Weirded Out

I went to another show this weekend in New London, this time at New London High School. The occasion was an effort to "save the 82nd Drum Corp" or something like that. It might have been the 73rd Drum Corp or the 75th Bugle Corp, but naturally I wasn't paying much attention. The event was sponsored by the local radio station Q105, among others.

The fundraiser charged me $10 at the door and it turned out to be a complete waste of money-- I only stayed for about forty minutes after finding out that the band I'd come to see had played before I arrived due to a last-minute rearranging of the slotting.

I did hear two lousy bands, and that was enough. The first looked promising as they took the stage; it featured seven members, including a trumpet, saxophone, a male and female singer, and the standard guitar/bass/percussion configuration. A jazz outfit, I guessed. I was half-right. They opened with a long jazzy tune that actually sounded quite good until the male singer opened his mouth and started rapping. Epic fail. The female singer had a solo about halfway through, which proved a nice respite from the rapping. The group played another jazz/rap abomination after the first song and then packed it up to decidedly lukewarm applause.

The second band called themselves the "Weird Beards" and I knew from the start I wasn't going to like them. They were a four-piece group with a creepy old hippie 50-something playing an industrial-sized cello. After opening with a bizarre pot-inspired tune that had the singer making farm animal noises, they proceeded to sing a rather creepy number about a guy stalking some girl at the bar.

I left after the Weird Beards' second song, because clearly this event wasn't going to get any better. So...that was my weekend, or a small part of it anyway.