Solo Asylum

-Woof


SF BAY GUARDIAN: 03-27-96

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT :

Artbeat

We don't believe that the best things necessarily come in small packages, but sometimes the best musicians do show up in small clubs. In town recently for a little writing, recording, and general tomfoolery, SOUL ASYLUM heartthrob and friend-of-Winona DAVE PIRNER found time for a few impromptu gigs at Club Boomerang. After watching sets by Decal, Jojo, and Pomegranate two Fridays ago, he asked club booker Michael James if he could wrap up the evening with a solo set of new material. James of course replied with an enthusiastic thumbs up, but Pirner promptly got cold feet. James says he called him chicken; still Pirner balked. James dared him; Pirner remained shy. James triple-dared him; and with his honor at stake, Pirner succumbed.

But even under the dreaded triple-dare threat, a half-hour before showtime Pirner recruited a couple of local barflies as backup. He dubbed his newborn band Woof and borrowed Decal's gear to churn out a roaring set that included, among other classics, the Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and the Troggs' "Wild Thing."

Pirner promised to make amends for performing with backup by returning on Boomerang's Acoustic Monday for a bona fide solo performance. James says he was skeptical, but when Monday arrived, so did Pirner. "I told him that I didn't expect to see him," said James, laughing. "And he said, 'Hey, we had a deal. You triple-dared me, man, so I have to do it.' He was petrified to go onstage, but then I called him a wimp, so he did."

Using a guitar he had borrowed from the band BLEW WILLY, Pirner stoically played for 30 minutes. Then he and PREACHER BOY (who also performed a solo set) jammed together on standards by WOODY GUTHRIE, WILLY DIXON, and MUDDY WATERS. "They asked me to play harmonica with them," James boasted, "but I said they were too ugly to play with." In addition to classic tunes, the crowd was treated to Pirner's Preacher Boy impersonations and a barrage of traded insults between the two musicians. "Pirner called Preacher a lame-ass white blues dude; Preacher talked about Pirner's sappy folk songs. It was hilarious, just a free-for-all hootenanny jam. I kept requesting 'Freebird,' but they wouldn't play it."

Pirner reportedly blew town the next day for New Orleans, where he was going to record a track for an upcoming BIG STAR tribute album. Solo, perhaps?

Edited by Susan Gerhard. Contributors: J.H. Tompkins, Neva Chonin. Send E-mail to susan_gerhard@sfbayguardian.com.


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