By: David de Young
 Richard Gunderson joined Lazy Ike for a rendition of "Chicken Truck" at the Mainstreet Bar and Grill in Hopkins Saturday night - photo by David de Young - click for full sized version |
Members: Greg Huff (AKA Lazy Ike) - guitar/vocals Official website: http://www.lazyikeband.com |
The Venue
Just like most Saturday nights, there was a lot going on in the Twin Cities; so we did what any respectable city slicker would do and packed it into the Toyota and headed for Hopkins, Minnesota. To the Main Street Bar and Grill. On the bill were Reverse Cowgirl (who we missed due to tardiness for the second night in a row) and Minneapolis-based rockabilly band, Lazy Ike and the Daredevils.
Mainstreet in Hopkins on a Saturday night feels oddly like the small towns in Illinois and Iowa that I grew up in. (Probably a lot like small town Minnesota as well, though I haven't spent enough time there to know.) A line of Harley's was parked at the bar across the street. There seemed to be activity inside the bars, but no real sign of life on the streets. Even more spookily, when we left the bar at 1:15 we walked into a veritable ghost town. The Harley's and cars were gone, and the only car on the street was the black and white of one of Hopkins' finest. (We opted not to make a U-turn on the way out of town figuring the police probably didn't have anything better to do than to pull over a couple of city folks like ourselves.)
The Mainstreet B&G itself is a diverse, or you might say confused bar that doesn't know what it wants to be. Sports bar? Music bar? Dart bar? Try to be everything to everyone and you'll end up being nothing to more than a few. It has a bit of everything, pool tables, games, a big wraparound bar, and a music room, with a moderately-sized dance floor that is elevated and separated from the band room seating by a wooden rail. The clientele at the Mainstreet is a little different than I am used to. I got the distinct impression that most of the people there were locals who might not get out much. If it wasn't for the merch table, which included photographer Steven Wolf (www.othersideimages.com) who shot the cover art for Lazy Ike's first album, "Someday" (Treble Hook Music, 2002) and Mary Ammer of KYE Productions of Roseville (and executive producer of the Lazy Ike's debut recording) I think we might have felt a little lost there.
The Show
This was an atypical Lazy Ike show to review; Lazy Ike and company were definitely out of their element last night. (Maybe this helps them deserve the moniker "the Daredevils.") On the other hand, the band has become a veritable fixture at Lee's Liquor Lounge in Minneapolis over the past year where they play every other Wednesday. To their credit, they did a great job at Mainstreet, a difficult task when the audience is giving back a mixture of near indifference and well, indifference.
Opening up with an original song called "Long, Tall Shadows" that starts and finishes with the Hamm's beer theme as bookends to mid-song a rip-off of "Ghost Riders in the Sky," I immediately wondered if the band hadn't tailored their set list to try and grab the attention of the less than sophisticated crowd. Huff's voice, even on the set opener, made me think of an audio morphing of the voices of Johnny Cash and Elvis. In a singer less reverent and aware of the tradition of which he is a part, this vocal styling might come off as an affectation, but in Huff's case it is most definitely a tribute. (If this isn't apparent live, it is most definitely apparent in his recordings.)
A handful of dancers took the stage during Lazy Ike's second number, an up tempo rockabilly cover called "Need Some Lovin'". In contrast to the talented Lee's Liquor Lounge dancers, what the Mainstreet dancers lack in terms of skill, they make up for in lack of soul. I mention this only because the atmosphere kept imposing itself on the show; and I couldn't help but feel like I was lost in the Hal Ketchum song "Small Town Saturday Night." Basketball was on the TVs all over the room, including one hanging over the stage area so you could easily keep an eye on both the band and the game. How handy. (Hint. That's sarcasm.)
When Huff said "We're gonna play some rock and roll now," it was almost as if he was baiting the audience; but it's pretty hard to bait an audience that isn't paying attention, now isn't it? Next came Billy Lee Riley's "Flying Saucer Rock n Roll" then a slower country ballad by Webb Pierce called "There Stands the Glass." Before the next song, Huff asked, "Any truck drivers in the audience? I know Hopkins is a good blue collar town." The next song was the Lazy Ike original "For Lost Time" a touching song written from the perspective of a trucker on a long haul missing his baby back home.
Huff appeared exuberant, and practically cherubic throughout much of the night, perhaps another reason he could get away with remarks like the one I just mentioned. Bass player Bill Keefe had a serious look on his face much of the night, handling his bass well and getting into the swing of things with some artful upright bass spins. Julia Kraeger on drums kept the beat well for facing both a diverse collection of styles for being a fill-in drummer (for now) replacing the band's drummer of five years who recently departed..
A cover of the Jimmie Rodger's song "In the Jailhouse" had Huff again sounding like Mr. Cash on vocals. As the song kind of crashed towards the end he remarked, "Sometimes at the end of a song you're supposed to retard. Sometimes it's just retarded." I wonder again if the double entendre of "retard" was lost on the crowd.
A couple of original songs by Clay Williams, an excellent songwriter in his own right whose guitar playing is more than criticial to the authentic sound of the Daredevils, came a few songs later. (Huff writes the other Lazy Ike originals.) One of Williams songs was called "30 Megaton Sex Bomb" an up-tempo rockabilly number. The other was the slower "Give it All Away."
Huff announced a short "drinking break," taking a few big sips of beer and encouraging the audience to do the same. Into "Someday Someone" from their album. And a slow version of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues." Then a new one called "No Honky Tonk Heartthrob" with the lyric "someday I'll make somebody smile."
During a short break between sets, the piped in music from the soundboard was as out of place as we were--unrecognizable loud rock that was practically louder than the band had been through the mains. However, to credit the soundman and room, the sound at the Mainstreet is very good comparatively. So if you have an interest in playing there, do it, and don't let my misgivings scare you away.
The second set opened up with "Little sister," segued easily into some Johnny Burnett Trio, and a slow country song called "Walking the Dog." The band seemed to loosen up a bit in the second set, but sadly the room was emptying out. (I guess bedtime in Hopkins is a good hour before bar time.) Highlights of set two included "Last Night I Drank Myself Sober" (again a song from Lazy Ike's album), and a country/ disco version of Waylon Jennings's "Look Into My Teardrop." Look for Lazy Ike to perform this cover (or request it if they don't) as it is good, funny, and fun at the same time, with a kind of Blondie beat (think "Heart of Glass") at just the perfect tempo, married oddly well to the forlorn lyrics. Huff good-naturedly enquired around this point, "Everyone getting enough sports? Who won?" referring to the TV's still glowing away all around the room. "Yay, local teams!"
The band was joined by the wonderfully cowboy-hatted Richard Gunderson for the beautifully-named song "Chicken Truck." I just love the way that combination of words rolls off the tongue. Say it out loud a few times. Chicken Truck. Chicken Truck. It's fun. And if it doesn't make you feel like a redneck, I don't know what will. (Gunderson plays and sings in his own band, The Dieslfitters with Clay Williams.)
Lazy Ike were about to start the next song when the bar manager walked onto the dance floor and told them to stop playing. No conventional two song warning here, just a "you have to stop now." Huff lightened an awkward moment (it was only 12:50 a.m.) by explaining that he'd been timing the gig on a sundial and it just didn't work out. As the band left the stage Huff took his chances by playing one more song solo. I am so glad he did as the forbidden encore was actually damned beautiful and one of the best songs of the night. It was The Carter Family's "No Depression," the spiritual from which the alt-country journal "No Depression" takes its name. (You may be more familiar with the excellent Uncle Tupelo version of this song.)
The final words Huff spoke from the stage were appropriately borrowed from Spinal Tap's Viv Savage. "Have a good time all the time." To succeed in that, I must say you're probably better off Seeing Lazy Ike at Lee's or Mayslacks or some of the other venues the band enjoys playing like the LoveUgly in Rochester.
Location Info:
Mainstreet Bar & Grill
Artist Info: Lazy Ike and the Daredevils
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