Done

Yesterday, I spent a splendiferous evening in the cautionary company of Mark Oliver Everett and his band, better known as Eels. It was a stunning gig, as Eels gigs always are, whether E is in wild hedgerow beard/boiler suit/ pilot goggles/get-your-freak-on mode, or, like last night, in tidy facial fur/lounge suit/wry-but-sensitive/‘bummer’ setting. (For American expressions that don’t travel very well, bummer comes in third, fag beats it to second spot, and fanny pack is the undisputed all-time winner).

My friend, Dave ‘Dog Faced Boy’ (named after an Eels track containing the immortal couplet “Ma won’t shave me, Jesus can’t save me”), accompanied me and Mr Drakeygirl to the gig, arriving at our house a couple of hours before we set off, thus allowing time for some enjoyable blathering and nattering.

It was the first time my kids had met Dave, and he was made to feel welcome, sort of.
My son, aged five, completely ignored him for two hours, choosing instead to practise his superhero moves in front of a Batman cartoon. But he did activate his show-off gene to throw a couple of quick moonies Dave’s way before we left.

My girl, on the other hand, started off well but faded. She sidled out into the garden, where we were sitting in the sun having a chat. Her Prader-Willi Syndrome means she doesn’t quite ‘get’ social conventions and the art of conversation. But her nose was bothering her. She knew I knew Dave from ‘Word dos’, meet-ups organised by a bunch of music fans dating back to the days of the now defunct Word Magazine. (“I told my teacher you were going to a Word do, and she said it must be a work do, but I said no it’s a Word do, but she said I had got it wrong and it was a work do, but it was definitely a Word do, wasn’t it, Mum. What is a Word do?” has been a long-running repeat in recent weeks). 

So she sat next to Dave, pointedly reading out the title of her book, and shooting him sideways glances to see if he was impressed that she was nearly halfway through “Make Friends With Poppy The Brownie”, and consistently interrupting us for about 20 minutes, checking everyone's age, and loudly enunciating nuggets of information she thought Dave might be interested in, like: “I speak well for Prader-Willi, don’t I?”

After she’d shared everything she felt necessary, she looked at our guest and nodded at me, before standing up and announcing: “I’m going inside to read. I’ve done Dave, now.”

Video is Eels - Parallels (live at the NYC Apollo). Before you ask, no, Dave would have had to have come round a damn sight earlier than two hours before the gig if we'd have been going there. But it is from the current tour...

'Word' not 'Work' blatherings on music (and other associated or often completely unassociated subjects) now take place online at the aptly named The Afterword site.

Dave 'Dog Faced Boy' is responsible for an excellent podcast entitled 33 & A Nerd, and also the driving force behind The Afterword Podcast - both are things you should really be downloading if you have any sense. He also has a blog, entitled: A Dog Faced Boy's Tail. Oh, and it's his photo at the top. And now, you have all the information you could possibly need. Thangyouverrymuch.