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Is your hog on meth?

Gentleman Jess & His Men
with The Black Lips
The Cat's Cradle
3/4/09

Every once in a while a band comes along that plays pop music the way it is meant to be played...that band is Gentle-
man Jesse & His Men.   This Atlanta group is fronted by a man named, get this, Jesse!  Jesse Smith to be exact, a
member of the Carbonas, a good punk band that may be broken up now but I'm too lazy to research it.  I saw the
Carbonas play a few years back in Oakland and they were quite good (even if I did like openers Beat Beat Beat better,
the side-project band of another one of the members).  I'm not qualified to report on Jesse's gentlemanlyness, but I
certainly have no problem noting that he can write some amazing pop songs full of hooks. 

They put on a fantastic live show - song after song that I had to restrain myself from singing along to like I do in the car. 
They played a lot of songs from their self-titled debut album, as well as some new tracks and a King Tuff cover.  It was
a very no nonsense affair, no goofy banter, no overlong tuning problems, just an onslaught of power pop that you'd think
was straight out of a time machine from 1980.  After a blistering set and a lot of bad dancing on my part, I promptly
loaded up at the merch table and can now be seen tooling around suburbia in a Gentleman Jesse t-shirt that surely
dumbfounds the soccer moms. 

Despite my enthusiasm, Gentleman Jesse was not why most folks were at this show, but rather they were there to see
the controversial Black Lips, they of the stage pissing and fighting and making out with each other on stage.  It always
felt a bit put on to me, but I'm no expert in relieving ones self while performing live so who knows? 

I've tried and tried to listen to the Black Lips, and have many friends who swear by them, but something about them has
always rubbed me the wrong way.  I'd never seen them live though and decided to stick around for a few songs and see
if my mind could be changed.  The verdict?  Eh, not really.  While their music is definitely more enjoyable in a live setting,
it's still nothing special in my book - typical garage rock with a slight psychedelic tinge (though their newest record is a
step in a better, more original direction).  I do give them bonus points for gratuitous and enthusiastic use of the smoke
machine in combination with some 60's era psychedelic light show effects, but I still took off after about 30 minutes not
won over by this band yet again. 

(I actually took photos of Gentleman Jesse, these will obviously get posted whenever I get around to processing the film)