Sunday, July 30, 2006

Gigs In 2002

2002:

-January 11: Beckett's Pub, Packard's Corner, Boston, MA
With: The Medea Connection
Money Earned: 40
Notes: We played a relaxed set that debuted one new song ("Ghost Highway") as well as a revamped/rethought oldie ("Black And White"). Beckett's is cool: an ornate setting, dollar drafts for the band, nice bartenders (one of whom compared us to, ahem, The Sheila Divine [???]), and booker Dave asked us to return. Several friends who'd never seen us before actually made this show, including the mysterious rock critic Jordan Catalano, long thought to be in hiding.

The Medea Connection have unflinchingly decided to go really over the top with a smoke machine, strobe lights, back lights, and a gong. This is the first time I'd seen them with their bass player, Steve, who adds a lot to the sound. They seem to just get better and better. Face it: there is no other band like them in town, and how in the hell can you follow an act like that?

Show was later reviewed by Jordon Catalano in The Noise.

Set included: Ghost Highway (only live performance)/Black And White

-January 19: Paradise, Boston, MA@
With: Mission of Burma, Cracktorch
Money Earned: 100
Notes: Mission of Burma reunion show! Another international fan (Izumi Araki from Japan)! We covered DMZ's "Don't Jump Me Mother" and we faked our way through Lou Reed's "I Wanna Be Black", ultimately that wasn't the point of doing this song...those who were there know what I mean. Hey, we sold 2 CDs!

Set: Twin Peaks/Tight Rope Walker/Crash Safely/2nd Time/The Only Reason/One Last Chance ->/Looking Down/Infinity/Don't Jump Me Mother/I Wanna Be Black

-January 24: Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge, MA
With: Easy Action, Detachment Kit
Money Earned: 100
Notes: As with last year, same show with the same bands, but this time the regret is automatic, and not desperate. Is it just mechanical? Well, maybe. Do we deserve to get away with it? I suppose. But it doesn't feel good. Never does.

Also, earlier in the evening Nick Blakey was spoonfed white chocolate mousse by Chris Jackson. Interpret this as you will.

Set included: L.A. Woman (opener)

-February 8: CBGB's New York, NY (cancelled)
With: ???
Money Earned: 0
Notes: The Takers ended up not be playing this show and instead swapped it for the spot appearing at the Knitting Factory with the Heroine Sheiks instead. See below 3/9/02. We believe this show ended up being a Spare Snare reunion, with Black Boyfriend and Rattle For The Baby appearing with The Mighty Joe Silve Experience (w/The Fenway Singers) in our place.

-February 25: Charlie's Kitchen, Harvard Sq, Cambridge, MA
With: Mr. Airplane Man, The Modifiers, Todd Giles (aka "some guy with a guitar")
Money Earned: 100
Notes: Small and crowded and smoky; always a good recipe for a Takers show. Stageless, Mike C. performed most of the set standing on a chair. Points were also earned for poking out ceiling tiles mid-set. TT's would have deducted that little stunt from our pay, but the lovely bartenders at Charlie's, enablers that they are, only smiled and said, "that's ok, they needed replacing anyway."

Our inability to cover a Mr. Airplane Man song (that they themselves has performed only 1/2 hr prior) was not only forgiven, but strangely added to the loose, fun-lovin' atmosphere.

"The Takers? fun lovin'? What the hell are you talking about. Chris?"

Well, no, we're not fun people, actually. But it's our duty to entertain, and we're certainly not out to make some sort of STATEMENT. So we settle for spectacle, and hope for a riot whenever possible.

The son of an insurance salesmen (owner, actually), Mike C. knows a thing or two about endurance. Which is why he finally relented to the pleas of the band and agreed to utter the classic line, "we have shirts and cd's for sale..." None were sold, but we were refreshingly well paid for such a small venue.

Show later was reviewed by Laura Markley in The Noise.

Set included: Twin Peaks/Don't Jump Me Mother/Pink Panther/One Last Chance ->/Looking Down/Not Living At All (Aborted)/Caravan (as "Taliban")

-March 9: Knitting Factory, New York, NY
With: Heroine Sheiks
Money Earned: 150
Notes: Running hot and playing hot, we burned through our 40 minute set as well as we've ever done. No doubt spurred on by Mike C's sales pitch, the too-cool-for-you New York Looking People seemed to approve and put their money where their mouths were, picking up several copies of our EP from the merchandise table. This marks our first "good" NY show.

Herione Sheiks were magical, although for some strange reason, people refused to dance. Maybe everyone was just too intimidated by the girl yelling out "you suck" after every song.

Dave and Kenny from Rubric seemed pretty enthusiastic about the whole event. Nick's bass hero Tim Wright, the man who wrote "Heart of Darkness" and played on "Final Solution", even showed up to give his blessing, stating: "You know I hate everything, but I thoroughly enjoyed you guys." Awesome.

Set: Twin Peaks/Tight Rope Walker/2nd Time/The Only Reason/Pink Panther/One Last Chance ->/Looking Down/Rubber Bullets/Between 8 & 9 (Infinity)

-March 16: O'Brien's, Allston, MA (cancelled)
With: Flux Information Sciences, Clue Display
Money Earned: 0
Notes: The Takers were originally scheduled to play this show before we decided to do SXSW 2002 instead (The 914, possibly against their better judgement in hindsight, graciously agreed to take our place). You should have attended this show if for some reason you couldn't have made it to Austin to see us...

-March 16: The Empanada Parlour Upstairs, Austin, TX (SXSW)@
With: thebrotheregg, Mary Lou Lord, Raging Teens, Analogue II, Aytobach Kreisor
Money Earned: 175
Notes: The Rubric Records Showcase at SxSW!!! We pulled a timeless rock maneouver and finished our set with the most brutal disembowelment of "Between 8 And 9 (Infinity)" we have ever attempted, ending with a kicked over drum kit, an MIA drummer, and yet another slaughtered mic stand. James Manniello summed it up best with both "FUCK!!!" and "I haven't seen anything like that in 13 years..." NUFF SAID!!! I will say I wish we had caught the SXSW sets by both Easy Action and (in retrospect and hindsight) The Icarus Line, but we did, at least, managed to catch Oxbow at Emo's displaying their usual bouts of "hot cock fun!"

Set included: Between 8 & 9 (Infinity) (closer)

-March 23: under Disc Diggers, Davis Square, Somerville, MA
With: Asciento + many other bands
Money Earned: 0
Notes: Broadcast live via www.radioboston.com. Despite both Willie Loco Alexander and Mistle Thursh backing out, this turned out to be a really good show, especially after we insisted on using our own equipment (including that fucking behemouth of a bass amp). We did a four song set ["Don't Jump Me Mother", "Pink Panther", "Last Kiss", and "Between 8 And 9 (Infinity)"], debuting both "Last Kiss" (incorporating a bit of the Stones' "Fingerprint File") and Nick's new silver sparkle Jazz bass. Nick and Chris narrowly avoided fistfights with a varying degree of persons (solely related to the moving to and fro of the equipment-hence, this is probably why the hosts did not want us using it in the first place...), and we left immediately following our performance (owing mostly to sickness, fatigue, and overinjestion). Oh yeah and T.Max actually discovered that we do indeed exist...wow!?!?!

Set: Don't Jump Me Mother/Pink Panther/Last Kiss/Between 8 And 9 (Infinity)

-March 30: Abbey Lounge, Somerville, MA
With: Black Helicopter, Grubstake, Aytobach Kreisor
Money Earned: 100
Notes: Never a bad time at the Abbey, and it's always good to play with friends who don't say "good show" or "nice set" (NB: this is an acceptable term coming from an audience or club staff member, but not from another band on the bill. So the best response to that is "Did you just say 'fuck you'?) But where again was the truly lovely, talented, and very beautiful fair maiden of the Red Chord Andrea Gillis? Ah well, but I will say if I hear "Not too shabby at the Abbey" ever again I will immediately stop the set to demand of the rest of The Takers to switch gears and finish the night with a set of strictly GG Allin, Mentors and Angry Hate covers. AMEN!

-April 10: Bennington College, Bennington, VT
With: Detachment Kit
Money Earned: 197
Notes: Our first college gig, and our second with the Detatchment Kit. Huh, last time we played with them, they were opening for us. This time it was the other way around, and they of course did not remember us (at first). Must have been the lack of Hartke cabinets on our part, but I will give DK kudos on their Gibson Flying V and HIWATT amp.

This was an interesting gig. I especially like it when folks dance during our set, and I am always amazed that the dancers can find cool ways to shake their hips to the likes of "Looking Down" (maybe all of this dancing means we're closer to The Gossip then previously thought). Best quotes:

UNK1: "Did you just say 'fuck you'?"

SS: "You guys remind me of THE NEW YORK DOLLS..." NSB: "Would you like a drink?"

UNK2: "Who is that FAG in your band who thinks he's in AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB???"

We didn't even get to cover "Bad Liquor". Figures...

Set Included: One Last Chance ->/Looking Down

-April 12: The Midway Cafe, Jamaica Plain, MA
With: PornBelt, The Grand Island (REUNION!), Mutant Message
Money Earned: 50
Notes: Almost felt like what might have happened had we actually accepted that offer of a Safari Lounge gig from Johnny P. It was great that Joe Coughlin finally saw us (and even reviewed us in The Noise) voluntarily on his own time, but despite our medium-to-high swish factor and plethora of free Carl Cox masks, I don't think we were exactly "right" for the J.P. crowds. However, the incident with the chain during "Last Kiss" was kinda fun, but you'll have to ask Mike C. about that in person.

Set Included: Don't Jump Me Mother (opener)/Last Kiss/Rubber Bullets

-May 30: The Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge, MA
With: Gogol Bordello, Grubstake
Money Earned: 160
Notes: The If The Blues Were Red record release party! My God...six people shy of a sell out! Holy shit! The best way to describe this undescribable night is again strictly through the use of quotes. Here we go:

UNK: "Whatever I'm losing in money I am gaining in moral impropriety."

Sue Safton describing GOGOL BORDELLO: "It's like being at a Jewish wedding where the champagne has been spiked with acid."

Brett Milano describing GOGOL BORDELLO: "I thought this punk rock shit would NEVER catch on!"

CK: "He was bare-chested on our couch an hour ago."

NSB: "So does he have a hairy chest?"

CK: "No actually a rather smooth chest."

NSB: "So is that an anti-garage door chest then?"

CK: "No I think it's more of a driving around the block and can't find parking chest..."

GB violinist: "Next time we play DOWNSTAIRS!!!"

And indeed they shall. If you weren't there, then you just wouldn't understand. We covered "Slave" by The Rolling Stones and did our first attempt at merging "Between 8 And 9" with The Modern Lovers' "Roadrunner". Don't ask me why or how.

Set: Black And White/Crash Safely/Slave ->/Last Kiss/All Terrain Man (Fast Version)/Pink Panther/One Last Chance ->/Looking Down/Rubber Bullets/Infinity ->/Road Runner/The Visit (encore)

-June 1: The Flywheel, Easthampton, MA
With: The Come Down, The Seperation Papers, The Jaded Set
Money Earned: 0
Notes:

Set included: All Terrain Man (Slow Version)

(Post Mortem Notes: I don't remember much about our set save for Mike H. came in very late, barely anyone was there, Mike C. did this very odd but appropriate kick-dance with the mic stand during our only ever live performance of the slow version of "All Terrain Man", which sounded kinda like a badly dosed Move doing "Brontosaurus" on vari-speed. The Jaded Set, however, were fucking mindblowing. I remember they were a two piece with drum machine, lots of smoke and echo, Dean guitars, and a sound that made them seem as if they should have been on a bill in Leeds circa 1983 smack dab between The Sisters Of Mercy and The Three Johns. When I asked the guitarist if she was a big fan of those bands, she paused for amoment, told me she'd never heard of them, and then replied "I'm really into Kiss, actually." Fucking brilliant. They're now known as Kisskill Destroyer...)

-June 9: The Abbey Lounge, Somerville, MA
With: The Chargers Street Gang, Sugabomb!
Notes:

Set included: White Fuel (closer)

(Post Mortem Notes: the 6/9 show at the Abbey was the Takers' last ever gig. Sugabomb! did not bother to show up for the event. There were no more than 15 people in the audience, 5 of whom were The Chargers Street Gang.)

* * * * *

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.

posted by Retrospective Foresight at 10:08 PM

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