slow-dog.concert

25 March 2000 - Southgate House , Newport KY
The Fairmount Girls, Guided by Voices

I missed the Fairmount Girls set--sorry!

Odds are that if you don't live in southwest Ohio you can't name a band that's come out of Dayton in the past few years. Sure, they're there, including notables Swearing at Motorists. They haven't really come out of Dayton, though, if you realize that they're not touring. No, if you asked an educated indie rock fan somewhere out there in the big US of A who's from Dayton, they might come up with Brainiac and anything with Kim or Kelley Deal. For damn sure, though, they'd mention Guided by Voices. Odds are that most fans heard their first GBV album and thought, if I could play an instrument, I could do that. They couldn't though. For all the tape hiss and the background sounds of doors being opened and people talking and coughing on released "studio" albums you couldn't replicate it if you tried, no matter how much Rolling Rock you drank.

So, legions of fans and critics came to this realization and came to adore Bob Pollard's band. The thing that they didn't get, though, was that Bob could've only come out of a place like Dayton. Stuck in the heart of the country, a small city more American than America. This was where, I imagine (being too young and from elsewhere to actually know), the true fans of 70s arena rock were. Sure, the Who and Kiss sold out from coast to coast, but if you lived in the Midwest, then this was more than just a weekend event, this was a justification of your existence. Here you were, drinking cheap beer snagged with your fake ID, listening to Who's Next.

There must've been a hundred guys like Bob in Dayton alone who wanted to be Roger Daltrey. Of course, then reality sets in, and only the true talents shine. But not in a carbon copy imitator of his heroes. No, Bob sat down, had a few drinks, noodled on the guitar with his friends, and came up with album after album of material. This is only noteworthy when you realize how good most of it is. And that is why Dayton loves him. Sure he's talented, but he didn't spend all that extra time learning crap like production values. He didn't whore himself to somebody from a big record label on the coast just to make some extra scratch. No, he sat around, and drank and played with his ever changing cast of characters and STILL somehow became a "rock star".

At Southgate House, Daytonites and hangers-on from Cincinnati and elsewhere got together to revel in this. The booze flowed, everyone got drunk, and Dayton's rock star got up on stage and played until they shut the power off. GbV played every song a fan would want to hear, and then more. Half of the crowd knew every obtuse lyric from every song no matter how obscure the 7". I'd be more specific, but unless you were there, it doesn't really matter.

People on the coasts chase the next big thing, while Dayton's indie kids of the 90s and 00s sit back and enjoy what they've already got. If Dayton never produced another good band, it wouldn't matter. Fuck you, they'd say. We've got Bob.