The Go! Team/Southpaw/ March 22, 2005

caryn (1:19:52 AM): It's weird to see a band and not really know the music. One of the weirder show going events in my life was seeing Tenacious D before I had ever caught the tv program. Everyone there was singing along. I felt like an alien.
amy (1:20:33 AM): oh my god you saw tenacious d live. i am so jealous
caryn (1:21:26 AM): Oh yeah, at this smallish club in Portland. When they were real culty. So, without a lot of pre-knowledge and some minor absorption of the Go! Team phenom, I have to say, I was not impressed.
amy (1:21:09 AM): the go team live experience is quite different from the album actually. the album sounds like a cut-and-paste dj record, like the avalanches
caryn (1:22:39: There seemed to be a total lack of cohesion with the stage show. Seriously, they reminded me of the dorky brother's band in Welcome to the Dollhouse. But not as good. And without the occasional sprightly sound of klezmer clarinet.
amy (1:23:10 AM): there was banjo, harmonica, melodica and recorder! surely that made up for it. yes, i agree they were sloppy. but i thought that made them endearing.
caryn (1:24:02 AM): I hated how the lead lady, as peppy as she was, tried to hype everyone with the most clichéd moves ever. Ye olde "Repeat after Me." Ye olde Battle of the Sexes. Ye olde wave yer hands in the air. Boooor-ING.
amy (1:24:32 AM): this is also true. it was quite cliché. but, once again, she was so cute it was endearing
caryn (1:25:23 AM): C'mon Amy. That's just weak. You usually don't let people slide just because they're cute. Or...maybe you do.
amy (1:25:56 AM): not just cute. endearing. getting over on pure charm.
caryn (1:24:45 AM): The bass player? He looked like those pictures of John Kerry from when he was in that garage band in his youth.
amy (1:24:57 AM): yeah! and he was wearing a springsteen-esque headband
amy (1:25:27 AM): as for the battle of the sexes, have you ever heard someone make the guys say "aahh-ooh, aahh-ooh" like dogs in heat
caryn (1:26:59 AM): Whatev. Some Brit lady came up to me and was like..."so, what do you think of 'em?" I wasn't sure if she was their sister or something. I was like, "Honestly? Not too impressed." She giggled and said, "Me either. I mean, they're from England, and I'm glad they're doing well, but..."
amy (1:28:36 AM): oh also, the mix was shit
amy (1:28:41 AM): made even worse by my earplugs
caryn (1:27:53 AM): I know that that record is likely much better and more complex and more cohesive. I will check it out before I delete Go! Team from my Buddy List.
caryn (1:31:34 AM): Ok, the two drummer thing. Trick or treat?
amy (1:32:00 AM): trick AND treat!
caryn (1:32:18 AM): Why?
amy (1:32:49 AM): well they obviously didn't need two drummers. and both drummers were playing along to backing tracks
amy (1:33:02 AM): so they weren't really adding to the music
caryn (1:33:05 AM): That's the trick.
amy (1:33:08 AM): yes
caryn (1:33:11 AM): What's the treat?
amy (1:33:26 AM): it seemed like they were like "hey, people will think it's cool if we have two girl drummers! let's do it"
amy (1:33:33 AM): the treat: it was cool!
amy (1:33:51 AM): i love watching female drummers
caryn (1:34:10 AM): Hmmm. Not buying it. A whole family in Africa could have been fed for a year just with the cost of transporting that second drum kit around.
amy (1:34:32 AM): oh come on. you think madonna shouldn't have backup dancers? kiss shouldn't use pyrotechnics?
amy (1:34:41 AM): it's the same thing. spectacle!
caryn (1:35:29 AM): I love a spectacle. Hooray the spectacle. This hardly was a spectacle. Maybe it their drumsticks were on fire. If Sheila E. can do it….
amy (1:36:01 AM): well, two girls, one of which is adorably pudgy, playing the drums with big goofy grins on their faces, is enough spectacle for me
caryn (1:36:23 AM): You are so gay Amy Phillips! I can see the movie now...Drum Fine XXX.
amy (1:37:05 AM): the boys in the band just weren't as cute as the girls
amy (1:37:37 AM): also, the show was very desexualized
amy (1:37:43 AM): it was like a children's birthday party
caryn (1:38:08 AM): That one with the orange t-shirt had a goofy rolling on X grin. Like Bez from the Happy Mondays.
amy (1:38:34 AM): according to my friends, that is the guy who made all the music on the album
caryn (1:39:30 AM): I think you're right about the total lack of sexualization. Maybe that's why I didn't like it. And why it reminded me of Welcome to the Dollhouse. It was a musical Special People's Club.
amy (1:40:02 AM): even when the lead girl started shaking her ass all rap-video-like, it wasn't sexual
caryn (1:40:31 AM): The audience (except for me and Lady Brit) were really into it, though.
amy (1:41:05 AM): a lot of people in the back weren't into it. but i was quite surprised at the enthusiasm. because, as the lead lady said, nyc is not known for its dancing audiences.
caryn (1:42:22 AM): Most of the audience seemed to know all the songs.
amy (1:42:30 AM): ah, the power of the internet. oh i saw that they were selling 13 piece button sets at the merch table for 5 bucks
amy (1:43:04 AM): 13 buttons!
caryn (1:43:12 AM): All Go! Team?
amy (1:43:16 AM): yes!
amy (1:43:26 AM): you could decorate the entire front of your shirt with that
caryn (1:43:34 AM): Or your ass.