This post is a response to Kelly and José’s Random Retro Wednesday Song: Euro Trash Girl
A post in which our heroes pay tribute to the day that David Lowery and Johnny Hickman decided to record a really long awesome song that was so long, they put it on the Kerosene Hat album as a hidden bonus track. The Cracker boys were apparently afraid that the Song Length Police might bust them for the crime of excessively long jamming committed while rocking out in the mellowest fashion possible.
That’s my take on it, anyway.
Anyway, Cracker have another song that lives in the same halls of greatness with “Euro-Trash Girl,” a song that comes off of The Golden Age album. At 5:40, “Big Dipper” isn’t quite as long as “Euro-Trash Girl,” but Lowery makes up for that by loading “Big Dipper” with ten times the misery in each minute of the song!
On my first trip through The Golden Age shortly after it was released, I fell head over heels in love with “Big Dipper,” and mentioned to the record label guy how much I loved that track. His reply to me was that I would be very happy, because they would be opening the show with “Big Dipper.”
Seriously, listen to the above track, and imagine how awesome that was?
It was great.
Yet, wouldn’t you expect them to open with something like this?
Cracker – I Hate My Generation
That’s what is great about Cracker – expect the unexpected, always!
I went with my friend Sue from the radio station to see the Cleveland show at The Odeon. She told me as we were getting there, that we had backstage passes to meet Cracker, and also let me know that “this time you’re not going to be a p***y, you’re actually going to talk to the band!”
I can’t recall, but the pre-show pep talk might have been brought on by a previous backstage experience with The Wallflowers….and here, I was thinking that went pretty well!
Part of my meet and greet silence came from an ongoing effort to not be that guy that says something retarded to the band that he loves.
Example – me meeting David Lowery that night, and I say “hey man, your band is awesome!”
*awkward silence follows*
*what the hell did I just do? I thought we rehearsed this, Matt?*
The good news is, that I further refined my backstage routine after that, and can now just approach any of them as regular people, because at the end of the day, that’s all we are! Realizing that little bit helps a ton!
Let’s kick into the weekend with my favorite Cracker show that just happens to come from right here in Cleveland, OH, recorded at the Empire Concert Club, another great Cleveland club that like the Odeon, no longer exists.
Cracker played “Euro-Trash” Girl during this radio broadcast, but the broadcast cuts away with closing credits just as the song is beginning. Had Cracker over-stayed their welcome, or was it all of the filthy language that came before this moment? It matters not, because what we have here, even without “Euro-Trash Girl,” is a ROCK SHOW.
(For those keeping score at home, this show happened about a year before Kerosene Hat was released – the band was wrapping up their touring for the self-titled album at this point.)
There are so many great Cleveland radio broadcasts from over the years, and this is another one of them!
Viva la weekend, all!
Cracker
Empire Concert Club
5/12/92
Cleveland, OH
WMMS broadcast taped by talbe1019
Download flac files for this show via the Live Music Archive
01. Intro
02. Someday
03. Happy Birthday To Me
04. How Can I Live Without You
05. Don’t F*ck Me Up (With Peace And Love)
06. I Ride My Bike
07. This Is Cracker Soul
08. Dr. Bernice
09. Mr. Wrong
10. Lonesome Johnny Blues
11. F*ckin’ Up
12. Teen Angst
13. (I Was Born In A) Laundromat
Relevant Links:
Cracker official site
Purchase the latest Cracker album Greenland – CD or MP3
Purchase Cracker self-titled from Amazon – CD or MP3
Purchase Kerosene Hat – CD or MP3
Purchase The Golden Age – CD or MP3
Purchase Garage D’Or (greatest hits) – CD
Great post. Where was the empire? sorry it was before my time. How long was it around for?
Ahh the Empire… Wasn’t that close to the Jacobs/Progressive Stadium?
Thanks for posting this. I can not wait to check it out!
Remember Flashes?
I wish the old venues never went away.
Jose – Empire was around as I recall from 1990 until mid 1992? SO many great shows there in a short period of time, and a good number of them were broadcast on the radio….I’ve got quite a few of them, and I’m always looking to get my hands on the ones that I don’t have.
Brian – Flash’s was awesome, fo sho!
Speaking of old venues, god how I miss the old Peabodys – saw SO many great shows there.