Mar 19

March 14 "Rhonda is a Dead Bitch"

The Show was indeed..."one of those shows." As it ends up, the ill fitting denim crowd isn't too into keyboard driven post-rock with live videos. At all. Sadly, the club was basically empty by the time H&W took stage. But what could've been a disaster turned into quite the memorable evening. Hours late for load-in and with groupies in toe came, "Rhonda is a Dead Bitch." A description of what we encountered at the close of the show will only grace what we experienced. Five members. And quite possibly 3 of which who just joined the band and/or learned their instruments two weeks previous. This is based on a number of observations but mostly the fact that the lead singer mentioned that he was one of those three about half way through the set. Their lead guitarist seemed to be the "ring leader" of the group. Barking orders and shouting count-ins throughout the night. Occasionally tapping the singer on the shoulder to inform him he had missed a cue or to remind him of something coming up. Picture the guy at your office that routinely does a disk repair on your computer or installs anti-virus software on your machine while your at lunch. Now put him in pleated khakis, a button-up Las Vegas bowling shirt, and the ability to play more notes on the guitar then even Buckethead. Ok, now just in case the Buckethead powers were a little much.. remove any sense of key or timing. This is our "ring leader." Musically reminiscent of the longest, most drawn out Yo La Tengo songs ever written.. injected with an overwhelming amount of stage fright. Actually, not even stage fright.. just this feeling that everyone on stage except for "Las Vegas" was going to either throw up or run off at any moment due to either the thought of disappointing their leader or the fact that all their friends were staring at their sweaty faces for such a long period of time.

 

But these are all the surface level impressions of Rhonda is a Dead Bitch. The things that turned our heads and brought us deep into the cluster of Rhonda fans in front of the stage. After the first song, they announced from the stage something about that going went so well that they were going to with the rest of their set. Before then, the members were actually breaking down as if they were finished. Most memorable lyric (although incredibly difficult to narrow down): "I saw you at the movies, I saw you at the mall, You had a blonde hair-do, You put lipstick on...I want to know you. I want to touch you."

 

Ty sat up in the balcony next to the member of the band who was projecting colored slides through a canister of oil and water onto the stage. Awestruck and euphoria were the words he gave us. "Every moment of their set was easily the greatest thing I've even witnessed at a live show."