Drive-By Truckers in Fort Liquordale

Excuse my negligence, but haven’t had a damn thing witty, colorful, provocative or exceptionally stupid to say so why waste bandwidth.  Or bandlength.

Nothing new on the writing front, waiting to hear back on a couple of subs, working on two stories that should fit into my “Beyond the Urban Development Boundary” series of short stories.

Went to the Drive-By Truckers show in Fort Liquordale on Saturday, and I am pleased to announce that the demise of rock and roll has been greatly exagerated.

One has only to look into the face of frontman Patterson Hood to see that this was a man doing exactly what he was put on earth to do, digging the hell out of it and doing it in an ass-kicking fashion.  It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a concert where I knew the lyrics to every song.  I probably looked like an ancient retard, but felt young and fresh as teenaged hippie girl.

One of the best rock concerts I’ve ever been to, and I’ve been going to concerts since the late sixties. Well worth any hearing damage I may have sustained.

The Truckers is Coming!

Good news! My favorite rock and roll outfit is coming to Fort Liquordale!

Without getting into the sordid details, I’m a musician. (I wasn’t successful, but the rejection I received was a great introduction to the rejection I now receive as a writer.) Okay, I haven’t played in front of people for years, but mentally, I’m still a musician. And a writer — guess that makes me one of those disgusting artistic hybrid creatures often end up spending their last years locked in the basement eating cockroaches. Like Aunt Alma.

Yeah, well. Different musical styles have come and gone with the ages, all have left their cigarette burns on my psyche to some extent, but I have a deep and everlasting love for honest hard-rocking tear-your-shirt rock and roll. Bands that can play it both hard and soft; tunes of joy, sadness, regret and fuck all. I grew up listening to The Band, Dylan, Neil Young. People that weren’t afraid to take some chances and pour it all out without worrying about whether they hit their target market.

I’ve been listening to the Drive-By Truckers for about five years or so, and they continue to impress me with their songwriting and creativity, and most of all with not being afraid to just put it out there and wail. They have a new record out, Brighter Than Creation’s Dark which I just picked up this week and have been blasting in my truck to and from work. My knuckles are sore from banging the steering wheel.

A story I wrote, “That Smell,” was inspired after repeated listening to their celebrated 2001 album, A Southern Rock Opera, which somehow takes the whole Lynyrd Skynyrd mythos and elevates it to a Shakespearean tragedy. An unbelievable recording.

On a more horrifying note, check out the cover art by Wes Freed. His hillbilly zombies are scarier than any yankee zombies I’ve ever seen. If I was single, my living room walls would be covered with his art. If I ever get a book deal, he’s doing the cover for sure.