Wednesday, April 4, 2007

gimme extra action

Last Friday, I went out with Joanna and her brother Steven, who is about to ship out to Iraq for his second tour of duty. Second tour of duty! I can't think of anything funny about that.

I wanted to ask him a lot of questions about Iraq and being in the Army, but I couldn't because Joanna was there, and she was freaked out enough as it was. But I did ask him about a recent San Francisco Magazine article I read that said that 20,000 soldiers have gone AWOL since the start of the Iraq War, according to the Army. And you know if they're actually admitting to that many, then the real number is far bigger (some say double). The reason given for the soldiers quitting? Not because they're scared new recruits, but because they're old timers tired of the Army accepting poor canon fodder (ie ex-cons and gangsters). Steven admitted that there was a lot more violence, theft, and drama amongst the troops in the last couple of years of his service. You don't read about any of that in the papers.

I decided that Steven needed to see something fun crazy before he went off to a world that was scary crazy, so I took him to see the Extra Action Marching Band. They're doing a residency at 12 Galaxies to raise money for their European tour. What I wouldn't give to be an unsuspecting burgher in Bavaria when they troop through town. Anyway, it was a good show, as usual, with some of the dancers crowd surfing right at us.


The next day, I had to get up and DJ Pipsqueak a Go Go. Hung over. For 200 screaming, running, beach ball bouncing kids. But it was fun, especially when the MC, who looked as hungover as I felt, said, "If you're going to throw a beach ball, make sure you hit someone." Or when a Devil-ette asked what could be found on playgrounds and a girl answered "Fairies," to which she responded that lots of odd things went on with fairies on playgrounds. And then there was our soundman, Waldo, who seemed to have his hands full with CW's kids.


That night, after I'd napped in Brent's car for 30 blissful minutes, I worked the Ming & Ping show. This is one of the weirder phenomenon's I've witnessed at the Rickshaw. One Asian guy pretending to be two identical twins, singing duets via video feed, while a guy named Monkey jumps around, and the crowd sings every word. How do they know about this odd act? They get no mainstream press, they release their own records, they play a weird brand of antiquated, catchy synth-techno-pop. Very kitschy, which may be why it appeals to club kids, boutique workers, and Marina nerds (which I didn't know existed until now).

But the crowd was nothing compared to the oddballs who showed up on Monday for MC Chris. Apparently he plays a character called MC Poopy Pants on Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and he has a large (and I do mean large) pot-smoking suburban teen following. When the ipod began playing "No Future," I thought there couldn't be a more serendipitous selection. His songs were very TKS, in that they were stupid and catchy and featured lyrics about vegetarianism and grandma screwing. Not everyone can pull that off or get a couple hundred stoned teenagers to jump around. Of course, it helps if you offer them posters with the words "fuck" and "goddamn" on them.


I guess if this was a funny caption, it'd say something about Chris Cross. Or maybe Christopher Cross. Ha ha. Hoo.

1 comment:

freshpinkstyle said...

MC Chris was funny!! You forgot to talk about the annoying (loud) family that came to see him and brought their two sons, who proceded to try and buy the underage one a beer like it was no big deal, only to get quickly booted, missing half of MC Chris' set. They ended up looking dejected on the sidewalk.