Hmmmm...
05.15.06 (9:15 pm) [edit]This morning at work I had my Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels best of CD in the walkman. God, I love that stuff. Real straight-forward rockin' r&b shit, but with a lot of personality. Very cool for the '60s. They didn't sound British, but they were white enough that their R&B didn't sound like the usual stuff around then either. I love the drummer's feel, the bass grooves, the adrenaline-fueled guitar work. It's just raw three chord rock shit, but it's GOOD raw three chord rock shit. Mitch could belt the hell out of that stuff.
His early '70s band Detroit is a blast as well. Velvet Underground fans should know about Detroit's version of Rock & Roll, which Lou Reed says is the best version. He's right too. The original and subsequent Reed versions are great, but Detroit's kicks the living shit out of all of them.
I was thinking about how much I loved seeing him last September when my band opened for him, so I hit on Pollstar to see where he's at.
My band's schedule drops off for five weeks in August and September before the last two gigs I'll do with them. Mitch lives in Detroit, and there's a few gigs up there in August.
Suddenly I have a clearer idea what to do for a vacation in August. I probably can't afford what I really want to do (go back west and drive all over the desert for a week) but a weekend in Detroit sounds like a plan I can actually sorta do without destroying my bank account.
Funnily enouggh, he's playing in Roswell, Mew Mexico at a "UFO Festival" too. I don't know what the fuck Devil With The Blue Dress On has to do with little green fuckers from space, but I'd like to see that.
Hmmm. Michigan. I get the weirdest ideas sometimes, but this sounds like a damn good plan. When I told him how much I liked the show last year (I think I might have had a total of 60 seconds with him before our keyboardist took him back to his hotel) he told me that if I REALLY wanted to see him, I had to see him with his band up in Detroit.
I've got a friend in Port Huron, and it's even tempting out of sheer perversity to go back to Flint. I went there back in...'97? Can't remember now. Met a girl I'd talked to online. It was a complete fucking waste of time as far as the girl went (there's virtually no story to even tell) but I got to drive around the most dismal goddamn city on the planet for a while. Jesus Fucking Shit. Flint, Michigan SUCKS. I ended up at a Chi-Chis on the edge of town, where me and the bartender were the only people not in the kitchen, and talked about relative crime rates in Detroit and Gary, Indiana. So much for driving four hours to get laid, eh?
Just a thought. I might end up taking a three-day weekend in August to jack off to Internet porn non-stop. Fuck knows what I'll do.
Love,
Dougie