les claypool, 7/15/06, nokia theater, nyc

hey'all, this review finds itself delayed by a few days as i suffered a nasty bout of food poisoning this week. pasta primavera? not necessarily so safe. it's been quite an ugly week. so, here we go!

les claypool, 7/15/06, nokia theater, nyc

so, this time around i didn't get tickets for everyone in advance cuz last time i kinda got fucked. good call. for this show i flew solo as all my friends who said they might go bailed- no surprise. i however, had been looking forward to this show for months, and i wasn't gonna miss it. another reason i felt like i had to see it was because my friend teresa haire who passed away a couple of months ago would have wanted to see it. she was going to come to the les nokia show with me last october but her med school exams got in the way and she missed it because she was being a good-responsible-student. fuck, johnny fishwick would have had a good time there too, cuz it was les. so yeah. i felt like i needed to be there to enjoy the show for my homies too. haire & johnny 4 eva, 4 realz, yo. mad respek.

anyways, i rolled into the city conveniently in time to miss the opening band and get street parking. bought my ticket at the door and chugged my water that the security guard found and i couldn't bring inside. and as i came down the escalators at the nokia, les had just hit the stage and i listened and watched him on the big screen (I REALLY FUCKING LOVE THIS SETUP), ran into the bathroom and didn't miss a second of the music cuz it's pumped right in there (ahh, just like wetlands... except... bigger... shiny... and lit without a blacklight.). i made my way into the theater on the right hand side and it was pretty packed. i didn't feel like powering all the way up to the front, so i found a nice little nook next to the tapers on the main floor.

this was a great spot until some kid started hitting on me nonstop for like 5-10 minutes. i tried to be nice, then i tried to ignore him. it actually got to the point where he spoke through about 3/4 of a song and the lines he was throwing out there were getting worse and worse. he was either on e or drunk as hell... or both... or maybe he was just THAT enamored with me, i mean, i am fucking awesome. regardless i was missing this entire fucking song cuz he was yammering away- never mind the fucking taper mics we're standing next to- now he's not only ruining my time, but everyone who should have a clean recording of this show. finally i'd had enough.
RETARDED CHILD: you really are gorgeous
ME: you HAVE to stop hitting on me NOW.
RC: buh---
ME: NO- STOP. NOW.
after a couple of minutes he got uncomfortable enough to finally leave, but not before apologizing.
RC: i'm really sorry if i was making you uncomfortable
ME: (watching stage) no worries
RC: thank you for having the balls to tell m---
ME: STOP. NOW.
and he left. goddamnit. seriously guys, get the fucking hint. and if it seems like the girl is remotely interested in the actual concert that is going on, talking nonstop in her ear isn't gonna help your cause.

anyways, back to the music. les had the same lineup as last time i believe. drums, sax, sitar, percussion... they sounded great. it was a good mixture of new/old stuff. some of the spacier jams seemed a bit loose to me. the main point is that les is such a solid fucking performer, i really enjoy listening to his shows and experiencing the showmanship. however, why in 2006 is it still necessary to have an obligatory drum solo for 10 minutes no matter how long the set is? i realize everyone likes to take a piss, but i'm really losing patience with the prolonged drumz.

also, at the merch table on the way out (merch whore that i am) i picked up one of the new dvd's and a copy of les' first novel- he had done a book reading earlier in the day at a b&n in the village but i didn't know about it! lame! the book is called south of the pumphouse, and i haven't started reading it yet.

i don't see the show up on etree yet, but they do have the october 2005 show, here is the link: http://bt.etree.org/index.php?search=les claypool&cat=0

all in all- drag your asses out to see les, he's fun for fucksake. oh yeah- i just got a bulletin post from the les claypool myspace page announcing that there is a brand new official primus myspace page up, and to stay tuned because there will be some primus news announced very soon - so go add them to your friends (and we'll all get the good news together- aww, precious). methinks it's tour time! but getting back to les/nokia--- 8.5 HUZZAHS! les RULEZ.