In the Dreams of Mud and Honey – Mudhoney and Hot Lunch April 12, 2013 at Slim’s

Mudhoney and Hot Lunch
April 12, 2013
Slim’s
San Francisco, Ca

In the Dreams of Mud and Honey

Candice and I were excitedly yearning to be elevated beyond the valley of youth via goddamn kick-ass music. Remember Grunge? It used to be a genre. It seems to not really be talked about much anymore beyond reminiscence. Whatever it is or was, I was and am in vocal support of that shit. Candice and I had tickets to see Mudhoney, dude. This was pretty damn spectacular for me personally: I got my first Mudhoney tape during that phase of my life in which I had recently realized that my parents were totally lame and anything they liked, be it music or anything else, henceforth sucked ass. It was the early 90’s. Shit ruled. Flash forward to The Present; me, now a grumpy bald dumbass, was going to see this amazing band. Needless to say I was crapping my ripped up jeans in glee. Candice was in the same boat, Mudhoney is one of her favorite bands and we were both acting like mongeese at a sausage party. Stoked, and so on. It was doubly awesome because we’d seen the opening band, Hot Lunch last summer and they had quickly achieved the status of The Grand Tetons. As in tits, my friend!

Walking into Slim’s that night was clear that quite a few other people liked the early 90’s as much as Candice and I. Garb highlights included a Batman hat, a jean muscle jacket, a tumultuous sea of flannel including at least a few tied around the waist by the arms; and acid-wash jeans…which was actually Candice, bless her heart. Upon closer inspection though it wasn’t just a bunch of old burnouts like me, grasping futilely at their youth. There were a shitload of kids who clearly relish in a decade that took place before they were out of plastic pants. I found this quite refreshing to be honest. Kids these days, I tells ya. Rad to the bone.

So Hot Lunch took the stage and immediately all I could think of was “This rules!” They’re a troop of four skateboarders from San Francisco and they rock that shit with authority. They proudly bore the mark of the skate beast; their singer even harbored what appeared to be a sweet swell-bow. They had one song that encouraged rhythmic hand-clapping from the audience and Candice looked over at me smiling and yelled “I love clapping!” I smiled back and nodded because, believe it or not, I already knew this about my girl. Hot Lunch proceeded to bust out a song that was about the history of skateboarding in San Francisco. If that doesn’t spell Sweet-Ass then I already lost this bee.

Hotlunch

Partway through their set Candice and I looked over and saw Mudhoney’s Mark Arm standing a mere ten feet away, watching the band. We were struck, mildly freaking out. For me it was like seeing words from the pages of folklore come alive and bob their collective head. I’d been listening to the man croon out his beautifully bitter lyrics since I was eleven, and suddenly there he was, enjoying the show with quiet modesty. After Hot Lunch was done Candice and I went in like buzzards attacking a deer or whatever. The man was extremely nice and even had no qualms about me taking three tries to get a photo of him and Candice on her futuristic i-phone device. We let him be after minimal swooning and I doubt he even realized how happy he’d made two little fanned-out nerds. The night was already made of gold and the best was yet to come. Then it happened: Mudhoney took the stage.

Candice and Mark Arm

It’s just amazing seeing a band that was a huge part of such a pivotal era in music history standing up there and doing what they do. It became even further clear to me why Mudhoney has been rocking this tiny world for as long as they have. Candice and I stood on the brink of the mosh pit where folks both young and not-so were dancing amok. It definitely got a bit wily down there and everyone was so stoked…except this one dude who was short, buff as a minotaur, and was beeeeegging to get in a fight. I felt like he thought he was somehow at a Pantera concert being performed in prison. I stayed way the fuck out of his way. Candice didn’t. Luckily for both she and I the man drew the line at punching a woman in the face. Christ. Mudhoney played two encores and pretty much only got down off the stage because the good folks at Slim’s made them. Their finale was back-to-back covers of Fang’s “The Money Will Roll Right In” and Black Flag’s “Fix It.” Yep, everybody went coocoo for Dipshit Puffs over all of that.

Mudhoney

After their set, Mark Arm had one of the best farewell comments I’ve ever heard: “I would say thank you for coming out, but I know you did that a long time ago.” That’s right, a good old San Francisco gay joke to put the cherry on top. Needless to say the show was amazing. As we walked outside it was like waking up from some kickass dream about ninjas, and discovering you actually are a ninja. Music still rules. Thank you, Mudhoney. We’ll see ya next time you’re in town.

Mudhoney