One of the 'fun' things about spring cleaning is the possible discovery of items you've 'lost'. This happened to me on Saturday. I was going through a box of old guitar cords, effects pedals and the like and I stumbled upon several old dusty index cards. They were stuck together with bits of duct tape that can only be described as 'crusty'. Ahhh....old set lists from the band I used to play in back in the late 80's.
The list displayed above was from a Halloween party we played at. Let's go over the individual sets to see what pathetic chunks of nostalgia can be dislodged.
Set #1
Sharp Dressed Man - ZZ Top
Tush - ZZ Top
Keep Your Hands To Yourself - Georgia Satellites
Mississippi Queen - Mountain
I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide - ZZ Top
What's The Matter Here - 10,000 Maniacs
When Things Go Wrong - Robin Lane & the Chartbusters
Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry
Helter Skelter - The Beatles
Brown Sugar - The Rolling Stones
You Really Got Me - The Kinks
From the heavy ZZ Top content it probaby comes as no great surprise that the entire band was dressed as 'Sharp-Dressed-Men' (and in our case, one sharp-dressed woman). I tell ya, it was hot playin' in that thing. The sweat was flying. The ZZ two-fer was a fun way to get the house pumped up (not that the beer wasn't helping). I might have to question the choice of the slower mid-set material but I think we might have needed a breather by then anyway.
Set #2
She Loves My Automobile - ZZ Top
Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix
Behind Blue Eyes - The Who
City Of Dreams - Talking Heads
Burning For You - Blue Oyster Cult
Funk 49/Moby Dick - James Gang/Led Zep
Lawyers, Guns & Money - Warren Zevon
Love For Sale - Talking Heads
Like The Weather - 10,000 Maniacs
Next To You - The Police
The Ocean - Led Zep
Wow, I'd forgotten just how much of a ZZ Top jones we had goin' on. Don't know why we insisted on playing "Behind Blue Eyes", since we kinda sucked at it. The Talking Heads ballad was a favorite of ours. "Burning For You" was a blast, though I think I played a friggin' uber-clam during the outro choruses, missing by a half-step (ouch). The "Funk/Dick" thing was an excuse for my old pal Ty to let loose on a drum solo. It wasn't half bad either. By this time, some of Ty's fake beard had fallen off, making him look more Amish than ZZ. The Zevon tune was also tons of fun as was "Love For Sale". The next 10,000 Maniacs song was my idea. Dang, I loved Natalie Merchant back then. The set ended with a rushed, almost punkish "Next To You" (with considerable jamming) and Zeppelin's "The Ocean".
I think some beer happened after this.
Set #3
Can't Get Enough - Bad Company
Cat Scratch Fever - Ted Nugent
Psycho Killer - Talking Heads
Turning Japanese - The Vapors
Everybody Got Hammered - Joe Ely
Heartbreaker - Pat Benatar
Louie Louie - The Kingsmen
Mystery Dance - Elvis Costello
Gimme Three Steps - Lynyrd Skynyrd
I'm The Man - Joe Jackson
Rock & Roll - Led Zeppelin
Goodbye To You - Scandal
Some serious fun in the last set. "Can't Get Enough" was an 'old standard' for us, being one of the first tunes we learned together (also the first guitar solo I ever learned). "Cat Scratch" was the big stupid (still is). "Psycho Killer" was fun because we all traded off on the verses and I got to sing (well, shout) the French parts. "Turning Japanese" is an exhilarating pop song to play live. When you're all cranked up it's a little like being on a rock roller coaster. You've never heard of Ely's "Everybody Got Hammered"? You should check it out. Benatar's "Heartbreaker" was a pain in the ass to learn but fun to play. It was also the last 'difficult' song of the night as it was all downhill from there. The classic "Louie Louie" segues right into Costello's "Mystery Dance". A little southern-fried boogie with "Gimme Three Steps" and the all-out fun of Jackson's "I'm The Man" and Zep's "Rock & Roll" (pre-Cadillac). We ended the night with "Goodbye To You". Much grousing at practices about this choice, as "Rock & Roll" had been our traditional nightcap. Oh well, I was a little sick of it..plus the Scandal tune was just pure pop fun.
Gees, I'm exhausted (and I haven't even played a note).
Other bits of trivia from that night: best costume - "The Voting Booth". Most prophetic costume: my wife (now "ex") dressed as a witch. The house we had the party in was knocked down a while back to make room for an office building.
(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)
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Article comments
1 - Shark
Sounds like a pretty good set of sets, Mark, although it is a little "Top" heavy.
And what? No Steve Miller? (heh)
I'll bet Joe Ely's tune got 'em drunk and nekkid, eh? Probably should have closed with that and gone home with some wild strange.
And if the readers don't know who Joe Ely is...
That's a life not worth livin'.
2 - Mark Saleski
yep, when i bought "Lord of the Highway" it was definitely one of those 'how have i lived without this?' moments.
3 - Gary Mathews
Hey Mark - ran across the obscure nod to Joe Ely and thought I would embellish...I was working with Joe in the 1980's and when he wrote "hammered" - it was a big hit for us at the time during the live sets. We indeed got hammered the evening prior to Joe writing the song - a rarity for me, the level headed sound engineer/tour manager. We played philly or D.C. (not sure which one was that night) with Delbert McClinton before a big wrestlemania type event. Being done extremely early for us, the party got going and everyone had a great time. The hammered part came the next morning when the full extent of the hang-overs were assessed. That rhythm, swagger and banging on an old break drum in the recorded version truly captured the memory!