We have an
amazing summer of shows coming up. Here’s
the list:
April: Rhett
Miller, Avett Brothers, Subdudes
May: Stephen
Stills
June:
Houndmouth, Jason Isbell with Frank Turner, Violent Femmes, Melissa Etheridge
July:
Mavericks, Folk Festival
August: ZZ Top
When Nels said
he wanted to go to ZZ Top, I was like “meh.”
After hearing songs from Eliminator
throughout my high school years, I was pretty sure I never wanted to hear “Gimme
All Your Lovin’” or “Legs” again—similar to wanting to cover my ears and scream
at the first chords of Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll” or Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville.” As a nightclub deejay for a very brief period
of time, I played my share of songs simply to fill the dance floor with drunk
women dragging along their drunker partners. I once had a bouncer at Our Place
(Fort Wayne friends, remember that club?) swear at me after I played “Sledgehammer”
because he had heard it so many times. Sorry,
dude.
Thus, I was
less than excited to go see ZZ Top, notwithstanding that it’s in one of our
all-time favorite venues—the Melody Tent in Hyannis on the Cape http://www.melodytent.org/. It also occurs during the last week of August,
which is probably the first week of school (and no, I’m not checking).
Besides, I
wanted to prep for the Avett Brothers this Sunday. I began by listening to I and Love and You and was progressing to Live, Volume 3 with the stop and start of “The Ballad of Love and
Hate” (don’t get me started on the gender issues in that song—that’s for
another blog https://youtu.be/1cTJV3HK-Xs). Then Nels un-subtly placed DeGuello, his favorite ZZ album, where I could see it and started
singing “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide” (https://youtu.be/C9r1P5Boek4)
in the shower. I was intrigued enough to
throw DeGuello onto iTunes Friday
morning. I had every intention of doing
my duty as a citizen and listening to NPR on the way to work. All it took was the opening bars of “I Thank
You” https://youtu.be/Vr_Q2UKN6eU to
max out the volume and open up the sunroof in 45 degree weather. Politics could not overcome rock and roll.
The
unapologetic, unsentimental blues raunch of ZZ Top was in crisp contrast to the
earnest songs of the Avetts. ZZ Top
celebrate sex. Avetts celebrate
love. Both are completely open about what they are
doing. Unlike some other genres or
artists that focus on love but really mean sex (adult contemporary, country, pop
and R&B are the worst offenders), ZZ Top are not just fools for my
stockings, they want to thank me for my general foxiness and love that I want
to ride with the top down (I just got that double entendre and am blushing).
As a woman who
is inconsistently feminist, there is room in my world for bawdiness and
sweetness. I hope I don’t have to check
my professor credentials at the Will Call, but if that happens, so be it.
