CHAPTER ONE: YOU ARE WORTH YOUR WEIGHT IN GOLD

On the evening of April 29th, accompanied by a few good friends and even more acquaintances, I went to go see Elvis Perkins in Dearland at the Horseshoe. Up until the day of the event, even though I'd seen him a few years ago and was blown away then, I was a little skeptical about this show. I was slightly less enthused over Dearland (the album) than I was about Ash Wednesday, which is an album I hold very close to my heart.

But as mentioned I got really stinking into the record that day. I listened to it until I discovered every nuance, every kept secret, all the little creases filled with blood and spilt liquor. And I fucking loved it! Now I can't remember why I was unsure about Perkins putting on a good show, I can't remember a cent.

Wearing some paisley shirt under a suit-jacket and a bright orange toque, I scoped him out during the opening band's set: he was talking to the merchandise guy, seeing if he had some extra cash for a drink. So I asked what he wanted and bought him some whiskey. (After the set he would come up to me and offer me a drink, though it wasn't as nice as the one I bought for him-- understandably.)

The set was glorious! He seemed to be in good spirits, even though he's somewhat hard to read, and his band was having a lot of fun. He played alternate versions of most of the Dearland record and only two or three from his first record. And apposed to having twelve-string acoustic-string-- what he toured with before-- he was armed with a string of five electric/hollow-bodied guitars, most notably a Fender Starcaster! What a bizarre guitar... upon seeing it I realized why exactly they decided to stop making it back in the early '80s. The lack of material from Ash Wednesday along with the no-acoustic instruments upset a few of the people I had gone to see the show with, but they enjoyed what they got. I think by the end of the show they understood that Perkins is the type of person who wants to keep you guessing as he goes along. That's one of my favourite things about him!

I think by the end of the night I was pretty famously drunk, which was cool by me. It was a very inspirational set.