Songs You Should Know- Lemonheads: If I Could Talk I'd Tell You

Make way for the PEE-AY-JAY!!! Aight. It's been a long time, I shouldna left you, without a Paj post to snark to... I've been out of town for 6 of the last ten days so that's why my Tortilla Chips and Milk post count has been pretty sparse lately. I wanna give big ups to The Rizzle and Fyre for picking up the slack while I've been gone. Thank you ladies, y'all are heaven sent.

So this weekend, I stayed in the same hotel as the Rolling Stones. I was staying there for a wedding so I got to hang with some of my old school peeps in all weekend long. The Stones check in the night of our rehearsal dinner and all of a sudden the lobby and the hotel bar get filled with batshit crazy Stones fans. Now I sorta understand the driving fanatacism of wanting to catch a glimpse of your favorite singer...if you're a 14 year-old Justin Timberlake fan. I can also understand if you were a child of the 60's and the 70's and the Stones were a big part of the soundtrack of your formative years, so for the people that were there 45 and up, I get it. They are one of the greatest racts of all time, I understand. What I'm trying to say though, is they had their day, and it wasn't anywhere close to this millenium.

Sadly, the majority of these people crowding up the hotel area were in their 20's and 30's. What. The. Fuck? Seriously, the night before the show there were all these thirty somethings stalking a hotel lobby to try to catch a glimpse of people older than their grandparents. These were children of the late 80's and 90's WAAAAY past the Stones prime. To have that kind of devotion to the Stones at that age, that means their musical focus totally missed out on Punk, Grunge, Hip-Hop, or anything else interesting not on Voodoo Lounge. So these people were actually reliving their halcyon high school/college days days when they rocked out to music their PARENTS grew up with.

Seriously, I tried to relate to the mindset and I just couldn't. The Stones hadn't had a relevant album since Tatoo You. Did these people close to my age group actually yell out for Harlem Shuffle, Love is Strong, or Mixed Emotions during the show? Fuck no!

There was this one sad sack group that brought a lamp to the hotel bar. Supposedly, Ron Wood had a lamp just like it in one of his gajillion flats worldwide. This group of guys sat in the entrance way hoping someone from the Stones Posse would see it. I have no idea what they thought this would accomplish. Maybe they thought someone would recognize the lamp and say, "Hey, you have great taste in lamps, come upstairs and you can blow the band!" Seriously, the sight was pathetic. What made it even better, was the group with the lamp were people we went to school with who weren't invited to the wedding. Thanks for the laughs at your expense...SUCKAS!!!

Cool thing though, I did have a brush with my alt-rock idol a few years ago back in the Yay. It was an hour before a show by Lemonheads' front man Evan Dando. Now, the music of the Lemonheads has played such a huge role in my life that people can like other musicians and much as like the Lemonheads, but they can't possibly like them more. When it comes to the Lemonheads I am that kind of fan. So, there I was, hanging outside Foley's Pub trying to get an early spot close to the stage. I was chatting with a small group of Lemonheads fans smoking, rollin' like I do. All of a sudden Evan Dando walks out the door stops to chat with Jon Brion who's like four feet away from me. A few minutes later he then strolls across the street back to his hotel. I yelled out "You're coming back, right?" He mumbled "Yeah" or something like it without breaking stride or looking back. The crowd dug it though, and started rattling off stories about his drug addled past. It was a moment, but it was a shruggable one as well. My life is neither better no worse for it. The main point is I didn't have to do anything I wouldn't normally do, and I didnt waste the night before lugging around a dumb-ass lamp.

Here's the latest song you should know: Evan Dando Live: If I Could Talk I'd Tell You


P.S. The Lemonheads have a new album that came out last week. It will be reviewed here.