The Morning After Dog Meat BBQ

(There is a little known law of nature that should a mother, who has to get up with her child, go out one night with her friends, say to see an "underground punk band" at a local bar, and should that mother not get to sleep until 2:00 in the morning, said child will wake unusually early later that morning. The child will not be placated with toys and will want to get out of bed NOW. Explanations like "Mommy needs her sleep" will not help.)

So, Dog Meat BBQ. I went to see them at Roxxy's. First of all, let me tell you that the name of the anti-christ was revealed and it is Bert Reynolds. I know, I know, you were thinking George Dubya. The method of revelation was a bit disappointing since it consisted of each of the audience members voting for who they thought was the anti-christ, placing our votes in a plastic Value Village shopping bag and awaiting as a random piece of paper was drawn from the bag and the announcement was made. Still, there was no one disagreeing with the possibility of Bert's anti-christ status.

Dog Meat BBQ were, themselves, fun. I don't know how else to describe them. They are very different, for sure. Lyrics full of humour, angst and satire; brilliant arrangements with a beat that made it impossible for me to sit still. The band has a bit of a cult following (my friends included) and these people know at the first notes or words of a song, what's coming and get very excited. Some songs, such as "Lunar Detox", "Swing Low, Big Paddy Wagon", and "I Hate My Job" ("I hate my job, I hate my job, I hate my fucking job" with an excellent beat-how can you not like that?) cause a frenzy when they begin. People love these guys. I'm not sure I would listen to a CD of them around my house (although there were some tunes that I could definitely hear over and over again), but these guys live are brilliant and are totally having a blast, bringing their audience along for the ride and sweeping them up in the pure enjoyment of it all. The band's enthusiasm for their music is what sucks you in. My friends told me that the arrangements differ a lot and that is genius too, taking songs and playing them several different ways so you never know what you're getting each time you go to hear them. One particularly enjoyable song, with much chatter ensuing after it ended, had my friend Ken lean over and tell me that it had been very different than the way they usually play it. I was like a visitor in a different land, having people who knew the culture explain these things to me.

So, I liked them and I will definitely go see them again. I'm joining the cult of Dog Meat BBQ.