My First Show of the Year: Shame at Mohawks

My first show of the year was a Sophie’s Choice of sorts (I love that book, so yes I know what I am doing with my flippancy). I purchased a ticket to Shame at Mohawk’s months ago. I love Resound for the type of shows they have been booking and the price points, but the fear of not getting a ticket in time means I purchase as soon as I see a show is in town. So it was devastating, DEVASTATING, to realize that Meredith Marks was Paris Hiltoning at Empire Control Room the same night.

With a couple of rumor posts on the Austin subreddit about how shitty the owner is for Empire Control Room, the knowledge I already spent money on the Shame show, and the knowledge that Meredith Marks may be the less talented musician of the two groups…I stuck with my plan to see Shame.

And maybe this post is more about how I let fate continue on its way with me.

After starting our year with a real winter, the city was shut down for a week because Ted Cruz boarded a plan to Cali and we have collective PTSD from almost five years ago. By the time Shame was to play, it was a week later and no longer freezing shut down cold, it was just titsicle cold (as opposed to the weather standard for Texas: hot as balls). There was a couple of reminder emails to say the show was being pushed ahead an hour since there is no way that the native Texans and Austinites had adequate clothing. Facts, we all came out with cute hats thinking it was doing something, and it did not.

Which fine, it means that there would be less people out downtown because of the cold (even though it was a Saturday) and I was able to snag the convenient street parking to the side of the venue. I made it just in time to realize that the opener (who I incorrectly named as Wolf Mother, then Ghost Mother, before landing on their correct name GhostWoman cause my brain is old and scrambled from motherhood) did not suck. GhostWoman is the type of alternative rock that I could dig. I could not discern the lyrics, but I also couldn’t help but be into the droning guitar and heavy drums from the two person band.

I thought I would be able to stay warm and bop my way through both sets towards the back of the downstairs pit, securing a spot that allowed my short ass to see the opening act. That delusion started to dissipate after GhostWoman stopped playing and the dude groups started to move in. Taller bodies everywhere appeared out of nowhere and I could hear in clear detail one friend group discuss how they had “four layers of shirts, 3 layers of socks, and enough drugs to stay warm” which transitioned to how MEREDITH MARKS was playing. Proof that many were sadden to not be doing caviar bumps and dancing indoors in their cute fashions.

Would I have been more understanding of the crowd there?

Shame comes on and it seems they had some sound issues to start. But the mens in the crowd did not care or notice, they were true fans of the band and physical contact ensued as they started to thrash forcing the crowd to surge back.

I booked it. I adore dancing, but Robyn style on my own. Do. Not. Touch. Me. I have a personal bubble and it extends several feet to all sides of me, you get in that space and I will tense up like the little roly poly that I am. This tends to work out because people (especially in Austin) do not dance. It has also been at least ten years that I went to a hardcore or punk show by myself so I forgot that goes out the window when young men feel the urge to fuck shit up when listening to music.

Taking to the upper decks, I could people watch and enjoy the band without fear of human contact. The singer lost his shirt, but not his sun glasses, as he belted out the lyrics to a mixture of different hits from their four albums. There was some chatter between songs while one guitarist would get a new instrument handed off to him by the crew. Aside from the sound issues at first, they gave a quality show and kept up the energy that you get from their records.

I think I am just too old and was too cold, but I refused to stay for the whole show. I heard the songs that I am most into, like “Cowards Around” “Nothing Better” and “Tasteless.” They covered one of their weirder sounding songs, a song that seems more like it came from the 80’s and is an unexpected historical Brazilian tale called “Lampião”, it’s a song that brings a smile to my face every time I hear it. But by the time they had hit into their last song (“One Rizla”) before the encore, even though they yelled out their support for Palestine, I had already made a promise to myself that I was going home to my warm bed and was snagging some Whataburger french fries. I walked down the steps yelling with the crowd “Free Palestine” and maneuvered to my car singing out loud and off key about how “my voice aint the best you heard,” lyrics that I love and is a constant in my angsty playlists.

The cold gave me an excuse, but I must concede the show was good and if I thought I was too old for that scene then I would have been disappointed on the amount of money I would have spent feeling that way for Meredith Marks.

At least I got to have my personal moment, to a song I love, on my own terms. I hope this portend wells for the rest of the shows I see this year.