If You Get Bored

Then.


Now.

Wednesday night wasn't a Murder City Night at the Radio Birdman show, like I hoped it would. Instead, I got a healthy dose of old punkers attempting to revisit past glory. And it sucked.

Where to begin? Singer Rob Younger appeared jaded by his many years as a musician, performing Radio Birdman songs with a flagrant, perverted vulnerability. At best, the aged Younger resembled a poor, messy imitation of David Johansen. It was nearly unbearable watching Younger prance onstage.

Guitarists Chris Masuak and Deniz Tek weren't nearly as offensive as Younger was. Their efforts appeared far more subdued, lending little more to the performance than the sound itself. Bummer, huh?

Maybe I'm incorrect, but when facing the late teenage and early years of your adulthood, the creativite mind performs in, like any other time in a person's life, a unique frame of reference. With time, that creativity changes, leaving it's original core hardened by years of growth. The shadows left by bands comprised of young adults, teenagers even, oftentimes can't be performed years later without destroying the ethos of the original band; that goes for bands like the Stooges, Jesus and Mary Chain, Bad Brains, or any other band attempting to return to form today, especially those with new albums. As a youth, how do you expect to excite anyone with your songs twenty, even thirty, years later? I'm certainly not arguing that it's an impossibility - I'm simply pointing out the amount of change and growth involved with the creative mind.

Admittedly, I nearly always reserve some hope within me for bands returned from long ago, lodged somewhere in between my appreciation for the records and the band's dated performances (available thanks to the modern wonder of YouTube.) Almost every time, I leave disappointed (last weekend's HR show was no exception to the rule.) The lesson learned, for me, is to approach each event with a carefully weighed grain of salt. In all honesty, what other approach can remedy you from not feeling totally bummed?

The best part of the night? Someone demanded Radio Birdman play "I'm Stranded." Get it?