right on time

saturday nights i'm still holding out hope, desperate as it may be, that SNL finds a moment to redeem itself between 11:37 and 1am, so i don't tune my tivo in to catch the first-run airings of "a local anesthetic". (the tivo is necessary cuz i'm out, as you can pretty much figure from the ramblings here). so it is that the following saturdays, like christmas, i find on my tivo the replay of the previous week's broadcast from friday night at 11 on comcast channel 95 (cuz i'm out on friday nights too, and, yes it's a weakness) which is right on time, as far as i'm concerned, when the music is as good as it is this week.

first of all--props to the new credit sequence, and the visual shout out to sarah-jane macfarlane, joeg, nicole ribaudo and gus cota who bring us the show each week. (the crew is looking good!). second of all--WOW.

this week's show kicks off (present tense cuz it's on my tivo--past if you missed it--and that's too bad, though you can always come over for a replay...) with the rafters delivering on "don't lose yourself" and "these days", and, i have to say, these are a pair of beautiful songs from some GREAT talent. you just can't see stuff like this just anywhere or just any day, but you CAN see it if you put some eyes and ears on a local anesthetic each week.

now, i hope to be forgiven for not caring much for the next act after the rafters from last night's recording, but, see, that's the beauty of it. a local anesthetic is part MTV, part V66, (cuz it's local, yo), part america's got talent, and part pure gold, and it's also stuff you can appreciate best with your fast-forward button (a lot like SNL) and it's never about, at least for me, watching every second of every broadcast. lets just say i skipped one this time around, and i was very pleased to be able to have the privilege. the next (third) act is/was all nine pieces of the celebration of life that is thunderpants johnson's hillbilly orchestra, and "liver song", "the great ship titanic" and "mr. t" never sounded better. (if you can't love jug band music, you can't love music--that's what i say--and meat loaf also says two out of three ain't bad, and that's a fact).

but it's more than two out of three this week, and the next stuff from the speakermute, audrey can't die, air traffic controller show at gemstones a few weeks back is worth a look and listen. those of you who recall my rants about how abysmal the room is, and was especially that night, can see for yourselves at least a small glimpse of about which i'm talking. it's almost all there--the go go cages, the kitschy LED-lit faux trees, the silly to be almost random light "show", (that rarely actually illuminated the musicians playing), and everything else, but you'll have to take my word for the bottom-heavy to the point of quasi-inaudible sound mix, cuz gus and nicole and sarah-jane (i know they don't trust joe g near the dials) got the feed from the board and did a GREAT job with the sound. (did i tell you it was a GREAT job? it was a GREAT job). like, a job so good, that if i hadn't been there, i'd swear to you the audience could have heard the show, which, having been there, i can tell you for a reliable fact that many if not most in it most assuredly could not. (though, it's fair to say that between renting the AMAZING setup for the carl johnson trio, trick bag, jen kearney & the lost onion show following, and having the PA repaired in time for the most recent green band show, it's much better now). yes, sarah-jane, gus and/or nicole, whoever was mixing this one did a GREAT job.

viewers should be advised not to miss the songs from that show from dave munro and air traffic controller, like "bad axe michigan" (the irony of mixing sound straight from the board, is that you can't appreciate the actual volume and enthusiasm from crowd for their set, because it's almost entirely out of the pickup range of the stage mics, and you'd have had to be there to get the full picture) and speakermute, like "stutter", which prove that even a bad room can't kill rock and roll.

the treat and capstone of the episode is getting more from the rafters ("i'm sorry) to close it out--like edgar renteria going 11 for 16 to start the season, and then capping it all off with a dinger to help san fran win another one. (though a polite heads-up to the hopeful newbie in my fantasy baseball league who just picked him up, that not every wish comes true).

at least, with a local anesthetic, the wish to see the best of lowell live is right there on your tv each and every week.

get it!