Review - The Maroons at the Pyramid Cabaret, Winnipeg, Dec 12 2009

– review by Eugene Osudar/photos by Tammy Kimmel

i’m taking days off
i’m not thinking about going anywhere
dancing anytime
soon,

for me
for the band
for you

the players
the prayers
the joy

the
X
tasy
of
movement

greedily drinking
air
water
music

heart pumping
like jackhammers

sweat soaking
t/shirts
so many changes
i’m changing
i’m drying
my rough
textured
salt skin

my jackhammer heart
is a joy/making machine

it just happens to also
kill
fascists

and i Love killing fascists
through
dance

i’m all
pumped up
ready to go

i’m flowing
into

the soul rhythm
review
The (English) Beat(s)
The Clash(ing)
cymbals
thundering bass
lines up and down
my rocky spine
(Shriekback
and
The Great Lake Swimmers)
and
Bulletproof (Nothing)
snares

Mike Watt
Thundering fingers!

(The)
Maroons
The Ultimate Ramones Rip-Off!

the (old) poster reads.
a free show
at The Cavern
October 17

what year was that?

not this year.
they’re at The Pyramid
brrrrrrr frrrrrigidly
cold
December
Saturday night
the 12th.

last year
they played the Zoo.

year before
The Zoo
too

i wasn’t going to write anything
about this “Ultimate Ramones
Rip-Off!” band

i Love The Ramones

i never saw them

when they played here
i was gone
somewhere
or
maybe
i was plain
dumb
and thought
they’d be back

sometime to return
(brilliant
Soul Asylum
song)

and now
they’re
gone
but the music
and spirit
the DIY
punk ethic
lives on

(and)
i never saw
The Clash
they never played here

i remember an old friend
Raymond
going to see them
in Edmonton.

why didn’t i go?

i would go down to Minneapolis
to see U2
(twice)
Prince
REM
Fine Young Cannibals
Shriekback
The Flaming Lips
Scratch Acid
Tar Babies
Simple Minds

so many other bands/

why didn’t i!

stupid me.

don’t ever.

miss a band

like Monotonix
who will return
January 19
to the Pyramid.

https://www.thesnipenews.com/2009/05/24/monotonix-a-band-of-iggys/

or miss the last show
of Our
Monotonix

The Hot Live Guys
December 23rd at The Albert.

Don’t you ever dare.

miss a legendary show.

i was walking out
free and clear
from The Pyramid
a few hundred Ramones
lovers
gathered and dancing

my friend Mike W said
when he saw The Ramones
in Toronto
so many years ago
decades
really!
their set list
was as long as your arm
and the set
took
50 minutes

that’s The Ramones

speed rock rap
ecstatic movement
the songs are
60s PoP genius
written in Queens
NYC beginning
in the 70s
the birth of
Punk Rock

how come you didn’t write them?

songwriter?

punk rocker?

oh Joey
Dee Dee
Johnny
Tommy
Marky
Richie
Gumby
and Curly

it’s takes a genius
to write
Teenage Lobotomy
The KKK Took My Baby Away
Cretin Hop
Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
Beat On The Brat

every song
just about
2 minutes
on record

but live

must be played between
75 seconds
and 97 seconds
otherwise
failure to truly
TCM

Translate
Communicate
Masturbate

the cosmic
beauty
of The Ramones
live

so, get over it.

tribute bands
cover bands
I Love Them.

get your heads
out
of your asses
although…

Whole Lotta Angus
The Wind Ups
are amazing bands
live

just get over (y)ourselves

hey, every symphony
every string quartet
every saxophone orchestra
most every jazz player
is a cover act
a tribute act

covering

the greatest
composers

the dead ones
Bach
Beethoven
Mozart
Vivaldi

and some of the living ones
Arvo Part
too

so there you go.

i had just finished
dancing through

 

33 songs

Durango 95
Teenage Lobotomy
Psycho Therapy
Blitzkrieg Bop
I Wanna Be Well
Rock n Roll Radio
I Believe In Miracles
Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment
I Wanna Be Sedated
Spiderman Theme
KKK
I Wanna Live
Bonzo Goes To Bitburg
Chinese Rocks
Wonderful World
Pet Cemetery (I Hate This Song)
Rockaway Beach
Do You Wanna Dance
Surfin Bird
Oh Oh I Love Her So
Let’s Dance
Cretin Hop
R.A.M.O.N.E.S.
Sheena is
Judy Is A Punk
Gonna Kill That Girl
Pinhead
Somebody Put Something In My Drink
Something To Do
Beat On The Brat
R n R High School
Anyway You Want
Wart Hog

33 songs in 17 minutes
flat
okay, not quite

maybe it was 70 minutes
maybe it was 62
82,
91

?

i don’t know
i wasn’t going to write about it

i simply danced every song
even
Pet Cemetery
and I Hate That Song
(did i mention already?)
(checking)
(yep)

i danced it.
sweated it
and by the end
staggered
and flew
and cretin hopped
my way
through all
33

so Holy (and) F#ck you

i was about to walk away,

into the minus 30
wind
chill

drained
salty
starving
and
immensely
satisfied

when another Mike
came up to me
holding two pages

the set lists
the 31 songs

Mike says, “they played
Durango 95
first.”

it wasn’t on the set list.
either list
neither was Wart Hog
the very last song.

and he held the two pages
out to me.

and then
i understood

he wanted me to write something
about this night

at The Pyramid
about us dancing
to The Ultimate
Ramones Rip-Off
band

The Maroons

i looked in his eyes.

and i wanted to cry.

thank you.

i took those pages.
and here i sit.
writing.

so, this is for the Mikes
and
this is for all you punk
rockers

Sheena
Ida
Shawn
Tammy
Katie
Darren

all you kids and kids at heart
who wanna be
sedated

who listen to rock n roll radio
Let’s Go!

we’ll never
not
rock.

Beautiful.

Punk

Rockers.

The Maroons
The Pyramid
December 12.