Night of the Telepaths!

I have to blog about the Telepaths. Last night we opened for Black Forest's Flaming Eyeball show and it's was probably our best r&r outing yet. We filled the Peter Jones Gallery with about 30 or so devotees "in the know." We were playing on our home turf, at a premium time. All the elements were there - the sound system was set perfectly, we were in tune, Peter V. our drummer was perched on a little platform behind us so that his groupies could see him swinging and sweating, the vocal mics were warm, Pat McD was relaxed, and his voice actually sort of purred.

Our set is now a pretty tight mix of originals and covers. Our best songs are probably our own: "West of California," "Bye Bye Dubai," "Area 51," "What is the What," "Susan Sontag" (yes, we have a quirky little tribute to Susan that is my personal favorite!), and "Crude War" (a bitter, blazing Metallica-ish brute of song penned by Peter V. that conjures the black hole of hell that is the Iraq War).

But we also have made some of our covers uniquely ours. Our version of "Rusty Cage" (a Soundgarden song via Johnny Cash) has become one of our great moments of r&r mayhem. There's nothing like the beauty of a three minute, three chord song played with pure conviction and joy. My vocal moment comes when we get to Neil Young's song "Fucking Up" (the Lovely Carla asks me why of all the songs written on the planet, this song has come to be my anthem?). I don't know, I like the riff! I'm such a Neil Young fan, my guitar style is certainly influenced by his big open ringing major chords and chopping, anti-technique lead lines.

So we put the set over with complete joyous abandon. We added a new song as the closer, which I brought to the table after seeing Elvis Costello burn the Chicago Theater down with it in a one-man, acoustic version, "What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?" It's the right question...always.