Uber Alles, according to the Urban Dictionary
uber alles (correctly written in German "ueber alles") has nothing to do with the Nazis, but was a line of a poem written in 1841 which was used for the German National Anthem. It does not translate as "above all" (that would be "ueber allen") but rather "more than anything else", as in "ich liebe Dich ueber alles in der Welt" (I love you more than anything else in the world). A misleading translation was purposely chosen by the Allies during the second world war for propagada purposes.
The Juke Joint was about a 15 minute drive from the in-laws house... if both places existed in Tennessee. In California you need to double the time in the best of circumstances; and the worst? Well, let us just say that I made a zillion 20 mile drives clocking in at about 2 hours during my old daily commute. Anyhoo, I was perusing Facebook on Oct. 10, and found (thanks to Howie Pyro) that the Vooduo were playing that night - for just 10 bucks! "Well, I'm sold", I thought to myself. Upon further investigation of the line-up I saw that Haunted George was also performing at this fine event. Added bonus! "I should be able to catch these two fine acts and be in bed at a decent hour", I further reasoned to my bad-self. Remember, I have the attention span of a squirrel so I didn't really pay no-mind to who else was playing - I was more concerned with when I would get to bed; my wife and mother in-law had our itinerary fully packed for the next day. Unfortunately, my wife opted out of this entertainment extravaganza, so I had to fly solo. I despise flying solo.
When I got to the club I saw a couple folks that looked like the Vooduo as I remembered them. I hadn't seen them in well over a decade, so I was about to take a big chance. Being
a social retard, I don't normally walk up to folk I don't know and start axin' questions. But I figured that I'm 40 and I'm not gonna worry too much about mistaking folks that live thousands of miles from me. I was correct, though. It was a slam-dunk anyway, because let's face it - the Vooduo look like the Vooduo. I had a good time conversin' with Heidi and Max! We're all about the same age, knew a bunch of the same folks, and remembered a lot of the same things. Nice. I captured them in the parking lot after their set to record a soundbite for RadiOblivion on my iPod Touch Machine (thanks to Griffin Technology's iTalk Lite app. Hey Dave Delaney, this is the best app for recording ever!). I knew that Howie Pyro was performing duties as DJ par excellence for the show, and I wanted to meet the guy, but didn't know what he looked like in real life, so I asked Heidi to point him out. She turned and pointed to the guy next to her. So, again I stepped out of my comfort zone and introduced myself. Then the cat next to him (which seemed to be about 9 feet tall) smiled and put his hand out and said "Hi, I'm Steve Pallow". Yeah, baby! Steve Pallow, 
Haunted George, the genius behind the Necessary Evils; a driving force of the legendary Beguiled;A fellow GaragePunk Podcaster - responsible for Haunted Shack Theater. "Well, I'm glad I came down", sez I. Both bands played great sets, and I was more than happy as a pig in a dumpster that I broke my over-three-year gig dry spell on this event. And then I was ready to go home. However, the third act was none other than Kid Congo & the Pink Monkey Birds. I've never seen Kid Congo, formerly of the (impossible-to-over-abuse-ridicu
lous-adjectives-on) Cramps, so I reasoned to myself that we'd (yes, there are many of me, for we are legion) stay for a couple songs, then buy the album. They opened with a cover of the Gun Club's "Sex Beat", and I stayed for an hour. POUNDING set! The band is tight as all get-out. And I love me some Soul sounds, baby! As this post ain't a review, I can't encourage you more strongly to get their album "Dracula Boots", period. It was a great show, and a good time. By the way, Howie Pyro spun all my favorite records; the little ones with the big holes.Well, I'd say that's enough for this post. This is just a glimpse into one of my California activities. The other things we did are of no concern to any of y'all, though I did mention a couple others on the recent edition of RadiOblivion; episode 43, to be exact. I'd love for each and every one of y'all to listen. I'd also like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony, as well; but, that too is a pipe dream.
Finally, uber alles, I hope its at least another three years before I go back to California.
I'll yap at you later. In the meantime, follow me on Twitter, pally.
