9/11 Five Years

It’s been five years since the 9/11 event and instead of dealing with the issue, our President took the opportunity to avenge his father’s “wimp” reputation by starting a war in Iraq rather than dealing with the issue of our assailants in Afganistan and Pakistan. It’s a terrible shame on the memory of what happened to those that died and the psyche of our Country.

Drive Invasion 2006

Went to Drive Invasion for the first time in several years with new Joyce, new Atlantan Stacey and old friend Lori.


The draw this time for me was the bands on both days. Day 1 culminated with Southern Culture on the Skids. As usual their live show was movin’ and groovin’. Rick Miller is certainly an unheralded guitar player and Mary Huff, well what can be said about her. She’s got the funk and her and drummer Dave Hartman provide the engine without effort. I was suprise to see that Rocket from the Tombs was actually a prototype punk band from Cleveland that originally, in the early seventies, split to form Pere Ubu and The Dead Boys. The thirty or so people paying attention were treated to Dave Thomas, Cheetah Chrome, and Television’s Richard Lloyd.


Day 2 for us started with Detroit’s Gore Gore Girls. I was impressed when they opened for The Cramps at The Masquerade several years ago and we weren’t dissapointed this time. My fave was Marlene. Almost got hit in the eye with a drum stick so Joyce got a souvenir.


Next up was the evil rock and roll of The Supersuckers. Rock they did, the crowd was totally into it. At the end they tried to play BOC’s Godzilla but were told to stop by someone offstage. An argument ensued with a few “fuck you”’s from the band and they proceeded to play Thin Lizzy’s Cowboy Song. Phil must have approved because a rainbow appeared!

Finally came Blue Oyster Cult. The first 20 minutes or so were pretty cool. Buck Dharma is certainly an impressive guitarist but after a while…well…solo much? The phrase became, “MORE AND LONGER SOLOS PLEASE.” Glad I saw them. They reinforced my thoughts the first time I saw them in 1978 – Thin Lizzy opened and blew them away. Supersucker’s final song was prophetic and the show had the same result…I think we enjoyed Supersuckers much more (Gore Gore Girls too).

Both nights started with newer films. 2001 Maniacs, and Godzilla 2000. Personally I would have preferred my cheesy movies to be vintage. Hopefully they’ll improve that next year.

Pics here and here. Videos here.