the Evens
I went to see the Evens last night at the Terman Middle School auditorium. What kind of band plays in a middle school auditorium besides one that was put together for a talent show? I’ll tell you. It’s Ian McKaye from Fugazi playing baritone guitar and Amy Farina playing drums. They both sing.
It was a tiny show. Three rows of 15-20 folding metal chairs and a few people in the back. I sat down in an empty seat at the front (about 6 feet from where Ian sat while playing) and almost immediately the dad sitting next to me asked if I’d gone to MIT. He’d seen my WMBR shirt. We talked about WMBR for a little bit, then he went on to explain to his 10 year old daughter that MIT was a nerd school and that she could go there for grad school but not for undergrad because he couldn’t afford it unless she got a scholarship. They also talked about internships for a while and somehow got on the topic of a spinning-talking-sensing pumpkin. The girl, quite amazingly, described a pretty good way to make this thing that would be nice to kids and try to scare adults. She was 10 years old (give or take, I never asked)! At age 10, I was trying not to cry into the paste I was eating.
There were too many amusing things to tell you all of them, but here’s a short list:
- Ian repeatedly asking if the people in the back if they were comfortable and if everything was under control.
- they finished a song with a hard vocal part. Ian: “How was that?” Amy: “Alright.” Ian: “Let’s try it again.” They do it a second time. Ian: “No, still not right. One more time.” A third try. Ian: “That was better, right?” Amy: “Yeah, that was good.”
- Ian went to Terman Middle School for 9 months in 1974-75 (I think) and told some stories about a school dance (in that very auditorium) and making a heart in wood shop with a torqoise inlay. It was stolen on the last day of school before he could give it to his crush.
- The aforementioned dad next to me at some point volunteered his 7th grade yearbook and Ian asked where he went to school. Dad: “I went to Paul Revere Middle School in LA.” Guy 1 (behind us): “I went to Paul Revere.” Guy 2 (in the back): “I I went to Paul Revere.” Ian: “See? We’re bringing people together.
- Ian asked people to sing along to a song. Ian: “Are you ready to give it a try?” The first person to say yes was Ian’s dad, who turned out to be in the back row.
It was an enjoyable and cheap ($5!) evening.
Oh and there was a girl there that looked like Emily Warman with long redish brown hair. There was a striking resemblance in facial features.
Other quick things:
I just found out that I’m missing Cat Power saturday. Dave’s coming today. We’re going on my company’s trip to this place in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.