Mr. Airplane Man and The Operators.
(P.M.N.: About the only thing I remember about this night was that the Operators had complete assholes for boyfriends.)
Oxbow/Takers Tour (November 6-11):
-November 6: Fireside Bowl, Chicago, IL
With: Oxbow, N/O
Money Earned: 30
Notes: Moved to the Fireside Bowl ...from the Empty Bottle. Thanks to Rob, Emma and Reed for coming out to see us; presumably most rest of Chicago was at the Black Rebel Mortorcycle Club/ Sheila Divine show across town. This was our first night seeing the mighty Oxbow. Quote Nick, "I could see myself getting nuked from onstage."
-November 7: Mac's, Lansing, MI
With: Oxbow, Adam's Castle
Money Earned: 80
Notes: Strange crowd. They watched us and clapped in all the right places but there was no response when we tried to up the intensity in hopes of winning them over.
-November 8: Nyabinghi, Youngstown, OH
With: Oxbow
Money Earned: 75
Notes: Nyabinghi means "Kill Whitey" in Swahili, or so says Greg Barrett, the club owner. Greg also makes THE finest Bloody Mary I've ever tasted.
-November 9: Brownies, NYC
With: Oxbow, Arab On Radar, Flux Information Sciences, Jumbo's Killcrane
Money Earned: 75
Notes: We played at 8:00 to some of our friends. Apparently we still needed to eat some more shit in NY before our dues are paid.
-November 10: (The North Six?), Brooklyn, NY (cancelled)
With: Oxbow, Enon
Money Earned: 0
Notes: We can't play cause the the show got double-booked. Aargh.
-November 11: Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge, MA
With: Oxbow, twocubedsixsquared.
Money Earned: 0
Notes: We play a great show to a half-full club of friends and fans. Not too bad for a Sunday, I thought.
twocubedsixsquard play intensely, intimately and dynamically and seem very comfortable onstage for a band who have only played live a handful of times.
Oxbow are rested, rehearsed and ready for blood. They play their finest set yet, and Eugene does this crazy thing where he parts a pair of floor wedges, Jim Siegal says, "like the Red Sea". "They were in my way," Eugene later explains. I suppose it's easy to be modest about these matters when your biceps are as big as the waist-size of an average Strokes member. I make a mental mote not to get in Eugene's way.
Due to a misunderstanding between Tone Deaf Touring and the Middle East, the contract was not signed and Oxbow only receive $150 of the $200 verbally agreed upon. The Takers and twocubedsixsquared forgo payment. I make a mental note to always get it in writing.
-December 28: The Abbey Lounge, Somerville, MA*
With: Speedball Baby (cancelled), Turpentine Brothers, Guerrero
Money Earned: 0
Notes: Due to "illness", Speedball Baby couldn't make this or the following night's show, so we took the headlining slot and added Guerrero to the bill.
The two-piece Turpentine Brothers (Tara from Mr. Airplane Man and Justin) played a great blues set, with Tara playing Farfisa AND drums on one particular song.
Guerrero were typically loud, and as with many of their better sets, were occasionally able to create a transcendant, hypnotic effect. This was unfortunately marred by technical difficulties by Steve, whose cords kept shorting out.
We played last, to about twenty people (including our #1 Belgian fan, Wouter De Sutter). It was a difficult set; though we played well and intensely, we ended feeling as though we didn't really win people over.
We would have made $33 on this show, but were (apologetically) charged for a broken microphone stand.
Set: Midnight/Tight Rope Walker/2nd Time/I Can't Feel/The Only Reason/Twin Peaks/My Solution-Hot Stuff/The Visit/White Fuel
-December 29: The Abbey Lounge, Somerville, MA*
With: Speedball Baby (cancelled), The Konks, Triple Thick
Money Earned: 50
Notes: According to Nick, Triple Thick have beefed up their lineup to good effect. I've only ever seen them in their present three-guitar lineup and was more impressed with their performance this night than when I had seen them a month prior. Their songs are campy, but not quite to the point of being silly and they were able to create the good mood which lasted the rest of the night.
As was the case the night before, the middle band was plagued with guitar troubles, with a tube falling out of the back of Bob's amp. The Konks might disagree with me on this, but I didn't think the gear problems affected their set in the least. The Konks play revved up vintage trash rock, with Kurt singing and playing a two-piece kit (tom and snare) right up front. The songs, playing and singing were great, and we knew they were going to be a tough act to follow.
To keep the energy moving, we set up quickly so as not to allow people to "escape" after the Konks. There was some dissent as to our set list, as I didn't want to start with "Dictator", a throw-away song we hadn't practiced in months. I lost the vote and we played it anyway, which, in hindsight, actually turned out ok. The remainder of our set was terrific, and we ended with a slow number we call "Twin Peaks". When we convened backstage, we realized people weren't going anywhere, so we came back and faked our way through the Stooges' "Loose" and "TV Eye".
We got paid $50, sold some merchandise and made a few new fans.
Set: Dictator/Infinity/Crash Safely/The Screws/Acting Beautiful/One Last Chance ->/Looking Down/Rubber Bullets/Twin Peaks/Encore: Loose/TV Eye
* * * * *
My eternal thanks to the Internet Archive for finding that which was previously lost.
Resuscitated from The Takers' web site (www.system360.com/takers) which was graciously maintained and paid for by Chris Keene 2000-2002.
