The Rev!

Corky scored tickets to the Reverend Horton Heat show on Saturday at the Majestic in Detroit. This is the second time I have seen The Rev with Corky and Runs With Spatula, and as before, it was fantastic.

"What makes it fantastic?" you say? First and foremost, it's like going home. It may be hard for some to understand, but to actually be among a large group of people where I don't feel like I stand out one single bit and where just about anything that I think is cool goes is a rarity. There were chain wallets galore...leather pants and jackets...alternative doo-wop greaser styles...old people...young people...mohawks...the people of my young adulthood. It took me back in my days of combat boots with crazy black patterned tights, real alternative music that didn't have a radio station home (or for those who kick it old school, the days when 88.7 in Detroit was a classical station with an 8 - midnight segment of college-like radio, where I first heard and fell in love with Nine Inch Nails), goth make-up when I chose to actually put some on (I was wearing some the first time I had a gay man look at me and say, "You're fucking beautiful"), funky clothes, silver jewelry, and trips to Sally's Beauty Supply for whatever odd hair color I could get away with at whatever job I had at the time (auburn was the classic favorite). It's a crowd where I can just breathe and feel completely at peace - someplace to feel anonymous and noticed all at the same time.

Then, of course, there's the music. Just to watch these three men play is a treat, and it still amazes me that such a sound can exist with a guitar, an upright bass and a drum set. Since the concert was in December, they played a few songs off of their Christmas CD, which was awesome. The Jimbo song makes me happy. And they put on such a great show without the need for theatrics. All in all, it was a much-needed excursion!