Nice Pirate Ship

I never thought I'd get to say the phrase, "Nice pirate ship," to a man wearing a skull and cross bones but last Friday, I did. At the laundromat. Well, sort of. It all began when I saw a poster claiming that Westbound Train and The Toasters were playing together in Paris. To a sane, normal, non-concert addict such a poster would be nothing more than a piece of paper stapled to the door of a pastry shop. But for me, said poster evoked the reaction of a high pitched squeal. Westbound Train AND The Toasters! Together in Paris. You have probably never heard of these bands, which is too bad. Check them out at www.westboundsound.com and www.toasters.org.

Back to high pitched squealing. I'd heard good things about The Toasters, but had never experienced their music for myself (I'm now very glad I did). It was Westbound Train that got my attention. Last spring my lovely friend Lyssa and I spent an evening on the darker end of New Scotland Avenue in Albany, New York for a concert at the surprisingly atmospheric venue, Valentine's (http://www.valentinesalbany.com an excellent bar/music hallwhich I highly reccomend if you ever have the misfortune of being in Albany on a Saturday). From the moment our high-heels hit the pavement that night we couldn't help rocking out to Westbound Train's uppity up beat. They were the ideal opening band. Their sound was incredibly pleasing, and the crowd was instantly up on its feet. Thanks to my painful navigational skills however, we'd arrived too fashionably late to hear their entire set. Our tardiness and a hotel room at the slimiest Howard Johnson's in town (which, considering this was Albany, was pretty slimy) were the only bum notes in the entire experience. I swore to let neither tardiness nor sliminess poison my Westbound experience this time around. Unfortunately, none of my Parisian pals can contend with Lyssa and me on the "crazy meter" and no one was willing to follow me blindly into the depths of the 13th arrondisment for "this really good ska band". I don't blame them. The show was in THE sketchiest quarter on the left bank in one of the industrial zones. Being the pragmatic, responsible type (why not?), I took the metro down to check it out in the semi-security of daylight that morning. I found the neighborhood; there was construction on the quai. Mack trucks, loads of stone, welding metal everywhere. It was DEFINITELY illegal for me to be walking through that construction zone; I think they were securing a water main... Continue reading "Nice Pirate Ship"