The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Alright #2: Live Reviews/Son of Sam (PRESS, US)

The article covers three live shows and Son of Sam 7″ (a cover of the Chain Gang song ).

Photo Caption/Credit: “Jon Spencer playing the only chord that matters, PUSSY GALORE circa 1989, Club with No Name, Hollywood, by Kirk”

*Jackknife covered Pussy Galore on the San Francisco Beauty Queen double 7″ set on Sympathy For The Record Industry.

VIEW SHOW PAGES:
Bogart’s, Long Beach, CA, US (14 November 1992): Photos / Set List
The Casbah, San Diego, CA, US (15 November 1992): Image
Whisky A Go-Go, Hollywood, CA, US (13 November 1992): Poster / Set List

Thanks to Skeleton Boy for the scan.

I skipped a car payment to catch these three shows. Was it worth the collection agency harassment? Hell yeah! The Jesus who? Sandra and I didn’t even stick around. The Blues Explosion is the greatest rock and roll band in the world right now. their drummer Russell hits his midget drum kit so hard that you would think it was his father. Judah Bauer is the perfect Mick Taylor Meets A Clean Neil Hagerty and what can I say about Jon that hasn’t been said a thousand times before? Although the band was amazing at the Whisky, this Hollywood show will always be memorable because Sandra physically attacked this muscle bound 6′ jock jerk who kept “slamming” into her. After the second time of landing on her, she blew up and shoved/kicked this guy ten feet (!) where he behaved himself the rest of the night. Believe me, she’ll kick your ass if you get her mad! The next night in Long Beach was pretty great, Sandra didn’t have to lay a finger on anybody. Now that I’m older, there is something to be said for Over-21 shows. Both of these shows featured a lot of new songs, which is cool; but I wanted to hear A Reverse Willie Horton in its entirety! I decided that Son of Sam was the best song that Jon’s ever done and I wondered when it would come out. The following night I skipped band practice and made the trek to San Diego. The Cashbah is a bar about as big as my apartment and it was just as crowded; only instead of being crowded with stuff, it was shoulder to should with Over-21 kids who wanted to hear that crazy style of rock and roll. Actually it wasn’t that crowded, “O” took up half the front of the stage! It is also safe to say that at least half of us in the front were from Los Angeles? There was no direct box so Jon couldn’t use his theremin. This suited me just fine because I think that the theremin leads to too much Elvis parody and, let’s face it, the Elvis thing doesn’t work for Lux, so I know what Jon is thinking. All set for Son of Sam and some frat-boy looking guy gets up to play saxophone! The set was devastating up to that point. Now, in the comfort of my apartment, I have the new Jukebox Series edition of Son of Sam/Bent and it’s got another saxophone on it! I am a firm believer that there is no room for horns in rock and roll (refer to Exile on Main Street). Some people say they like the sax, others say it doesn’t bother them. Me? I wanna hear Judah’s guitar, man! It is also interesting to note that Son of Sam is not a Spencer song, it was (c)1977! Regardless of my stupid complaints, this is a great single and it does get played around here very often; but not as often as Shirt Jac. (In The Red)”