Friday

I hauled myself out of bed around noon to get over to the convention center in time to catch the CBGB's panel, which included Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth from Talking Heads, Clem Burke from Blondie and Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, founders of Sire Records. It didn't seem as though anyone but Burke or Gottehrer had actually prepared at all, so the stories tended to wander off track into less interesting talk about management companies or New York restaurants. More of a problem was that Gottehrer, who was attending the panel remotely via Skype, got dropped about every 30 seconds, leading to some incredibly frustrating moments as he'd get cut off just as he was getting to the climax of a story. Overall, the panel was still pretty interesting. Frantz had a great anecdote about walking into CB's in an LL Bean jacket in the winter to have David Johansen tell him (affects Staten Island accent), "Chris, rock stars don't dress for the weath-ah." Also, when asked about the Dead Boys, Tina shivered and said, "Cheetah was bad." I wonder if she knew he was in town? In any case, Clem quickly came to Cheetah's defense and declared him "totally reformed."

After the panel, I walked up to Club Deville to watch Nicole Atkins, whom I'd met briefly the night before at the Batusis show. She sounded great and had a large and enthusiastic crowd.

Later in the afternoon, I spent some time at the record and poster show at the Convention Center (and somehow managed not to buy anything) before making the long, long trek out to Cheapo Records to catch another set by the Batusis. After their show, Sylvain and Cheetah, despite clearly being exhausted, stuck around to sign autographs and pose for pictures. Getting to meet those two legends was a highlight for me. For someone who's into punk rock, it's like meeting Keith Richards and Pete Townsend in the same afternoon.

I stopped for some Korean Tacos on the way back to my room. If, like me, you're thinking, "Korean tacos? That sounds like it could be good," let me tell you, it's not.

From there, I saw Band of Skulls and Jimmie Dale Gilmore at the Palm Door. Both were excellent, and I know this word is overused when talking about rock 'n' roll, but Band of Skulls set really should be described as blistering. My face was melted.

I saw a dude standing by the bar and thought, "that looks like Robert David Fricke." (update: Thanks to the assholey anonymous commenter that called me out for this mistake.) Then Gilmore announced that the show was the Rolling Stone showcase, so I guess it probably was. Sadly, I had to leave before John Doe started his set so I could catch Elk City.

On the way to the Elk City show, a homeless man followed me for four blocks talk-spitting in my face while shouting (admittedly, entertainingly) conspiracy theories. I should probably get a hepatitis test.

Elk City was fantastic, and they played my favorite song of theirs "You Got Me," which made me smile and dance. Or that might have been the whiskey that made me dance. Either way, it was a great time. I was initially interested in the band because of Sean Eden's involvement, but Elk City is so different from Luna that any comparisons fall away immediately. Eden is a masterful guitarist and hops between styles with ease. Vocalist/songwriter Renee LoBue is equally flexible, sometimes channeling the power of Siouxsie, other times the pop charm of Moe Tucker. Sean and Renee chatted with me for a bit after the set and were very tolerant of my drunken rambling.

I then caugt a bit of Audra Mae's set. I had interviewed Audra for Spinner and really dug her music. She didn't disappoint live and commanded the room with just her voice and guitar.

From there, I went to the Jail Guitar Doors show. Lots of fun stuff going on there. Jail Guitar Doors is a charity founded by Billy Bragg that attempts to rehabilitate inmates through music. Wayne Kramer is heading up the American version, and Friday's show also featured Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly; Chris Shiflett from the Foo Fighters; and Tom Morello. Mike Mills also showed up to do a killer version of Neil Young's "Ohio" with Wayne Kramer on guitar. I never would have guessed Mills could deliver such an angry song with conviction (he always seems so mild-mannered in R.E.M.), but man, he's got some rage. Speaking of Rage, Tom Morello's new band, Street Sweeper Social Club did a couple of songs, including a cover of "Mama Said Knock You Out", and though I didn't expect to like them, they were really good. The show ended with Bragg, Kramer and all their guests doing "Kick Out the Jams." It rocked so hard that I forgave Wayne Kramer for being such a whiney pussy at last year's festival.

There had been all kinds of rumors about who would show up at this event- everyone from Lemmy to Cheap Trick to Slash. I have to admit, it was kind of fun watching the people who'd just shown up to see Slash get more and more disappointed as the night went on and he never appeared.

Also, did you know that the song "Jail Guitar Doors" mentions Wayne Kramer? Don't feel bad, according to Billy Bragg, Mick Jones didn't know either. But it's the first verse:

Let me tell you 'bout Wayne and his deals of cocaine
A little more every day
Holding for a friend till the band do well
Then the D.E.A. locked him away