Make Sure My Water Bottles are JUST SO!!!

Brother Big Red John Boy Jethro Elmore, Grubzilla and I went to Warsaw last night to see The Black Keys. I had seen them once previously, last year at Mercury Lounge and was mighty impressed with both the energy of their show and Dan Auerbach's guitar playing. I was also psyched to have some pierogis. Mmmm, that's rock food.

The opener appeared at first to be former New York Mayor David Dinkins backed by the local Phish cover band.



Only after the show did I learn that I had seen Motor City urban legend Nathaniel Mayer.

No, I've never heard of him either.

Mayer apparently had two minor hits in the 1960s, "Village of Love" and "I Want Love and Affection (Not the House of Correction). " He definitely played the latter song last night, although I have to admit I thought he was singing "I Want Love and Affection in the House of Correction," which, I am sure you will agree, puts a slightly different slant on the lyrics.

His band was actually pretty good and I enjoyed the set for the first few songs. It was only after the 10th variation on the same sound with the same basic lyrics (sample: "shake what your momma gave ya") that I started to yearn for an end to the set.

Midway through, Grubzilla decided to leave, which was probably the smart move because the time between the end of the Mayor's set and the start of the Black Keys' was about an hour. Yes, it took a two-piece band nearly a full hour to, um, uh, plug in their one guitar and turn on two amps. The drums had already been set up. Brother BRJBJE was starting to lose his temper as we watched the stage hands walk back and forth on stage rearranging the water bottles into neat stacks.

Anyway, the band played okay, but both of us were so overwhelmed with the DMV-like wait for the set that we bailed before the encores.

The Black Keys - Bring a Magazine and a Folding Chair