this is the band that i am fucking missing tonight!!!



i have three favorite bands, you can write them on my tombstone, social distortion, slowdive and lush.  i've seen social d. a few times in my nearly 50 years on this clam shell.  slowdive reformed a couple years ago and did the summer festival circuit in 2014.  when i found out they were set to play the warfield in s.f. in the fall i was sure the hell not going to miss them.  i didn't.  b. and i had a great time at the show.

lush, who completes this holy trinity for me, reformed late last year.  anna heard their newly released single a couple months ago i flipped.  lush broke up in 1996, 20 freakin' years ago, after the death of their drummer chris acland.  interviews with their singer, miki berenyi, over these long years indicated that reforming lush was way outside consideration.

well, fuck me, because when anna told me about their reformation i hit the web.  i thought they would do a tour schedule similar to slowdive, hit the summer festivals then tour the u.s. in the fall.  nope, they are doing both.  i learned they were scheduled to play the warfield in s.f. on sunday, 4/17/16.  i immediately purchased tickets.  i made arrangements, got time off work, i was ready to go.  that was last sunday.

here's the thing.  lush announced they were suffering visa issues.  anna got the email [she bought the tix for me] late friday afternoon.  the band postponed both their shows at the coachella music festival on saturday, and their show at the warfield to this weekend.  lush is playing at the warfield tonight.  for myriad reasons i wasn't able to make it to s.f. tonight.  

i was - i am -- in the immortal phrase used by kevin kline in the film a fish called wanda [1988] DISAPPOINTED!

rather than rant about visa issues, the universe and the fact that i could not see them tonight, i'll just say the proof put to the phrase: you are never to old to rock.  for the band members of lush are my age, i'll be 49 next in a little over a month.  despite the signals of aging like getting fatigued more easily, or getting grey hair, or my knees giving out after years of walking to and from work, the mind thinks of itself as ageless.  and in a way we are ageless even as we age.  not that rock&roll can cancel the wear and tear of age but it does, like all art, provide a proof that life is meant to be lived at the first intensity, no matter your age.  we only have this one life to rock.  make it count.