Date sent: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 04:58:19 -0400 (EDT)

From: OMBO@aol.com

Subject: GF: the Great American band

Hi, I'm Steve, I'm 36, and I live in San Francisco - and guess what just happened here!

Here's what I noticed tonight - how much Carla looks like Isabella Rossellini. Especially when she smiles. Check it out. She's so damned sweet-faced ("Pippi Longstocking gone grunge" - love it), and then she lets loose one of those screams. That's dissonance for you!

Tonight's show at the Great American Music Hall (where my friend does the lights - great job, Shelli!) was not as great as the other two Fibbers shows I saw last year. Especially not the one at Slim's, which was a night they could do no wrong. They're still shaking the bugs out now. But give me a good set by a great band over a great set by a good band any day. (Actually, "great set by a good band" describes Clawhammer's opening act bit pretty well, and that was nice, too.)

Actually, as opposed to the very first shows, there was a good mix ofold and new. The setlist:

And strangely, it was the old stuff that worked best. Go figure. But it all kicked ass, of course. Jessica held up her end nicely, and she's quite a cutie to boot. One thing the Fibbers don't get credit enough for is how gosh darn cute they are. And being bi, I love the fact that the guys AND the gals are cute. Bill is just such a stud up there, plunking away on that bass. And Carla - well, she looks like Isabella Rossellini!

And oh yeah, they can play too. :-) Nels was in especially fine note-bending form tonight, and I must say that Carla is underrated as a guitar player. Just the two of them did Outside, finishing the show with a big ol' squall of noise.

So overall, I am very happy. But I can't help hoping that they come back through at the end of the tour! I'm greedy. :-)

Before I go - that interview from Genre was great and thanks for posting it, Anthony. Those kids are a crackup. I think I knew that Bill was gay. I guess that just proves that the best looking men ARE queer! Heh. And I'm kicking myself now for not presenting Carla with a cucumber. Why give her flowers? Give her something she can use! :-)

Steve

Date sent: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 09:31:13 -0700

From: Michael Wertz <merkwitz@slip.net>

Subject: hoo boy whatta show

Good hello all!

Went to go see our pals last night at the Great American Music Hall in SF - and my limbs are still aching from all the jiggling i made them endure. I was afraid near the beginning of the show that folks weren't showing up but near the end the place was pretty darned packed - was it sold out? i dunno. it looked like it. star sighting out front : victor krummenacher from camper van beethoven & monks of doom.

patsy - really good. did anybody see slaves to the underground? "yippee for patsy!" the singer had a pj harvey croon thing going on. good, good, good.

clawhammer: really loud. thank god for earplugs. they were great tho - my boyfriend said that they covered "caravan" by duke ellington - it was lost to me. near the end, all the songs started to sound like one song , but that one song rocked really hard. i haven't heard this album, but apparently they did song-for-song "Duty Now for the Future" by Devo on one album and that is simply fabulous. I saw this other record cover where they parodied "Black and White" by the Stranglers. }:)

geraldine ferraros: they have such good variety! it struck me how different the last album & this album is when i heard the songs played back to back. Okay... could anyone else get a handle on Carla's outfit? A really good red skirt with black boots with hair dyed red to match and a guitar strap with sparkly red hearts on it. Yay.

Other moments: Something happened to Nels' guitar during Yoo Doo Right and he threw it behind an amp - but came back with another guitar to do lord-knows-what with an egg beater to the strings. Carla boogied during Dusted. The last song was "Outside of Town" from the first record - just Nels and Carla doing some beautiful sonic youthy guitar ramblings to send us all home happy. i wish they were palying more than once!

cmyk