DC ROCK CLUB
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Saturday, May 05, 2007

Like an onion: the more layers you peel, the more it stinks.

The Onion Kick Off - featuring Georgie James and Neil Hamburger @ the Black Cat 5/3/07 Main Stage - $6

Actually this show wasn't all stink. But Jimbromski planted this seed in my head during the show and it has blocked any creative thoughts from replacing it with something better. "This Onion makes you cry..." was the best I could muster. You win Jim.

After much back and forth over my lack of preparation for selecting a show, attacks on my character, and hours of pouting, RC * 3/4 settled for an uninspired comedic/rock show at the Black Cat sponsored by the Onion. The event was created to publicize the Onion newspaper's arrival to the Nation's Capital and featured two parts local indie bands ((The Sounds of) Kaleidoscope and Georgie James) and two parts stand up comedy (Aziz Ansari and Neil Hamburger). By the way, I am very pleased to see the Onion freely available in a news bin at the end of my block. I didn't realize that they had a local "arts" section to inform us of what was up. The Onion is to the Washington City Paper what the Express Newspaper is to the Washington Post for me. Inferior reporting, but less reading. That's right up my alley. The AV Club is a nice thing indeed.

We began in the Red Room for a few $4 pints of Red Room Ale (which I think is brewed by Old Dominion, like the house beer at Stetson's is) and eventually ventured upstairs to catch the comedy stylings of Mr. Ansari. He was mildly amusing and certainly intoxicated. Good for him, I say. He told a few jokes, but mainly turned it over to the DVD player to show us clips from Human Giant, namely 'Lil 911 which was equally mildly amusing. What really stunk was the sound system. When is the Black Cat going to figure this out? Or is it not their fault? My ears STILL ache from that show, and it wasn't from the music. It was from the ear puncturing sharp blasts of spoken word from the video clips (and from N. Hamburger's throat clearing). Seriously painful. Anyhow, we skipped out on the end of Ansari's bit and enjoyed the fresh air outdoors with the 25 smokers in the smokers corral. I enjoyed watching a drunken fat kid knock down the velvet ropes of the corral in a display of pure unathleticism that would have made Sacklunch look like Barry Sanders by comparison.

After that we returned upstairs to catch Georgie James. This band knows what's up. They have a good sound. But I probably would have glossed over them if not for the fact that they have a hot chicK in the band. Here's a clip of their performance.


The dude singing (John Davis) looks like Philip Seymour Hoffman, no? I also thought the drummer looked like Dan Marino, but I didn't find any support on that one from the other RC members (and when I say members, you know what I mean). Anyhow, I actually liked this band. I'd be interested in seeing them perform again. They had a few tracks with a decent hook and they had a Belle and Sebastian likability to their sound. The last two numbers were their best, but knowing little about them, I don't know what those tracks were called. Lazy blogging, I know. Check out their MySpace page for studio tracks if you like.

As for Neil Hamburger... I've seen this act before somewhere. The unlikeable comedian. What's funny about it? Not much. This guy's shtick is to annoy you until you can barely tolerate him but slip in a few bizarre jokes that help you square the absurdity with the reality that you shelled out $ to stand for this crap. I'm still waiting to know why Robert Redford stuck his dick in Paul Newman's jar of sauce... he never finished that joke.

The funniest bit all night (in my opinion) was the Panda video clip. Check it out:

Panda Demands Abortion

1 comment:

Jumbo Slice said...

1. I enjoyed Georgie James. I'd like to see them again, but only after they've put out an album.
2. I liked the Lil' 911 sketch. It was funny when they were pumping up the kid playing Bush and when the little black kid fired their asses.
3. The sound was horrible. When Neil cleared his throat it was like someone shoved a big needle in my ear.

Nice review Potsy. Very well done.