Bitch storm

Last night I risked life and limb to drive down to Albany to see Bitch and the Exciting Conclusion and Jay Brannan (both of whom appeared in the excellent John Cameron Mitchell film, Short Bus). The show was on the upper level of a dive bar called Valentines.

The weather forecasts were calling for a major snow/ice/sleet storm to hit sometime later in the night and since the show was billed as starting at 7 I figured I'd be somewhat safe on the long drive back north. However, I should have known that the show would be running late (it didn't get going until about 9) and so I had to sit in the downstairs bar for and hour and a half by myself sipping Amstel Lights and reading every line and ad in the Albany Metro paper.

I wasn't really in the mood to socialize so I didn't strike up any conversations with the loose gaggle of younger lesbians around me also waiting. They were all busy in their small cliques anyway. And truth be told it's been a while since I've gone to show solo and my self-confidence in such situations is a tad low at present. So I buried my head in the paper and donned a light beer buzz, which was made abundantly necessary by the fact that the bar temperature was hovering somewhere around 50.

When they finally let us upstairs, that area was even more of a dump than the downstairs. But since there were only about 50 people attending the show, that didn't matter much anyways except for one important thing: you could clearly hear the downstairs band through the floor, especially the bass. This was not a good mix for a mostly acoustic set, and both musicians were obviously a bit perturbed by it.

Jay Brannan took the stage quietly and unobtrusively, wearing a simple pair of jeans and t-shirt, along with a shaved head, which contrasted sharply with my image of his Ken doll-like doo in Short Bus. Anyways, the younger lesbians all stood back from the stage a bit for his brief performance (he only played like 4 or 5 songs) while myself and this older guy, a hairdresser named Dave, who had just come to see Jay and left after he was done, stood right up front, where we had been sitting and chatting briefly just prior.

Jay launched into his beautiful finger-picking acoustic set. He commented sarcastically about the cold and about the thumping bass reverberating solidly beneath our feet - both of which I think put him off his game a bit and made it hard for both him and us to concentrate on his delicate guitar playing and singing. That may have played a part in why he launched into a great rendition of N.W.A.'s "Straight Outta Compton." It was both comical and brilliant hearing this skinny, flamboyantly gay white boy sing lyrics like this:

"Straight outta Compton, crazy motherfucker named Ice Cube
From the gang called Niggaz With Attitudes
When I'm called off, I got a sawed off
Squeeze the trigger, and bodies are hauled off"

Damn that boy is good! But alas he only played about 5 songs, including his sweet "Soda Shop" tune from the Short Bus soundtrack.

Bitch (with backing drummer and keyboardist) came on with a lot more energy and enthusiasm, although sadly sans her soul and band mate, The L Word's Daniela Sea. Her show was a good mixture of ripping folksy-post-femme punk songs, spoken-word and stories, and improvisational crowd repartee. And of course the loud, bass-heavy band down below distracted and annoyed her as well, but she played it off well with jokes and a challenge to play louder.

At one point during a song, a loud-mouthed girl standing front and center (she had been sitting next to me downstairs for a while and never did shut up) was screaming into her cell-phone, and everyone, including Bitch could hear her. So this penultimate performer stopped and politely admonished the girl with some light-hearted ribbing and peppered in some harmless digs at her a couple times later in the show as well. Despite the distractions, Bitch was very entertaining and funny and talented - she got some pipes for sure!

When the show got out, the storm had already started. There was a half-inch think layer of slush covering the streets but luckily it was too warm for it freeze and so the drive back, while a bit nerve-wracking, was tolerable. I got to bed around 2 am and had to get up for work at 5, but I survived!