Great Cover-Up Friday
Holy crap. I think Friday was a six year high-point. No, wait, scratch that. Friday tied with Cherry Valance and Joe Farmer doing Areosmith and Run DMC "Walk this Way". It was way too smoky at Kings, where the air handling system is more theoretical than actual. Hey, Kings, you need one of these, like all good clubs have. They even make them in your size.

Little River Band

A Chapel Hill/Durham supergroup that kicked off the night with a theatrical and technical disturbingly faithful recreation. When I was small and growing up in Greenville, NC, all I had was an AM radio until I went away to college. Hence, I knew every single song they played, without knowing the name of the band until the very end. It was like "Solid Gold" without the dancers or Dionne Warwick. What was even scarier was that I hated all those songs, but hearing Dave Bjorkback and crew enthusiastically cover them, straight up, was one of the most fun moments I'd had at the Great Cover-Up, ever. I have the heart of a Night Owl, and I have indeed Heard about the Lonesome Loser.

Monkees

Who knows what broke after Little River Band? The rest of the evening, there was something up with the bass cabinets, and unfortunately the Monkees had to go on right after it started. There was also a whistling sound in Anne Gomez's mike. Also, I cannot stand the Monkees. I think the pants made up for everything, though. That, and Anne Gomez also made up for everything.

Small Faces

I keep confusing 'Small Faces' with 'Faces' and so I was waiting for Rod Stewart the whole time, or I kept realizing it wasn't 'Faces' and then forgetting not to wait for Rod Stewart. They rocked out, but I don't know anything about them other than they're not 'Faces', so there's no Rod Stewart.

Blondie

Attention all timid singers! Drink that beer sooner. After she started in on the PBR, the lead singer loosened up and really started to cook. Yes, this is the second time someone has done Blondie, but really, the only song I remember from the first time was "Rapture", which (If I remember correctly) redeemed a host of problematic covers before it. These guys didn't do "Rapture" (despite my constant yelling), but after the beer, had nothing that needed redeeming. They seriously rocked through every song, and ended with a Muppet-worthy version of "Call Me." If you're not ending with "Rapture" you must end with "Call Me"

Alice Cooper

I prefer to remember Alice Cooper as an actual counter cultural symbol, as opposed to the golf-playing, Republican, office-supplies shill he turned into (although the little goth girl in the commercial is terribly cute). What stunned me about the real Alice is how old he's gotten, so a young one looks kinda shocking. The band had the songs down, and plastic babies were a nice touch. Ended with "School's Out", I think, and totally freaking rocked! Tied for second with the next band.

Talking Heads

The bass problems were still bugging me, and I kept thinking of the "more cowbell" guy, but Jesus, the David Byrne guy was awesome in this one. Started with a solid version of "Psycho Killer", and ended with "Burning Down the House". Now I know why I saw Xa in the crowd. A rarity.

Johnny Thunder

The things you do for cred. This was the last one, and the fact that they did rock did not make the smoke or the need for sleep any less insistent. We recently got a reissue of these guys at the station and the cover was faithful and all (it being the local band Strange, who are technically superb and stuff), but it didn't resonate with me enough for me to stay for the whole thing.

See you there tonight. I'll be the one with the gas mask.