All I Needed Was An Excuse

     It was a beautiful day, and after spending some time with the family, I hit the couch for a nap. At one point I felt like not moving and screw the beach, but I crash on the couch all the damn time lately and knew I would feel the energy once I hit the road. Which ended up being true, for about three miles down route thirty, then it was nothing but aggravation for this guy. Traffic Sucks! It wasn't as bad as it might have been, I suppose, but just enough to get me going, but not Tooo Fast. There is really no good way to get out of Lancaster County in any direction except West, and even then you have to pass by Columbia, and end up in York. How depressing??? If you want to head North, South, or East, you are pretty much screwed as far as efficiency goes, Especially around rush hour or on a weekend, or Both in my particular case.

     Still, for all my bitching and whining, I made It to Rehoboth Beach in a little more than two and a half hours, just in time for sunset at the beach. As luck would have it I pulled into the first parking spot I could find, and it was right in front of the DogFish Head Brewing Company, the venue for this nights activities. It's about five blocks from the beach, a nice walk in the twilight breeze, checking out the shop windows as I went. The beach was pretty much empty with the sounds of the crowded streets and boardwalk drowning out in the hallucinogenic, captivating low roar of the surf hitting the beach. I sat there for almost a half an hour, transfixed in a zen like state of being, just listening to the waves crash and the birds flying overhead, letting everything else slip away. It was wonderful. I needed that cool breeze, saltwater mist, and sonic meditation. As I got up, right before it got too dark, I walked up the beach some to check out some surfers trying to surf the pitifully small waves. They would get up on their board, and maybe get 6 to ten feet, all of two seconds worth of riding before there wasn't any wave left to ride. With the water being as cold as it was, I'm sure there was some debate as to the value of suiting up in the first place, but Then maybe, like myself, they needed to do it.

     Just before 9pm, I walked back to the brewery, stopping along the way to see if Mary Prankster was playing at Arena's that night, as I thought she was. No sign of anybody playing in that bar that night, although I have since found out that she was indeed scheduled to play that night, which if she did, I'm pissed, cause I never miss any opportunity to see and hang out with Mary. Being in the same beach town at the same time as her, and not catching up is Shameful Behavior on my part. I shall hang my head and ponder this breakdown of itinerary as to prevent this from happening again. (I mean the driving all the way to Killington, Vermont, and seeing & "Negative Space"; on the Marquee of the Pickel Barrel was the polar opposite of the Mary Prankster situation. I can't get away from Negative Space, and to go that distance, and have them in the local environment is one of Gods Mysterious experiments in cruelty, and Ironic Comedy, .....my missing out on Mary P. is a perfect expression of Gods will that I'm stupid.........)

     But enough of that. I did make it to the DogFish Head Brewery in time for some fantastic Pizza and Beer for dinner and to watch the Band Load in. I definitly got the feeling that the dinner crowd really didn't want any parts of a band ruining their chatty dinners so I was kind of apprehensive waiting for Gerald Anthony to get up on the stage and start things off. Gerald has been around the scene for a long time now but I have never seen him perform solo acoustic, if you want to call it that. It's more like solo, amped up and distorted acoustic, which sounded really cool.

     His set made the transition from dinner crowd to band audience quite nicely. My memory fails me at the moment as to what exact songs he played, but it was a mix of originals and covers, one was really damn good, too bad I can't remember what the hell it was. I must remind you all that I had a couple of the DogFish Head Brewery's finest light ale and was inundated with being invited to the Wives/Friends table and was concentrating on remembering everyone's names, which is always a chore for me.

     (Sidebar Note: This story is getting far too long in the tooth for my taste, I'm not saying much of anything, it's god awful long for Blog, and The bands have just started playing and I can't even remeber what the hell they were playing!!!!! Time to kick this pig into overdrive and get the hell over with, it's been almost two weeks now.......)

     So anyway, I was hanging out with the band and friends, taking small trips with them out front, since you aren't allowed to partake in certain activities inside of bars in Delaware anymore, listening to all manner of comments concerning the relatively high concentration of gay individuals in the Rehoboth Community, not all of them charitable. The Stephen Reso band got on stage around just before 11pm, just as most of the Dinner crowd got up to leave. Let's just say it got quite intimate in the place after that, which is not a reflection of the band, but of the crowd in Rehoboth this early in the season. The crowd fluctuated between about ten to twenty five people the rest of the night. Actually it was kinda of cool when one couple left after the first set, but then came back about midway thru the second set saying that this was the most happening thing in town. They should get the award for "Fans of the night" as far as I'm concerned.

     As for the band, they rocked, not especially Hard, but in more of a poppy sense. Over the course of this particular night at the beach, and the following Friday night back home at the Blue Star, I have heard the Stephen Reso Band do two off the beaten path Cover tunes, which I'll use to sum up their live sound. Take the Hooters song "Don't drive my car tonight" and the (Jim.... Get Ready..!!!) Outfields "Your Love" (Again, I was half in the bag, so it could have been one of many other Hits the Outfield had) rev those songs up for the new millennium, and you pretty much have a guage for the style of music these guys are putting out there. When asked what his musical influences for the band are, Stephen, as in Reso, singer/founder of the band listed the Beatles, Paul Westerberg, Lucinda Williams, Graham Parker, and Cheap Trick.

     Along with those memorable tunes, they did a run through of their original songs, including songs from Stephen's Solo CD "Ordinary Life", and new songs to be included on their 2004 Band project to be released later this summer on Gig Records. It seems that one of the tracks from "Ordinary Life" wound up on MTV, featured on The Real World/Road Rules Challenge in the fall of 2002. Check it out at http://gigrecords.com

You can also find out more about the band at www.stephenreso.com

     So how does it end you ask???? Well, somewhere between the bands two sets, reminding you all that last call in Delaware is well before 1am, I switched over to hard stuff, some apple flavor martini, then to the good old Captain and his Coke, and the band started drinking Forty's wrapped in paper bags, a specialty it seems with the DogFish Head Brewery. I half expected to see the entire band passed out on the bench at the nearby bus stop, all with severe five o'clock shadow and stinking to high heaven, maybe a guitar case to catch the spare change..... Once that party got started. It was about this time that I shored up a place to crash by throwing a twenty in the pot, finished my upteenth Capt. N Coke, and headed out the door to meet up with Bass player Dustin, for the ride to the pad. Oh and what a pad it was. Nice and Clean, AC cranking, and a nice little porch where Bill was hanging around just waiting for a little conversation.........Dusting started doing his best David Blaine impression with his deck of cards, and he was damn impressive..... Again I'll preface this by saying I was pretty much out of my head wasted..... so who knows what cards I was looking at, but I think he was doing very well. Guitarist John and I had a great conversation that lasted well longer than I should have been awake, and well past the time everyone else either left or went to bed. I think I was sleeping by around 5am, and woke up with everyone else around 10am...... with a hangover to beat the band. Somehow John was already up and gone out for coffee, that guy must never sleep. Fortunatley for me Tony and his Wife made coffee and fed it to me introvenously ( how the hell do you spell that????) We did make it up for breakfast at the place downstairs, a Tuscany Resembling place I can't for the life of me remeber the name of, but they had good eggs benedict and great Bloody Mary's..... Maybe not Starboard Bloody Mary's, but close. After that we spent the next few hours hanging out at the beach, it was incredibly HOT, and the water was incredibly COLD. By 2pm it was time to hit the traffic home, and boy was there traffic, especially around Dover.

     So to sum it up..... Wind in my hair was Awesome!!! Traffic on the road, Sucked!!!! The mesmerizing surf at dusk was Awesome!!!! The deafening crowd noise of the boardwalk Sucked!!!! The FUnky Pizza I had at the DogFish Head Brewery was Awesome!!!! The heartburn I had afterward Sucked!!!!! Gerald Anthony and The Stephen Reso band were Awesome!!!! The Dinner Crowd leaving Sucked!!!!!! Hanging over on the Porch was Awesome!!!!! Hangovers in the morning on the porch, in the living room, and especially in the bathroom really Sucked!!!!! The Bloody Mary's and Eggs Benedict were Awesome!!!! Leaving my hat on the floor in the restaurant and having to look the dork when I went back in for it Sucked!!!!!!! Hanging on the beach was Awesome!!!! Getting slightly Sun Burnt Sucked!!!!!! Getting to the beach, even if only for a night was Awesome!!!!! Paying thru the nose for gas to get there and back Sucked!!!!!!! Escaping my dreary reality for a bit was Awesome!!!!! Coming home Sucked!!!!!!!!

    The one other outstanding thing, once again....... well refer back to my post on outstanding questions..... I Discovered the Venerable Robbie Williams on a mixed MP3 cd I burned for the trip. I thought I was burning Wilco, and it turns out it was mostly Robbie Williams. I never had an appreciation for his music, but after that drive home I must say he is one cool songwriter. Something Beautiful, Monsoon, and Me and My Monkee are great songs. The lyrics are just phenominal and the music is catchy. I hope one day to throw in a Stephen Reso Band CD and have the same feelings, now if I would get off my ass and go buy one maybe that would happen........

Dr. Dick Dover 6/1/2004