X and the New York Dolls
On our recent visit to SoCal, Mister Man and I caught a show. We drove from Orange County to the Staple’s Center complex to see one of my all time favorite bands – X. I saw them back in the 80s and we saw John Doe a couple of years ago opening for Lucinda Williams. We had a great time . . . even though it took quite a while to find the venue, Club Nokia, which is not to be confused with the Nokia center. Club Nokia is a small club, similar in size to the Hollywood haunts I used to frequent with Onion Tears a few years ago.
X was freakin’ great! The whole gang was there, Exene, John Doe, Billy Zoom (now a born again), and DJ Bonebrake. I love Exene — she’s my middle age, menopausal heroine! She looks like a midwest housefrau, apron included. It is clear that she is not indulging in botox or pilates, and STILL buys her clothes at the thrift shops. Here’s a shot of her:
I was told that people make aprons for Exene and she wears them! I’ll have to design something special for her to induce her to travel to Lincoln.
Here’s a shot of John Doe — second sexiest man alive:
and Billy Zoom
The evening was really fun. I even liked the Dolls (as a SoCal girl, I was never as much into the NY scene with the exception of Blondie). Just for the heck of it, here are some pics of the Dolls (only two remaining original members).
As can be seen, the group has dropped the glam rock get ups. I was disappointed! Also, it seemed like they covered a lot of other people’s music rather than their own. But David Johansen looks pretty good (for being 58!):
Overall, it was a great way to start off our vacation to SoCal — traffic was easy up to LA, it was a warm night (to us) for walking around, and we saw a great show. But, it is VERY different from Lincoln. Parking cost us $10.00 (several blocks away). Well drinks were $8.00 each (boy, and we can drink a lot!). Here in Lincoln, high falutin drinks (Corona) are $4.00! So, keep that in mind, you can get a buzz on for much less in Lincoln (except that last call is at 12:45). I’m not complaining, though — to go out in the winter here, you have to schlep a big ass coat around which is a drag. And, if there’s snow or ice — sensible shoes, no heels!
Xxxicana's Weblog 
January 7, 2009 at 12:03 am
>Zoom (now a born again)
For the record, Zoom was already a Born Again Christian when he formed the band in 1977.
January 7, 2009 at 2:06 am
And I (the first sexiest man alive, in XXXICANA’s opinion , at least) was a born again in 71. I was so excited that summer when I read that Jeremy Spencer (then of the REAL Fleetwood Mac, my fave band until Peter
Green left) walked out of his hotel in L.A., joined “The Children of God”, and gave away all of his money (no doubt to the The Children of God). We weren’t affiliated with the Children of God, though, we considered them a little to cultish. I lived on a Hippie-Christian farm commune in Petaluma and would hitchhike to see Billy Graham, talked in tongues, and delivered people from demons. We (as a movement, not us specifically) made the cover of Time Magazine that summer: “The Jesus Freaks”. That’s what we were called and called ourselves. We’d evangelize at Rock concerts and spread “the good word”.
We were pretty much all causalities of the drug wars (I was 17 and had just recovered from hepatitis). That was the summer I learned to finger pick, which changed my life more than the religion did, looking back. One of my co-freaks was trained as a classical guitarist. He taught me a simple fingerpicking pattern and I took to it like a duck to water. Never started any famous bands, though. Started a lot of bands that went nowhere, and as a matter of fact, am even mow,at the ripe old age of 55, STILL in a band that’s going nowhere. Not a Jesus Freak anymore though. Just a freak.
XXXICANA’s right though, we DID have a great time at the concert, even if I DID have to venture into SoCal to see it. And Billy Zoom was fantastic. Never seems like he’s even breaking a sweat, always has that same smile on his face, but it always sound just perfect.