For those I know and love, you're probably going to roll your eyes at this. My near-obsession with The Plimsouls is well-known and much snickered at. And so it continues...
Last night Wendo and I went to see Peter Case at the Cafe Du Nord here in SF. What a show. Just him and a guitar. For those not familiar with him, a little background is in order.
Peter Case was in the much-storied punk band The Nerves in the late 70s. From there he went on to form the world-storming power-pop band The Plimsouls in the 80s. They went on to become one of the world's legendary one-hit-wonders, penning what I maintain is The Perfect Song, "Million Miles Away." Remember the movie "Valley Girl?" If you're so inclined, please go to the mp3 section here and check out my version of it. I don't think I quite did it justice, but it's pretty close. After releasing a couple albums independently, The Plimsouls signed to Geffen Records and released "Everywhere At Once," an absolute masterpiece of pop confection, yet to be surpassed in terms of songwriting and delivery. Second perhaps only to Beatles '65, it is still pretty much my favorite album of all time. They broke up a couple years later, reforming in the late 90s to release the almost-as-wonderful "Kool Trash" on Fuel 2000 Records, with Clem Burke from Blondie on drums.
When I was about 12, I was visiting my dad at his lab on the UCSD campus on a Friday afternoon. From somewhere I heard the sound of live music, and decided to investigate. I walked over to the Student Union, and saw a band in the middle of a soundcheck in preparation for the weekly "TGIF" party on the main quad. I later learned that it was indeed The Plimsouls, and it was the coolest thing I had ever seen. At that point I was firmly ensnared in my unflapping devotion to Kiss, blissfully unaware that I was probably another unwitting participant in a pretty medioce band's publicity/marketing juggernaut. But this stupid little soundcheck was a complete revelation. And it was loud. Perfectly so. A couple things I took away from it; Telecasters are so much cooler than Flying-Vs, and lefty Samoan bass players are pretty damn nifty.
In high school any band I was in or went to see cut their teeth on "Million Miles Away." It was mandatory. It's not a terribly hard song, but there are important details you have to pay attention to. If you fucked it up, people remembered. Anybody could play "Red Skies" or "Rio" or "Everybody Wants To Rule The World", and you could get away with a few clams. But if you wanted to play "Million Miles Away", you had to get it right. If you did, you earned some stripes as a non-lame band. There was a band called The Pinstripes in SD (probably still there, and still a band name I wish I had thought of) that got it perfect, and they played most of our school dances. There was a band called The Neat who did not get it at all right, and was run out on a rail even though they did a better "Over Under Sideways Down" than anyone else.
Fast forward to 1998, and The Plimsouls return to San Francisco for 3 shows at the Great American and Slim's. I was at all of them. Aside, Eddie Munoz belongs to that highly underrated school of guitar players that truly knows what real rock and roll guitar playing is all about. George Harrison, Paul Weller, Mike Campbell, and especially Elliot Easton also belong in that group (just the 4 that pop into my head at the moment). Go back and listen to "Shake It Up". That's a very fine solo.
So, about 25 years after I saw The Plimsouls soundchecking, I shook Peter Case's hand this weekend. It's not often one gets to meet, for want of a better word, a hero. It's even rarer to walk away from that encounter not disappointed. He was friendly, he remembered my name after I introduced myself, and the show was spectacular. He mentioned on stage a recent magazine interview he did, wherein the interviewer asked what would prompt a man to "quit a perfectly good rock and roll band to become an obscure solo folk artist." Then he launched into "I Shook His Hand", and that pretty much answered the question.
Thanks for the great show, Pete. Thanks for the wonderful b-day gift, Wendo. Just what I needed. "I was proud to say I shook his hand."
See y'all at the Red Devil this Saturday.
Posted by eric at December 13, 2004 07:16 PM