Me and Billy
I went to go see Billy Childish tonight at Mama Buzz. It was super awesome and i would have to imagine much better than seeing him at stuffy old Hemlock Tavern. Mama Buzz charged a 5 to 10 dollar sliding scale with all of the money going to Billy. (Thanks Sophia for paying my way in - and paying the max of the slide!) It also didn't hurt that i sat on the very front row with absolutely nothing obscuring my view.
Billy started out with reading poetry from his book. Aaron has a couple of times offered for me to borrow his copy of the book, but he has always followed the offer with words of warning such as: "I'm not the biggest fan of his poetry." So with that dissuasion combined with my lack of literacy, i had never read any of his poetry. But some of his poems were pretty good. I would not call him an amazing wordsmith, but what he lacked in poetic verses, he made up for by giving great insight into who he is as a person. Anytime someone does that, its pretty awesome (or "awwwwwwe-ful" depending on one's perspective).
He then followed by playing tons of blues songs. You could see how much fun he was having. Fun just playing music and being in front of people. And fun telling the stories of his life. But he didn't tell the life of an over-hyped rock star, but instead he spoke of the life of someone just like you and me.
The first times i ever heard his music, i wasn't all that impressed with Billy Childish. But learning to play guitar quickly changed that. The first song i ever figured out to play on my own was The Milkshakes' "You Did Her Wrong" and I am amazed sometimes at how great a really simple song can be (most recently, that would be "Troubled Mind"). There are often complaints about Billy just ripping off 50's and 60's songs and his songs being all the same as one another. But after seeing him talk and play tonight, you can tell that he gets what music is really about.
And of course, i got the obligatory "Me and Billy" photo:
© Sophia Kim
Update: I posted my pictures of the show in Missy's blog.
Billy started out with reading poetry from his book. Aaron has a couple of times offered for me to borrow his copy of the book, but he has always followed the offer with words of warning such as: "I'm not the biggest fan of his poetry." So with that dissuasion combined with my lack of literacy, i had never read any of his poetry. But some of his poems were pretty good. I would not call him an amazing wordsmith, but what he lacked in poetic verses, he made up for by giving great insight into who he is as a person. Anytime someone does that, its pretty awesome (or "awwwwwwe-ful" depending on one's perspective).
He then followed by playing tons of blues songs. You could see how much fun he was having. Fun just playing music and being in front of people. And fun telling the stories of his life. But he didn't tell the life of an over-hyped rock star, but instead he spoke of the life of someone just like you and me.
The first times i ever heard his music, i wasn't all that impressed with Billy Childish. But learning to play guitar quickly changed that. The first song i ever figured out to play on my own was The Milkshakes' "You Did Her Wrong" and I am amazed sometimes at how great a really simple song can be (most recently, that would be "Troubled Mind"). There are often complaints about Billy just ripping off 50's and 60's songs and his songs being all the same as one another. But after seeing him talk and play tonight, you can tell that he gets what music is really about.
And of course, i got the obligatory "Me and Billy" photo:
© Sophia Kim
Update: I posted my pictures of the show in Missy's blog.