The 757s with Terry Eason at 400 Bar on 12/21/07
By: David de Young
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Terry Eason started his set with “The Agony of the Thrill” from Bees will Bumble album (2004) and followed it up with “Elephant Graveyard” from Elephant Garden (2003). (Both those albums are part of his elephant/bee/fly trilogy). But starting with his third song, “Miracle Man” from his new disc Sentimental Vanity, a malfunctioning amp broke any momentum the set had going. Tonight Eason was also missing his live show piano player Dylan Hicks, and many songs from his new album rely heavily on piano. The good news here is there are many more Terry Eason shows coming up in the next month or two, including the Uptown Bar January 5th and the Kitty Kat Club January 19th. Stay tuned for a more complete review at that point, and we’ll leave it at that for now.
Question: What band would walk on stage and toss off an introduction of simply ,“We just ran out of beer so we’re gonna make this kinda quick?”
Answer: The 757s.
The wry humor of Jimmy Peterson (Bellwether, Missing Numbers), guitar player / vocalist for The 757s would weave its way through tonight’s meandering set, which began at a beginning and ended at an end, but in the middle was a no man’s land of anything goes.
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They opened with “1981,” the killer opening track off their debut CD Tell The Pilgrims It's A Potluck, and a song that live or on disc will set your head nodding for sure, though you may even be inclined to dance – albeit, somewhat slowly. As part of the older set of rock and rollers, the song is dear to my heart because of the kind of reverse nostalgia that runs through it. It doesn’t sound so much like 1981 did at the time, but it sounds kind of what it does now looking back. There’s something oddly sinister in the way Peterson paraphrases “Rapture” by Blondie: “So, let’s go blast off on a sure shot, hey, don’t stop, it's uh punk rock.” He has a way of sounding tough, funny, and passionate all at once, and the way that line is tossed off is a perfect example.
It’s safe to say that “1981” casually blew my socks off, the band attacking it with both vigor and abandon. With Seth Zimmerman on other guitar, Paul Pirner on bass, and Steve Sutherland on drums, this band is a bit of a super group, and their collective experience shines through. All band members share vocal duties and according to the liner notes on the disc all members contributed to the song writing. You can feel that variety of style throughout the album, with who sings the lead as a probable clue into who had the biggest hand in penning each track.
And so the set began, recklessly, yet in a way that got everyone's attention, and Peterson's introductory comment about the beer suddenly fit perfectly.
Most songs from the disc got played tonight. “Safe” was up second (just as on the disc), sounding a bit like a long lost Soul Asylum song (in the vein of say “Cartoon”). Or maybe that had something to do with the fact that it was sung by Pirner, whose voice does sound remarkably similar to his brother’s (Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum).
A reference to '90s Twin Cities musical heroes Run Westy Run preceded the rocking, “Can’t Hardly Wait” era Replacements-like “Leader.” I couldn’t make notes fast enough to keep up with the off-the-cuff remarks by Peterson, nor the near random musical quotations that came out of nowhere between songs, including a bar or two of “Just The Way You Are” by Billy Joel.
Paul Pirner was mid song on “Nevershine” when about 20 (I kid you not) Santa Clauses walked into the bar (sounds like the set up to a joke) to drink, dance and be merry. Zimmerman sang “Repeater” while Peterson tore it up on guitar and the Santas (Santae?) danced, filling the dance floor for the first time this evening. “Thanks a lot, good night everybody,” Zimmerman deadpanned at the end of the song with the same dry humor with which Peterson had opened the set. Need I say the chemistry amongst this band is perfect? It seemed the set was about to go the direction of old Replacements shows, i.e. straight to hell, but exquisitely.
You should have been there to hear Paul Pirner sing Prince’s “Raspberry Beret” then segue into The Who’s “My Generation” with a lyrical twist “I hope I die before you get old.” Peterson then quipped (and keep in mind that they’d only played five of their own songs by this point) it would only be Zeppelin covers the rest of the night. That wasn’t the case, but when he immediately broke into another Zeppelin riff and the band followed suit, you couldn’t be sure. Next came “Space Cowboy” by Steve Miller and Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back in Town” prompting someone to shout out for “The Cowboy Song.” Instead they got “867-5309/Jenny” by Tommy Tutone, and if this sounds crazy, imagine it all happening rapid fire over the course of about four minutes. It was hilarious, and I snorted once or twice (and again just now remembering it all.)
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Somehow Jonathan Richman’s “Pablo Picasso” made its way into the set, as well as what I’ve decided is my favorite song on the 757s album, “Suzamsterdam,” (which is even better live) to close out the evening.
I wouldn’t say this is the way every band should run a rock show. In fact, it’s probably not a good idea unless you know exactly what you are doing as the 757s clearly did. But damn if it wasn’t a fun and memorable night.
Location Info:
400 Bar
Artist Info: Terry Eason, The 757s
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