return of the king

i'm not big on having heroes in life. people are notoriously fallible, which makes it a dicey proposition when attempting to place one of them atop a pedestal.

the closest i come to a hero is probably robert pollard. like thousands of other maladjusted white males, the music of guided by voices inspired me to pick up a guitar and write scads of half-baked, lo-fi arena anthems.

uncle bob played a show at the doug fir in portland last night. it was my first time seeing him since i stood in a packed, sweaty club on new year's eve in chicago about 14 months ago and sobbed through the last 10 minutes of GBV's epic farewell show. my girlfriend remarked early on last night that it was weird seeing him in a place so small, and she was right; i'd seen GBV somewhere in the neighborhood of 25-30 times, and last night was probably the smallest venue i'd ever seen bob perform in, which was cool.

some observations:

- bob hasn't lost his fondness for boozing on stage, which was heart-warming to see. the rest of the band didn't appear to be following suit, at least not nearly to bob's level. however, he seemed genuinely comfortable with his bandmates. i wonder how long they'll stick around. will these guys perform on subsequent tours? will they play on the records?

- bob seems to have a prediliction for picking hammy bass players. demos, tobias, and now narducci (if i've got his name right). granted, this guy isn't nearly as skeevy as demos, or as goofy as tobias, but when he slumped all over one of the guitar players during a song, i started having flashbacks.

- GBV shows feature 78% more on-stage hugs than your average indie rock show.

- rich t, former fan club member turned road manager and all-around bob-lackey, was in full effect last night. were i of a mind to think that rich is the kind of guy who enjoys getting face time on stage, i would have had ample evidence to back up that theory last night. he spent almost as much time out there as bob, running to and fro, doing this and that. however, knowing what little i know about rich from the couple of times i've met him, i suspect he's just a fan who's working hard to make sure things go smoothly.

- i'm not big on omens or any such spiritual nonsense. however, yesterday when i went for my lunchtime run, "choking tara" came up on ipod shuffle. the band played it last night. it'd probably been a few years since i'd heard that song.

- i've had the new release, from a compound eye, for about a year now. it was a real slow grower for me; less immediately accessible than the GBV stuff. hearing those songs performed live last night was a revelation. with only 1 or 2 exceptions, they all rocked. hard. however, i don't think anything i heard changed my opinion that "the right thing" is the best song on the album.

- it's interesting to compare this band to GBV's final incarnation. i think one could make a case for saying that this lineup is an improvement all the way around. tommy keane is basically doug gillard without the solos. the first thing i saw him play last night resembling a solo came on the last song of the regular set; i think doug's head would have exploded if he'd ever tried to go that long into a GBV set without a solo or even just a little fill. not that i'm down on doug; i was always a fan. but tommy's style just seems to fit better. the current bass player is likely a wash with slusarenko (who was in attendance last night, rocking from the wings). the second guitar player is definitely more accomplished than nate farley and - with apologies to nate - far less annoying. although i will say that his overall lack of demonstrable on-stage personality had me missing nate a time or two. i always felt that nate had the misfortune of possessing a smile that personifies the expression "shit-eating grin". bob has had some pretty good drummers in his day (fennell, swanson, mcpherson, et al), but it's hard to argue with john wurster's pedigree, to say nothing of his rocking.

- at one point during a solo, bob went over to tommy and tried to do the whole "lead singer exhorting his lead guitar player through a particularly tasty solo" routine, a la plant/page. tommy kindly informed bob that he, in fact, was not the guitarist playing the solo. bob seemed nonplussed.