Rockin' the Free World

First, let me tell you a story. Last year I started to think I was allergic to Josh. I went to visit him in April, and the day after I came back home I had a sore throat. Then my nose started running and a nasty cough ensued. With my itchy eyes it felt more like an allergy than a cold. It lasted about five days.

I went back to New York in August. Sure enough, the day after I returned I had the same symptoms. On this trip, however, I spent much more time with Nancy than Josh. I decided to let him off the hook and blame the city instead.

I was satisfied with my diagnosis until I felt a familiar pain in my throat on Sunday. Things have progressed and now I am home on a sick day (the third day is always the worst). Now, I believe my allergy is not to a person or a city but to a state of being. I am allergic to partying. My four day musical extravaganza has come back and kicked my ass.

As far as I can tell, I'm good for up to three days of partying. When I go back to New York in November I'll have to be careful to not pass that 72 hour threshold. That, or I'll just take another sick day. Honestly, it's a small price to pay.

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So what about MidPoint you ask? Yes, it was awesome as always. There are many stories to tell like the massive street marketing campaign by an Australian Band called Dream Catcha (say it with an Australian accent and it's even funnier) or how my merchandise guy got trashed and had t-shirts strewn everywhere. But I'll just stick to Saturday.

Carrie, Jeff and I met at Jeff's place in Liberty Hill and walked down through scary Over The Rhine to get to The Exchange. Along the way we met a couple who was also looking for The Exchange. They'd given some guy on the street $1 for directions and he'd pointed them in the completely wrong way. I let them follow us for free. That's just the kind of person I am.

At The Exchange we saw Sohio. They were very good and had a little of an early R.E.M. sound. It was a nice way to kick off the night. We'd snagged a nice sofa at The Exchange and were reluctant to leave but it was on to Cooper's to see Dick Prall.

Our beloved sofa at The Exchange

We'd met up with Sarah at The Exchange and she left Cooper's with a crush on Dick Prall. The guy was very good, but I'm not sure what kind of name Dick is for a singer songwriter. He needs something a little more sensitive. He had a band with him and they had an Old 97's vibe. Very cool.

I'd armed everyone with their very own set of ear plugs and we needed them at our next stop. We went to Neons to see a band called NYCSmoke. I had high hopes for them after hearing one of their songs but they were a little disappointing. Like an old episode of Law and Order, I just always knew what the next line was going to be. I didn't come away empty handed, though. The lead singer was wiping his sweat with a t-shirt all night. At the end of the set he showed off the shirt and said they had ones like it for sale at the back then tossed the sweaty one to me. Free sweaty merchandise! I've probably already caught herpes from it.

Sarah sporting her ear plugs at Neons

NYCSmoke played a short set so we busted over to Harry's for some quick pizza. If we'd stuck around at Neons, we'd probably have seen Greg Dulli. John Curley (the former Afghan Whigs bassist) was playing inside with his new band Staggering Statistics and word was that Dulli joined them for a couple songs. Neons was packed and I really wanted pizza so Greg had to be sacrificed.

After pizza we went to Jekyll and Hydes for the strangest set of the night. The Lab Rats were actually pretty cool for white guys rapping. The crowd was just weird. There was the crazy dancing ho, the bongo swiping drunk guy and the old guy in the baseball cap that wanted to buy Sarah a beer. Best crowd of the night.

The Lab Rats

After Jekyll and Hydes we had a change of plans. There a huge buzz about this band from Japan called Gitogito Hustler. They're a bunch of Japanese girls that dress up cute and play punk rock. Apparently the buzz was pretty widespread because there was a line around the block to get into Alchemize to see them.

We finally got in and the place was absolutely packed, so packed I made a note of fire exits. After 10 minutes, though, I think we all realized that there was nothing special here. I mean there was the novelty of listening to Japanese girls say, "Rock and roll!" but if you've heard Shonen Knife you've heard about all the Japanese rock you need. We left.

After that things kind of wound down. We went to Club Dream to see Gordon Bennett but if that was them on stage, I was led astray. They sucked. We finally wound up at Jefferson Hall with local standbys Oval Opus and a Jack and Coke. Not a bad way to end it.

The night blew by and we had a blast. Now I just have to recover in time for next year.


P.S. Here's a cute picture of Tippy...