rock over London. rock on, Chicago.

PROLOGUE — Rick Perry made a spectacular ass of himself on live television last night. if you have any, you should make your children watch this. god bless this age of media we live in.

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MERRY MUSIC MEMORIES — I was in the seventh grade, and it was Christmas Morning. the big gift that year from Santa or grandma was a Sony Discman. moments after its arrival, the first CD to ever fall into my possession became “fashion nugget” by Cake.  it came as the requisite accessory.

I remember sitting in the La-Z-Boy in the living room in Indiana and listening to that album. it was, and remains, a good one, but not one that’s left a lasting  impression on me. I don’t mean any disrespect to Cake’s music, you see. it just didn’t stick; I was more interested in getting stupid stickers to smear all over the new Discman. I remember feeling that was of great import. my piece de resistance ended up being one that I got from a Klondike Bar wrapper. but I digress.

Cake’s good, I really mean it, yeah. but the second album that I ever came to own, the second one was called “the action is go” by Fu Manchu. Fu Manchu, they stuck around.

I thought this shit was great. my brother got it for me, and I remember later listening to them at his apartment in Mount Pleasant in 1997 or 98. when he got rid of a bunch of his old records, I got earlier and later albums. Fu Manchu ruled. they played so loud that the music sounded fuzzy, like it was coming in hot, and the band felt cool while I was not. and that last sentence just … rhymed. totally unintentional.

they sang about shit that I couldn’t understand — and I later figured out why that was; they were singing about nonsense like drag racing and pin ball. but I found myself listening to them through college, into my twenties, and even now. still in my twenties. but Aarti gave me an old iPod of hers and I’ve got a couple of their albums on that thing. you get the idea.

anyway. I was able to see them play once, with my friend Pat, about five years ago when I briefly lived in California. the club was in a small strip mall in Costa Mesa. I went to In-N-Out Burger just before the show, and watched them unload their own shit out of an Econoline van after the opening act.

and then I was able to see them again last year, here in DC with Aarti, who would totally tell you it was an awesome show. and now it would appear they are coming back again.

fine by me, I say! the guys from Fu Manchu have got to be 40, or only months out, but they’ve got enough left in them that I can double that up with nostalgia and spend a School Night going to see them. as such: if you live in Washington DC, you could probably do better on a thursday evening than checking out Fu Manchu. yeah, probably. but you could do a whole lot worse.

Fu Manchu next thursday at the Black Cat.