Fraters Libertas

Please Just Ignore Us

Per usual, I spent this past Thursday night at the classy Irish bar Keegan's in Nordeast Mpls, where yet another trivia match was won for the Fraters squad (21 out of 25 correct), a Timberwolves NBA playoff game on the tube was lost, and the sweet perfume of a beautiful blonde recent stranger again clung to my clothes and lingered in my mind all the way home. All things considered, not a bad night. I've certainly spent worse.

But I suspect there may have been a few folks who spent a better one. And according to reports, those folks might have been not ten minutes away from Keegan's, over at the 400 Bar on the West Bank of Minneapolis. I've spent enough cramped, smoky, under served, artistically pretentious, acoustically muddy nights at that location to not expect greatness from it. But this past Thursday none other than Paul Westerberg made an unannounced concert appearance there.

The gig was a private party (the graduation celebration for his wife Laurie Lindeen) , so I probably couldn't have gotten in anyway. And he was playing with some hipster supergroup cover outfit called "the Retro Fits". Normally the thought of a bunch of aging scenesters and their fans desperately chasing the cool and reveling in the post modern irony of playing the "hits" wouldn't interest me. I've already seen the slumming Trip Shakespeare iteration "The Flops" do this same tired schtick (as a matter of fact, also at the 400). My instincts on this atmosphere of smoke and self regard appear to be correct, if this report from the Westerberg show is any indication :

Paul occasionally asked the small, dancing, raucous, audience "Does anyone wanna hear anything special?" I kept my Mats song wishlist to myself, and some goofball yelled "Freebird." To which Paul responded by starting "Stairway to Heaven"...and didn't stop. Randy, Retro Fit's other guitarist asked "Are we really going to do Stairway??" Laurie said, firmly "No", ended that nonsense, and made a couple great requests including "All the Young Dudes" and "Suffragette City", with her and Lori Barbero singing some great backup.

At this stage in my life I have no interest in going to a crowded bar and enduring a screeching drummer from a horrible (yet critically legendary) local band from the 90's taking her falling star turn as a back up singer on a Bowie song, just so everyone in the crowd can laugh and cheer and congratulate themselves for being hip to Babes in Toyland back in the day.

But, even so, this show might have been worth it. I think Westerberg is one of the best song writers of the rock era and his albums are responsible for more smiles, poignancy, moments of clarity, and inspiration in my life than the rest of my CD collection combined. HIs shows at the Guthrie last year were ragged and amazing and beautiful and even with him playing covers at the 400 Bar, there's a good chance it was a joy to behold.