The 3rd Annual Can-Opener
February 12, 1999 @ The Great Hall in Menlo Park, CA
The Chaparones, The Dimes, Little Tin Frog, Blindspot, The Huxtables, IBOPA, The Siren Six, Slow Gherkin

  Ok- some of you are familiar with my reviews...they include the ENTIRE night... I went to this with Niki and we left Santa Cruz at like 3:30pm to get up there and help Fanali set up and get food (and lost! DOH). We find the place at around 5pm-ish. Fanali has us make signs to put out on the street to direct traffic, then we post them. We both end up getting in free (free shows are best!) First band up at 5:30 were The Chaparones...ummm they consisted of people like in their 40's...they were ummm....uhh... not my cup of tea. Next band up were The Dimes. Their guitar played begged me to stay in and watch them...but when I saw Josh of Blindspot show up I ran outside and closed my ears. I didn't care for The Dimes. At this time I was introduced to Ryan Brady-the new bass player.

  Next up were Little Tin Frog!!!! Hooooray! Wow....my first time seeing them. I've been wanting to for quite some time, and I was impressed.Zack (BS's old bassist always tells me how great LTF is) He hee.. You gotta love their bass player and Christine the lead singer. They're great. They did this great song that went "picture of a cigarette, cirlce with a line through it" and they gave the whole audience hand motions to go along with the song. It was great!

  And now....our dear Blindspot is supposed to play...2 minor problems...#1- David was no where to be found. #2- Sierra was no where to be found. So Josh asks me if I'll sing for them. So I was freakin' out and my mind went blank of all Blindspot lyrics...And they gotta go on! So...now since Sierra was missing, there were NO HORNS! da na na!!! But...Kim had showed up to visit the guys, so he played with them. And they recruited Ross from Gherkin to play too. So the band's onstage, and debating what to do without david, Fanali's bugging them that they gotta just start, and David comes running in the door! He said he had taken a taxi there and the driver took him the round about way. So let's see if I remember what they played...

  For Maude, David let me come up on stage and sing with him- I also brought my camera and took pictures so soon enough there shall be more pictures on the website(of the current line up...accept no Sierra pics due to a very embarrasing mis-hap during the show....hee he hee this shall NEVER be spoken of again, so please don't ask) So I'll be honest with you guys. The new Blindspot is interesting. Right now (in my opinion) it can't compare to the old Blindspot-not that they're bad or anything, it's just different (and Josh's guitar was too loud tonight). Change takes a while to get used to. Ryan had to do an impromptu (sp?) bass line to Carp (i think....either that or another song) b/c he'd never played it before. They're kinda sloppy right now--and their beautiful, bold, entertaining, ear-pleasing horn section is completely diminished...it's just very different. From what I gathered Josh's guitar lines aren't the exact ones that Jay used to play. Or atleast I never remember them soundling like that! But whatever...maybe I just noticed b/c the guitar was so loud. It'll take a while for them to get as tight at the old Blindspot was (a horn section would help that!). Even though David was still sick (In St. Louis, MO on their tour, the van stalled in this giant puddle of really cold waist high water, and they all had to get outta the van and push it out-and they had to then sit in the van with wet clothes-hence they all got sick.) and the band is a lot different than before, they're still Blindspot, they still put on a killer show, and I still love their shows.

  Ok- next band up-The Huxtables! They played a little funny tonight. as in not so good funny. AJ broke a bass string in the first song; then he ran off stage and the band members said he was puking-but I think he was just getting a new bass string. Anyways AJ's voice was rather hoarse and Colt's was lower than usual. Colt actually refrained from showing off his stomach tonight. Towards the end, Matt broke a guitar string, then he got another guitar, but there was no place to attach a strap, so Phil came out and devised a duct tape guitar strap. They didn't end their set with "We Are the Huxtables". How sad...but don't fret!

  Next up was IBOPA. Now in the past I've had very mixed feelings about IBOPA-sometimes I've loved them ,other times I've not really liked them... but tonight they were rocking good! I could have done without the end though where lead singer Jamie took his pants off and his boxers had holes in them, then he mooned us all, and some guy jumped on stage and mooned us too. YUCKY. people should keep their butts to themselves.IBOPA opened with "We are the huxtalbes" it was really really funny.

  Next up was The Siren Six!!! And guess what?!?!? They were NOT wearing all black! Wow! They al had black pants still, but dk. navy blue or white and black striped shirts on...it's a move inthe colorful direction. They refused to play any old songs, we were begging them and they kept saying that they'd never heard of those songs before. Yeah whatever. So they played the 7 songs off their new album (which I finally got a chance to pick up).

  Up last were Slow Gherkin--tonight they played minus ZK (bass, they got a fill in though), Peter(keys) and Monty (trumpet). I dunno if it's just me, but I've seen Gherkin 3x since they got back from the Toasters tour and all 3 times have been minus Monty (he moved)...and the horn section just doesn't seem right. Gherkin played better than sufficient....naw they were pretty damn good- I've still seen them play better...I have exceedingly high expectations for them. Ross's voice irritates me...He kept singing into his sax mic. tonight and OUCH said my ears. And that about concludes the concert. Sorry about this being so lengthy.

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