Dos Amigos - Odessa, Texas
Toadies Sep 6, Bullrides 7
we return to Odessa, Texas despite our pledge 10 years ago to never return. it all had something to do with my wrestling the wrong table and being chased from the club by a young local man wielding a pipe screaming ‘I’m gonna kill you with this here pipe!’ apparently it was only PVC pipe, but scary nonetheless.
I can only assume it was a clerical error that put us here; perhaps apathy on the part of management or intern or whoever it is that tells us what city to drive to every day.
if you stand onstage and look to the left, you’ll notice the rodeo that resides there.
in any case, we’re here. it’s 3:00 and the truck with the sound gear broke down a hundred miles away. we’ve got time on our hands so why don’t we make the best of it.
targets.
bastards kept shooting while I was focusing!
if there’s two things I know about Todd is that he likes guns and he is a dead aim.
around 6:00 something special happens.
in walks this here diminutive brick house. Joe Commander, Chief Investigator of Ector County, and the baddest of all badassess in Odessa, also the friendliest badass I’ve ever met. basically he runs the town. he tells us that he is the guy that will keep the other law enforcement officers, who are the house security tonight, off our backs. in addition to telling us that we’re free to shoot our BB guns anywhere around the club (whew…), he gives us good advice. we plan to heed.
here, he shows me his rare gold-plated Model 1911 Colt. it is one of only 200 made and this gun here commemorates Missouri in some fashion. this gun is not the one he claims he’ll bust out if he needs too. it is apparently much larger and he calls it his ‘bitch.’ ’I keep my bitch in the trunk!’ he tells me.
the sound gear still hasn’t arrived. we wait.
Rez with Beer, 7:30 pm
with showtime being pushed further and further back, there was not much else to do but grab a beer and wait. at this point, the arriving crowd had been forced to stand around inside the restaurant portion of Dos Amigos for some duration. the sound gear arrives and eventually the people are let out into the concert area. they are not happy. the crowd of 800 are (rightfully) frustrated that they had to wait so long with no rock. they expected rock as soon as they walked in, but it could not be delivered to them as such. Lions start as soon as possible, but no less than 90 minutes later than planned.
meanwhile backstage:
Gamblers Mike straightens his tie.
we and the Gamblers are already hearing about the resistance (chants of “Toadies! Toadies!”) that Lions are enduring from the crowd. the Gamblers don’t seem to be worried.
the Gamblers take the stage and immediately face stiff opposition from a few Toadies fans up front (below - notice the big thumbs down).
boo!!!
apparently the two or three in this anti-Gamblers clan were flipping the bird and shouting derogatory things any time there was a break in the music. after one such heckle, Gambler Mike responds, on-mic “I know you must be upset because you’re so overweight and unattractive.”
after a few more interruptions, Gambler Mike again responds to the male heckler of the bunch “I can tell you’re angry. I’d be angry too if I had to fuck her”
Gamblers 2 - Toadies Fans 0
even though there were a few bad apples up front, much of the crowd dug the Gamblers. as did the dudes (and one girl, in her bra) in the pit.
finally we played, but it wasn’t the best show. we tried our best but the vibe just wasn’t there, and besides we’d just come off three amazingly fun shows at Stubb’s in Austin. we were due to have an off night,
and tonight, we would have it.
photo by duane, guitar-tech/music/photo guy.
116 bar chords later and we’re done. at the end of a long hard day at work, we all just wanna blow off steam like anyone else. so we get our BB guns out and get to the fun-having.
Matt feels it.
there is much shooting of bottles and cups.
Wes ponders the inevitable. in less than 2 hours, we will cross the Texas state line and not return for some time.
