I'm still giggling over that last post. I don't know what came over me but it felt good to let the mouthy whore who lives in my brain write that one. Hee.
Anyhoo, last night I went to see a dear friend, Michael Schaerer, play at a new place in Soulard called Franco. The food is, of course, French and delicious. We sampled a few small plates - pommes frites, flatbread with Roquefort, olive tapanade and red pepper-tomato marmalade, and sauteed dumplings - and then Brian shared his wood grilled bistro steak, whether he wanted to or not.
Michael was, as always, fabulous. A long time ago, in a faraway land, he was the lead singer in a band called Pale Divine. I pulled this description from their myspace page:
THE EYES///PALE DIVINE was a local St. Louis band...Pale Divine (then known as The Eyes), quickly became hometown favorites, and had soon attracted a large following on the midwest college circuit. The quartet is fronted by Michael Schaerer, who possesses a powerful voice, charismatic stage presence, and total commitment to his music. Richard Fortus pulls an astonishing variety of sounds out of his guitars, effortlessly switching from cunningly played accompaniment to burning leads. And the rhythm section of drummer Greg Miller and bassist Dan Angenend, Jr. forms a rock-solid pocket, providing driving support for Pale Divines unforgettable songs.
I shot a video of Michael performing Witch Wife, a favorite request of mine from his solo album, Cross to Bear. I suspect some of you have poetic souls hidden under your cynical exteriors and will recognize the lyrics as the Edna St. Vincent Millay poem of the same name. He told me last night that he wrote the song while reading her poems and teaching himself to finger pick. Cool, no?
I apologize for the visual quality but isn't it about the sound anyway?
These days Michael plays with the lovely and talented Amy Miller. When they busted out Journey's Faithfully I thought immediately of Pistols at Dawn. I couldn't get video because there was a guy sitting in my line of vision - had I known the videos would be too dark to see, I'd have captured it for you anyway, Pistols.
In it's stead here's this, the two of them busting out The Battle of Evermore:
Word on the street is that there is a Pale Divine reunion show scheduled for December 29 at The Pageant. Be there or miss out on screaming singing Straight to Goodbye, with the original band, as loud as you can.
9 comments:
That is true about the reunion show. It's on my calendar. I hope The Unconscious and Suave Ocotopus and The Urge show up too. It could be an all 90s STL rock reunion.
If I am ever in a coma, make sure the doctors try playing "Faithfully," because that will wake me up by the time he gets to "We all need the clown...to make us la-augh." That line is funnier than everything I've ever written.
"finger pick"
That made me giggle.
Made me think of "booger pick".
Or "fingerbang".
I ain't saying nuttin'
Doc Zibbs: Why aren't you saying anything? Did I offend in some way? Your comment is making me nervous.
No.Just saying that I'm not a huge fan of the music but didn't want to say anything bad. Not that it's bad. It's just not me cup of tea.
God, I love flatbread. Seriously, I feel like you could put marinated shoe string and...I don't know, butt fungus on flatbread and it would still be tasty. Well, maybe not...
Sounds like such a fun night!
I don't know what you're talking about. Everytime I've ever gone to a bar, it's been dark and blurry.
Good Zeppelin cover though.
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