BEAR VS. SHARK VS. MY FEET (AT THIRD MAN, DETROIT)
This is a review of the Bear Vs. Shark reunion, the relatively new Converse IIs and Third Man Records Cass Corridor, all of which I experienced for the first time on June 24th in Detroit. Brandon Moss, original drummer for Bear Vs. Shark (who played on the first of two BVS albums, Right Now, You're in the Best of Hands) is a colleague, a that’s the reason I was lucky enough to be in attendance at this invite-only affair.
Post-hardcore percussionists require two tambourines
Bear Vs. Shark are remembered because they are unexampled. Live, the guitars are tight and explosive, an orchestrated chaos sandwiched between the convulsive rhythm of BOTH drummers (who trade off on kit and percussion) and the melodic growl of singer Marc Paffi. The crowd went ape shit and demanded to hear every song in their catalog. Bear Vs. Shark obliged gleefully.
After the show, Brandon admitted that, "We’ve never played this well in our lives.” Sometimes a little greying is good (The Gories reunion for instance). Equal Vision Records is reissuing both BVS albums this year and the band is playing a few shows. The night after the Third Man date they played a benefit in Flint supporting the Flint Child Health and Development Fund. The upcoming BVS show at the Bowery Ballroom, NYC is sold out.
Chucks permanently damaged my right foot.
Ox Blood Converse II (I doubt they use real ox blood--just exploited labor)
So yeah, I was wearing my new Chuck IIs at this show. I guess they are still called Chucks, the Converse II with the “Nike Lunarlon insole for cushioning.” (Converse was purchased by Nike in 2003.) I was prepared to hate these things. Wearing Chucks permanently damaged my right foot. I wore Chucks almost exclusively in my glory days of bartending and playing punk rock shows and now my right is deformed, a bone sticks out a half inch. This is obviously due to my own idiocy. This problem widens my foot and makes finding comfortable shoes very difficult. I should have worn boots. Instead I wore Chucks in every season, just putting on two more pairs of socks in the winter and applying duck tape to the little air holes to keep the snow out.
With less support than a flip-flop (really, I think flip-flops have a thicker sole) young folks bounce around in these “shoes” for years not realizing they are facing a future of orthopedic Rockports. So anyway, I mostly stay at home with my kid these days, but when I venture out I want to kick it old school and now I can. I stood around in Third Man for quite a few hours and the Converse II stood up to my New Balance middle-aged 993s in comfort.
And yeah, this show was at Third Man Records Cass Corridor, Detroit. For readers not in Michigan, there truly IS a resurgence in Detroit and the Third Man opening is further recognition of that fact. A lot of yellow in there but the record collection is as good as gets and the staff was welcoming. I loved the giant photo of The Gories on the wall! Here’s hopin’ there will be a Third Man in every former Tower Records location across the country.
