Fraggle Rock

I know it’s been a while, but I’ve had a case of blog block.

So after a dozen years of waiting, I finally saw Built to Spill perform. They have never toured Australia (although they probably will while we are over here) so i jumped at the opportunity to see them.

I was really looking forward to it and in the weeks leading up to the gig, I’d put together my own BTS retrospective on the iPod.

However, the day got off to a bad start. Both Mrs Antman and myself had been doing field work all day and were pretty stuffed by the evening. But, at the club we were feeling much more alive and ready to rock. The downfall was two support acts. I’m all for the concept of support bands; the up-and-comers get a go and we get exposed to some new tunes. But on a week night, when I’m tired, I really just want to hear the band I came to see (geez, i’m an old man!).

The first act were, to put it plainly……shit. The next act was great, but in my opinion took great liberties in playing for 1.5 hours. They actually played longer than BTS who didn’t come on until midnight.

When Doug Martsch from Built to Spill came on, the crowd fairly beserk. If you didn’t know better, you would have to wonder why such a figure would garner so much attention – he had long, unruley hair encircling a bald patch that was compensated for by a beard that wouldn’t look out of place on the Man from Snowy River. Throughout the gig, he would run a towel over his sweaty head, causing his wispy hair to float around in the stage lights making him look like a crazed Fraggle. His vocals seemed out of place emerging from such a figure.

Great gig – with close attention paid to covering their moderately long career and not just the new album.

One problem – and I’m going to sound old saying this – but it was too loud. Probably not surprising given the 5 piece set up, including 3 guitars.  However, it was difficult to make out the melody at times. The solution came in the form of moving back, through an archway, with the stage still in sight, but standing near the toilets.

Obviously not prime position, but it allowed the BTS songs and Doug’s voice to sound as good as we know they are.

Patience is a virtue

Two years away from my guitar was never going to happen. So, travelling overseas to live meant trusting my acoustic to a group of workers not renowned for their light touch.

I did the best I could. I traded in my beautiful purple-muppet-lined case for what was supposed to be one of the best flight cases available. If the guy in the brochure can stand on it, then it must be good, right? Oh, yeah I also forked out for travel insurance.

Case and guitar arrived in LAX in perfect condition. Unfortunately, something happened on the leg to Raleigh / Durham airport. There must be a “funniest home video” out there somewhere with a group of baggage handlers seeing if they can drop a guitar from the top of a jumbo sans conveyor belt.

This is not the horror story you’re expecting. The guitar was fine. However, the two halves of the super case, didn’t quite line up anymore, leaving a 2cm gap. They also gave my soundhole a snap inspection for bombs and white powder and unplugged the guitar’s electronics. Obviously it resembled a detonation device.

So began “The Saga of the Replacement Case”

I complained to the airline. They sent the case to their repairers to decide if it was broken. Their experts considered it broken (v. astute) and they sent me a new case 2 weeks later. The case they sent was obviously not up to the quality of the one I lost. I priced it online and found it was about 1/5 of the value. I rang the airline’s repairers and said that this was not on. I sent back the case at their expense and they referred the situation back to the airline. I was told a resolution would take a while.

2 months and many terse phonecalls later, I received a cheque from the airline. Sweet victory.
Going out to shop for a case, like most things in the US, required a car. We still didn’t have one.

More time passes. We get a car. I locate a suitable replacement case online. It is an Air Transport Authority (ATA) approved flight case with warranty covering damage to the guitar as well as the case. Nice. I call all local music stores. Nobody stocks it as it is “special order only”. Damn.

I picked a store that promised the best price and could get the case within a week. Deposit down, order done.

One week. Phone. No case. Two weeks, phone, no case. One month, phone, no case. You see a pattern forming?

Apparently, the model was out of stock and backordered at the factory. “When it comes in, they’ll overnight it here”.

Ok, I’ll buy that.

At 2 months, I pretty much cracked it. I looked online to get the store’s phone number and noticed that the case in question was listed as “in stock”. Curious. I mentioned this when I spoke to them – they were surprised. Then they suggested that maybe they could get one from another store…..WTF….really? You think?

4 days later, I had the case direct from their New Jersey store. The mind boggles. I still cannot believe that they hadn’t already tried this.
Now after months of being exposed to extreme temperatures and humidities, my guitar rests safely. It was worth the wait; it is a beast of a case, lined in fuzzy poker-table-green.

A tedious situation requires a tedious post. Rant over.

Was it something I said?

It is probably no secret that on my list of potential perks attached to working in the US was having many of my favourite American bands on tap. Conceptually very cool, yes.

So I came to America….but all the bands are going to Australia….

Death Cab just returned to downunder (finally) and Modest Mouse have announced their first visit. Neither have anything on the cards for NC.

Geez!

To be fair, The Decemberists have just announced a N. American tour. They seem to playing everywhere and for two nights in some towns. They aren’t playing NC.

Geez!

Lucky I have tickets to Built to Spill and Superchunk (in their hometown of Chapel Hill!) to tide me over.

Yeah, I know. Poor me!!