Last week I got a call from my friend Scott. Scott is an old friend from back when I was in Santiago, Chile serving a mission for my church. He and I keep in contact, and normally see each other when one of us has concert tickets and can’t find a date. We have attended quite a few concerts together (that says a lot about our date-getting abilities). Each concert has provided us with some very memorable experiences.
This last week, we met up at The Depot in Salt Lake to hear ‘Built to Spill’ perform. I had never heard the band, but I trust Scott’s judgment as he’s rarely steered me wrong with a music selection in the past. We continued our tradition of showing up early so as to obtain a table. Whilst we staked out our spot, we began looking around for girls, and talking… also about girls (not very original, I know).
As the venue began to fill, we realized that the majority of the females present were accompanied by one or more dudes, getting drunk off their rockers, or they looked like they had had a good and fairly recent beating by the ugly stick. This was expected, as the Depot has never really proved successful for us in the woman department. Last time we attended a concert there, the only girl that talked to us is still referred to as “Snaggle-tooth.”
As the first band was preparing to take the stage, we caught wind of the lineup. The second of the three bands to play was called “Meat Puppets.” Upon hearing this, I got all sorts of excited. The name just sets a tone that one hopes the music will live up to.
After a fairly slow set by the first band and a few risque Meat Puppet jokes, the much anticipated band took the stage. Let me tell you, there is absolutely NO WAY you can prepare yourself for these guys. If they are anything, they are exactly what you wouldn’t expect from their name. Let me set the stage with a little back story so you can understand what I mean…
The band has been around for over 20 years, but has taken a break or two due to the imprisonment of the bassist. Apparently a few years back, he got into a tussle with a woman in the parking lot of a post office. A security guard tried to intervene when Kirkwood, the bassist, relieved the guard of his baton, and proceeded to smash the dude’s face in. The guard, in turn, removed his gun and shot Kirkwood in the back, incapacitating him. He was thrown in jail for two years. Oh, and did I mention he was also a heroine addict? Seriously, this dude is messed up, and you can tell just by looking at his picture.
So basically, the band consists of three dudes in their near 50’s playing a strange, sort of twangy, rocked out country music. I honestly felt like I was at a hoedown. Scott and I just looked at each other and laughed through the entire set. Did I mention that the guitarist and bassist had matching instruments? Yup, they were baby blue…
The kicker was the guy standing right behind us who obviously had only come to see his beloved ‘Meat Puppets.’
Oh, and there was a dude that got really drunk and couldn’t keep from rubbing his butt on anything and everything, including our table and both Scott’s and my individual propped up feet. I honestly feared for my life whenever Mr. Wiggly came near. Wow.
Here is a video or two of the ‘Meat Puppets’ so you can get an idea of what I’m talking about… and a video of a friend of Mr. Wiggly for your enjoyment.
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