Yule Log - 7/26 @ Star Bar
There was always something about "Christmas in July" that never made sense. Sure, I understood that a bunch of merchants, retailers and advertisers got together to come up with a campaign to kick start some shopping during the Summer. But the thing that didn't make sense was why July? If you really think about it, the halfway point of the year is June. So shouldn't it be "Christmas in June" not July? But for whatever reason they picked July and it stuck.
Be that as it may, in addition to all the sales you find at the end of July, you'll also get to catch one of the two yearly performances by Yule Log. Yule Log, which is mostly comprised of the former owners of the Star Bar, suit up in Christmasesque clothing and play regular rock songs that are transformed into Christmas songs (i.e. stuff by Kiss, Queens Of The Stone Age, Outkast, etc). It's become a tradition of mine to check out their twice a year shows and I look forward to them like a Rankin/Bass special.
And when I walked into the Star Bar, it dawned on me that I haven't been there in a long time. Heck, it might've even been the last time Yule Log played, come to think of it. But taking a look around, I hardly recognized the place. Sure it's basically set up exactly the same as it's always been, but the new owners took down just about everything off the walls and ceiling. So not only did it make things look a lot different, but all the history and character of the bar were gone. Thankfully some things didn't change, like the Gracevault is still around, Adrian is still working the downstairs bar and Joe is still working the door (but he happened to be out of town on this night). And at least there were a few familiar faces to make it feel like old times, like Kati, Eric, Bob, Mika and Gary.
Walked in during the tail end of the Rock City Dropouts set. And they put on a decent show as always. The crowd was definitely into them, although Jett kept berating them about something. Then again, he normally seems to do that, so who knows? Once they finished, I went downstairs for a bit and waited around for Yule Log to set up and then headed back upstairs. The band was more sober than I've ever seen them play in their Yule Log incarnation and by contrast, they seemed even more irate than normal. Jim, the lead singer, was berating the crowd even more than Jett was. Eventually they got a few round of shots in them and they made it through their set a lot smoother. They basically played the same songs they performed last time I saw them, but that would be because they hadn't bothered to practice at all from their last show seven months ago (thanks for that nugget Gary)! They played for about an hour and then walked off stage and won't be back again until December for their Toys For Tots benefit show. And honestly, twice a year is plenty to hear someone turn Outkast's "Hey Ya!" into "Egg Nog." It's fun, but you really don't want to overdo it.
Then as it approached 1:30am, I debated about whether to stick around for the last band on the bill, Bitch. Did find it odd that it was the Christmas in July show and Yule Log wasn't even the headliner. But the more I thought about it, the less I wanted to stay. Taking a look at the guys in Bitch, I had a sneaky suspicion I wasn't going to like them. And I really just wanted to go home to have visions of sugar plums dancing in my head...or something to that effect.