I'd love to see The Breeders...again

I would. I loved that band.

But I probably won't make it. I don't have a ticket, my bank account is negative until Thursday, I found out today that the IRS is after me so I must find an accountant to help me respond, and my parenting obligations for tomorrow include watching the youngest perform "Hot Cross Buns" on the accordion at school (very cute), taking the middle child to violin lessons (highlight of her week) and then attending an academic awards ceremony where my eldest child be lauded for his, well, academic skills and stuff. It doesn't take a fortune teller to predict, come evening time, I will be very tired.

Even so, maybe I will still find a way. I've got reasons.

I always liked the Breeders back in the day, in all their various line ups. When Pod came out I remember it striking me as really cool to have both Kim Deal and Tanya Donnelly in a band together because I really liked both the Pixies and Throwing Muses. It's harder to imagine now, but there still weren't all that many girls in popular bands at that time, even "alternative" bands. And hardly any good bands were all girls. I noted Albini producing and still crack up at hearing him in the background asking "Josephine [Wiggs] do you think you are going bald?" and talking about the weather or some nonsense. But mostly, I stuck with The Breeders as a fan because their songs were catchy, fun and good. I still play those records sometimes. I sing along with them when nobody is listening. They have me wishing I had the aptitude to write songs, discontent to just write about songs.

And I actually did see The Breeders live once before. It was probably one of the most surreal shows I attended and still can recall. They were opening up for Nirvana at the Lakeland Civic Center in Lakeland, Florida. I believe it was 1993. I went to the show with my niece Kelley and two guys. I generally detest shows of arena size, but this seemed like one not to miss, even at the time. When The Breeders hit the stage, Kim Deal was clearly pissed off. They started sans Kelley Deal. Kim explained to the audience that they had "lost" her in Miami and left without her. Well, they started off and before a couple songs had passed Kelley comes wobbling on stage in a bright red skirt-suit and heels and plugs in and starts playing. From across the arena you could clearly see that Kim looked disgusted. My niece and I couldn't figure out if this was staged shenanigans or some genuine rock-n-roll moment. It was...odd. Anyway, one of the best rock-show moments I've witnessed was later when Pat Smear (who was touring with Nirvana) comes out wearing Kelley's red suit, and heels, and proceeds to rock out and save the show from being a total curmudgeon contest between Cobain and Deal. It's still kinda hard for me to recall how obviously miserable the guy was, and how oblivious so many people around me were to that.

So. Even not having had a chance yet to hear the newest effort under The Breeders moniker, not having heard whether there are better motivations and substance behind with reunion tour compared to some other reunion tour I've seen some people on...I still want to go.