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on the drums during a set. I
believe it was Mr. Greg
Oblivian's time when the machine
got switched on,
leading to Mr. Eric Oblivian's
departure from the stage. Mr.
Jack Oblivian had been
performing a song when Mr.
Greg Oblivian began an
impromptu hymn to the virtues
of the drum machine. "Ladies
and gennleman, I just wanna
tell ya, this drum machine ...
my favorite thing about this
drum machine ... is that ...
as I'm sure you all agree ...
the best thing ... is that ...
you don't gotta play 'em
yourself. Ya just TURN 'EM
ON!" Mr. Jack Oblivian said,
"Hey, waittaminnit, Greg
Oblivian, this is my song!" Mr.
Greg Oblivian had, by then,
completely derailed the
rock'n'roll show and Mr. Jack
Oblivian's guitar rapidly
became another noisy element
of this weird techno-garage
stew. He soon fled for the
comfort of the dressing room,
guitar in hand, to make noise
from its confines. Mr. Greg
Oblivian continued to harangue
the crowd from onstage.
"Ladies and gennelmen, I don't
blame my parents for the way I
turned out, I blame s'ciety!" He
eventually followed his
bandmates into the dressing
room, mike in hand, to finish
his "song." It's worth
mentioning that at this point
some 80% of the crowd had
left, leaving only an amazed
and baffled minority. Finally,
Jack quit hitting random chords
on the guitar and somebody
must have distracted Greg from
the mike, for all that he could be
heard was the tinny thump of
that five-dollar drum machine.
Hands down, the Geek Weekly
show of the year for 1997.

Grifters
10.30.97
Fitzgerald's (Houston)
and
10.31.97
Electric Lounge

Over the years I've emphasized
the crappiness of the Grifters'
Austin shows compared to those
they've played in Houston.
Jennifer and I experienced a
near perfect pair of shows in
Houston a couple of years ago,
one at Goat's Head Soup and
another at the Urban Art Bar
with the Strapping Fieldhands,
and on both of those tours
the Austin shows haven't come
near to their Houston
counterparts. I have no idea
what in the hell causes this.
The Grifters are much loved in
Austin and they even have a
groupie home base of sorts
here. A ton of people go out to
see them when they play. In
Houston this past October,
there were about fifty warm
bodies in the whole damn bar.
Margaret and I felt like we had
our own personal Grifters show
all to ourselves! Hey, maybe
that's what I like about those
Houstonshows — but really,
this one was truly fine. Full
Blown Possession is much more
to my liking than Ain't My