the only man in chicago who hates babydolls as much as billy roberts

The Mutiny was the first bar I legally drank at. One Last Walk was playing their first show in a while there on my 21st birthday and John promised a half pitcher of whiskey. That night, Mike the Midget did a full standup act during what must have been the longest string change in history.

I love the Mutiny. Nothing ever goes right there. Last time I was there, the Wanderers were playing with Second Story Collapse. Andy , the Wanderers' singer, got really pissed because his drummer didn't show up. They tried to play with SSC's drummer but it ended up with Andy doin song after song of GG Allin covers the band didn't really know, with his nutsack pulled through his jeans.

Tonight was Fast Fast 45 and There Must Be Others, two bands apparently on the verge of merging. Fast Fast 45 was a two-piece that played straight-up rock. They didn't prepare for the show, their first in a while, but it came out decent. Bryan, who's among the better guitarists I've seen in the city, was doing a par job keeping the beat, while Briton was pulling some Lou Reed affectations with some touches of late-seventies CBGB Television-style yowling. They did a short set and Bryan stormed out, pissed off.

Fun.

There Must Be Others, now a one-piece, took the stage. This band was great, especially for their third show and third line-up. The band had gone from a trendy moog-driven synthnoise outfit to a thing of weirdness. Brian Other looks starved and crazy when he comes out on stage, with wild, thinning hair and bugged out eyes. He started with what he said was a Lionel Ritchie cover: "I'm Sorry For Unleashing the Horror that is my Daughter onto the unsuspecting Populace."

The song was played by a babydoll in a blender, on different settings and ended abruptly as the doll caught fire and filled the room with noxious gas and smoke. For the rest of the set, he played guitar and sang through a host of effects. The show had a real King Missile quality to it, at least until my girlfriend started getting nauseous from the fumes and we had to leave.