{"id":52441,"date":"2015-04-06T06:00:30","date_gmt":"2015-04-06T11:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=52441"},"modified":"2015-04-06T10:01:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-06T15:01:00","slug":"no-waves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=52441","title":{"rendered":"No Waves"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my heart, I’m still a rock and roll musician. \u00a0The urge to start another band – if only for the fun of it – someday still lurks deep in my heart.<\/p>\n

But it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to make the time. \u00a0The last time I played a gig in public was July of 1996. \u00a0The last time I actually had a band was the winter of 2001 – we never played out. \u00a0And the last time I actually saw a band live in a bar was probably sometime in the fall of 2002.<\/p>\n

So when I was walking up Wabasha in downtown Saint Paul back around the end of March, by the Amsterdam Bar, and saw a poster for “Katrina, formerly of The Waves” doing a show on April 4, the idea of actually seeing it flashed briefly, then went out.<\/p>\n

And then I stopped, and turned around, and looked at the poster.<\/p>\n

And thought “why not?”<\/p>\n

And so when I got home, I got on Ticketfly, and ordered a ticket. \u00a0And thought; “how do I\u00a0do\u00a0<\/em>club concerts anymore?<\/p>\n

Going Down To Uppertown To Do Nothing<\/strong>: \u00a0We’ve talked about Katrina and the Waves; their past as a “one hit wonder” that shouldn’t have been<\/a>\u00a0here in the US, combined with a slew of really excellent pop music that had a bunch of hits in Canada and Europe.<\/p>\n

Of course, the Waves broke up in 1999, after a brief comeback in 1997 in the UK; their lead-singer, the iron-lunged Katrina Leskanich, has had a spotty<\/a> solo career since then.<\/p>\n

So I figured why not?<\/p>\n

Red Wine And Jack Daniels<\/strong>: \u00a0I’d never been to the Amsterdam before (at least not since it was “Pop”, back around 2010-ish). \u00a0The front of the house – the bar and restaurant – is “bohemian” with an uptown sheen. \u00a0 The back of the joint – the “Hall” – affects “rock and roll club”, all black and worn and rough-hewn, without the whole “sticking to the seats” and “getting pounded by bouncers” experience that the real thing always gave you back in your twenties.<\/p>\n

I got there late; I missed the first act, and caught the last two songs of the mid-card act, “The Flaming Ohs”, a band I first saw during Ronald Reagan’s first term, and didn’t like much during the second (and only two of whose original members are still alive).<\/p>\n

I was a little gratified to notice that on this, my first venture back to a club in 12 years, I was actually right around median age; lots of forty and fiftysomething fans turned out for this, the band’s first stop in the Twin Cities since Mikhail Gorbachev was in power.<\/p>\n

Walking On Stage Light:\u00a0<\/strong>The surest sign everyone involved had grown up? \u00a0The band got onstage promptly at the advertised time, 9:50:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

I started taking a selfie at 9:50; as i was trying to get the light right, Katrina walked on stage. Yep, that’s her.<\/p><\/div>\n

And they were on!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

That’s them; Katrina, along with bassist Sean Koos, drummer Kevin Tooley, and guitar player Jimi K Bones.<\/p><\/div>\n

The setlist was concise, and actually a pretty decent mix of crowd faves from the eighties and Katrina’s new stuff (or, for all I know, stuff from after 1988; let’s be honest, I didn’t pay that much more attention to them than anyone else…):<\/p>\n

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