Best Blue Öyster Cult Album

well, as it turns out, I'll be there!

Ho-Chunk is probably not the MOST depressing Indian casino. So there's that.

― @GracieLoPan #fyi (Display Name (this cannot be changed):), Wednesday, April 4, 2012 7:37 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha high praise! i've been to some pretty depressing ones in northern iowa

still excited!

this is one of my favorite ever ILM posts:

What Contenderizer wrote upthread is completely true to me too.
I can only add that the alien, unseizable feeling surrounding BOC was further amplified by what seemed to me their almost quintessential Americanness.
They have the same hazy, dream-like quality of those old 50's horror movies, always walking the fine line between the familiar and the utterly arcane, always evoking a fantasy world where cars, drive-ins, rock n roll, sorcerers and labyrinthine Gothic mansions could stay side by side.
I discovered Blue Oyster Cult around the same time I stumbled into Chrome, and both bands are for me like the perfect soundtrack of this dark, imaginary continent I thought it was America.

― Marco Damiani, Tuesday, February 21, 2012 5:09 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, love that post

also love the chrome connection, not an association i would ever have thought to make

OKAY ROLL CALL FOR THE BÖC SHOW AT HO-CHUNK: ME

that cannot be a real place

I'll thank you not to slander one of Wisconsin's most awesome Native American nations. Or its lucrative casinos: http://www.ho-chunkgaming.com/wisconsindells/

implied slander retracted

"Ho-Chunk!" is also a pretty good approximation of what BOC's guitars sound like.

Been to the Ho-Chunk before, but would've gladly traded that experience in for being there for BOC.

Ho-Chunk casino signs make driving through Wisconsin even more pleasant than it already is

i'm going w/five other dudes from Mpls! we roll deep to BOC!

DN hope to run into you, yell "M@tt!" really loud

Haha YOU MUST DO THE SAME (as we are the only two M@tts on here, maybe?)

God DAMN wish I was goin' to this with y'all

Display name I'll have on a shirt that says hells kitchen, but not the show, a restaurant logo drawn by ralph steadman

can u guys post to this thread while the show is happening

just stuff like "YEAHHHHHHH"
or
"WOOOOOOOO"
or
"Red and the BLACCCCCCK"

Will do!

Drinking dos equis and glenlivit on ice on the balcony, getting ready for BOC

should xpost to the "people who know how to live" thread imo

WOOOOOOOO!

I was hemming and hawing all week, but at the last minute I took out the Zipcar to see 'em in St Charles, IL last nite. Hemming becuz they announced a much more accessible show in Naperville (where I seemingly always see them, Metra line hits there), hawing because it's been almost 2 yrs since my last show, was jonesing. Shocked at lack of Sarzo, now some guy from Rundgren's band -- acutally a much better player technically than Rudy, if not the showman.

Setlist was very close to the '10 show I saw, with two significant changes. Solid time. per directive, glass of beer was raised on high

They came out to game of thrones theme song!

In the middle of shooting shark

Eric bloom has a lot of swag

Perfectly executed beer run during bass solo

They were in St. Charles?!?!?!? Oh man, I wish I would've known that.

Oh wait, I see that Naperville show in September, might have to check that one out... of course that means, y'know, having to be in Naperville.

Sorry I didn't see you dude -- but yeah they were great. Kasim Sulton on bass!

alright! so this was a really fun trip!

we left Mpls about 11, took the scenic route and ate lunch at the Rock n' Roll Cafe in Ellsworth Wisconsin, one of those old school 50s themed diners with 45s on the wall and pix of marilyn monroe and elvis and stuff, great burgers...

got to the casino/hotel, checked in and did the aforementioned drinking of glenlivit and dos equis (and some mike's hard lemonade)....the show started EARLY, doors 630, show 7...so we didn't have time to eat...

got the show, and I was expecting it was going to be in some theater, but it was really just a big event room, like where you'd have a manager's conference with chairs set up....my friend james went up and talked to the sound guy -- turns out we were lied to and BOC was not headlining but going on first :(

so it was general admission and we grabbed some decent seats...BOC came out to the Game of Thrones theme song :) :) :)

so it was Eric, Buck, two dorks on guitar/keyboards and drums, then Kasim Sulton....

Kick things off with Red and Black...Buck's playing one of those really dorky Steinbergers with a with a white body type and no headstock (but not the super small 80s steinbergers, has kinda of a strat-ish body)...it also had "craters" that scooped out of the body? kind of like if they scooped out parts of the body...weird, sounds ok though....

sadly, they didn't get to play long...only did R&B, Burnin' for You, Shooting Shark (oddly given the set length), Cities on Flame, Godzilla, and Reaper....they did manage to squeeze in drum and bass solos (LOL)....also they did a weird medley where they introduced Kasim and when they said "You might know him from Joan Jett" they did a bit of I Love Rock n Roll and then so on for Todd Rungren (i don't wanna work) and Meatloaf (paradise by dashboard)....kinda corny....

Bloom is still really goony and did the godzilla rap from extraterrestrial live about godzilla coming to stomp out the Wisconsin Dells! was awesome....

As far as the performance, the new dudes can certainly play...Bloom definitely has to strain a bit at this point, but Buck's voice, maybe because his singing tone is so soft, really sings and plays amazingly still....

There was the vibe of phoning it in a bit but they are such pros it was still good...and there were a few moments where you felt like you were REALLY seeing them, like they jammed out the end of Reaper for a couple minutes and Buck was sublime...

the best part was that you could actually walk up and there was a big area in front of the stage to stand in front of the chairs so I basically got like 12 feet from Buck...like seeing them in a really small club :)

we got fucking wasted basically and were pissed at Kansas for headlining and decided to fuck off their set and go to the sports bar -- a most fortuitous decision!!

we saw the session guitar and drummer sitting down at a table...we thought about saying something but what the fuck do you say to them?

so we ordered beers and burgers and stuff and just started drinking more....then a group of ppl we'd see upfront -- some really oddball older folks with various old tour t-shirts, sat down with the drummer and the guitarist...they seemed to know them...I got the sense they were old fan club ppl or maybe follow BOC around on tour sometimes??

but anyway sure enough BUCK DHARMA WALKS INTO THE SPORTS BAR!!!!! he starts shaking hands with that group and chatting...eventually sits down with them...I was like fuck it, I was totally in the bag and went up to him and said I'm a big fan and would you take a picture with my friend...which he totally agreed to

after that Eric Bloom walks in and also agrees to do a picture!!!

so that pretty much made up for the short set, especially because this is the only venue we could have possibly ever just "ran into" buck and eric after a show....but yeah they weren't super into talking but they were totally gracious and willing to do a picture and autographs....I didn't see either one of them fail to stop and talk to ppl for a second and sign stuff, seemed, again, like total pros.

so yeah I shook Eric and Buck's hands! felt like the culmination of the last year of BOC obsession....

!RIGHTEOUS!

LOL Steinberger.

Please tell me that the current rhythm section is not fonkeh. Can you give me that?

rad. can't believe they were the opener! for KANSAS! i would really think that BOC would be the bigger draw, but I guess these are weird scenes/times.

xpost

nah they were fine! pretty much playing it straight by the book...that bass dude I'm sure could get funky or whatever you wanted, but he was tasteful

Yeah that is weird. Maybe Kansas played the Christ card to get switched to headliner.

xpost

rad. can't believe they were the opener! for KANSAS! i would really think that BOC would be the bigger draw, but I guess these are weird scenes/times.

― tylerw, Tuesday, May 22, 2012 5:07 PM (23 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

we did feel a bit burned, and just a general sense that the world is an unjust place.

one thing i learned there are SUPER HARDCORE KANSAS FANS....like SUPER hardcore....I talked to this really haggard old drunk that had seen them 46 times....he also...(bizarrely given his age)....was a big Tool/Perfect Circle fan

i saw like assloads of ppl wearing all types of kansas t-shirts.

the world is definitely SO unjust!
that's cool that there are hardcore kansas fans, maybe Kansas rock? resisting urge to google "best Kansas bootleg".

I still have time for 'Dust In The Wind'.

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj242/donaldparsley/carryon.jpg

"This is a Kansas casino. Always has been. Always will be."

http://vivalesbootlegs.blogspot.com/search/label/KANSAS

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VIt42ZwDrR4/SVeqCHx9III/AAAAAAAABxE/qMaLTA8U8V4/s400/Kansas+Mayhem+SYmphony+Pittsburgh+76+front.jpg

Awesome! thanks for the report.

yeah my story is way lamer. i went up with my brother-in-law, we ate at the baraboo uno's, got there during 'burnin' for you,' no tickets at the will-call AS I WAS PROMISED, dude hooked us up anyway, rocked out to böc, stayed for kansas who were competent and professional, drove home.

Great show report from upper mississippi sh@kedown there! I only ever saw them back in the 80s, 1984 (great), 1985 (not great) and 1989 (Aldo Nova on 2nd gtr iirc, pfffft). Next time they're in the UK I promise to see them again, even though it's just Buck + Eric + session dudes these days.

*tries to resist Mayhem Symphony*

lol i dunno, dl-ing kansas bootlegs might be the kind of internet k-hole you never wake up from, you know?

still though: MAYHEM SYMPHONY

The way he sings "I'm Burning for You" is almost as delicious as a candy bar.