A Live Review
by Jeff
A REVIEW FROM A FAN:
thanks to Jeff Richardson for the input
Back in early 1995, I was working in a pawn shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was
a slow, gray afternoon. Every once in a while, we would get musicians coming
through. My ears would always perk up when I saw anyone interesting walk in
the door, and I would always make conversation with them. I knew that they
would figure I was another pawn shop jerk off that didn't know anything
about any kind of underground music, so it was fun to watch people realize
that they can relate to you on some level that they weren't expecting. That
day, two guys came in and were looking around the sparse music area of the
store. I started talking to them, and found out they were in a band. They
didn't say the name, I finally asked, and one of them said sort of
sheepishly, "Oh, we're in this band called Barkmarket" Their names were John
Nowlin and Rock Savage. My jaw of course, dropped to the floor and I told
them how they happened to be my favorite band in the whole world. They were
very surprised that I knew who they were, so I went out to my car, (which
had Gimmick in permanent rotation in the cd player) brought they're disc in,
and asked them to sign it. They were stoked that I actually had the CD and
was for real. They signed it (I know it was a little dorky, but this band
changed my life musically, you know?) enthusiastically and we talked a
little longer. They were just passing through on the way to Dallas I
believe.
I had seen them for the very first time in 1993 at IKON in Tulsa, and it
wouldn't be until late1996 that I saw them again.
The night of the show I was livid, L RON had just come out and I hadn't even
had the chance to hear it yet. The excitement had been building for years,
when I pulled in I saw Rock and John out by the van, so I went up and talked
with them awhile, they remembered me and everything. We talked about the new
album. I asked what was up with the Dianetics tinged title. Rock said,
"Dave's just really sarcastic with the things he writes, and he has these
jokes, he's pretty much the only one that's amused with. It's just one of
his things."
The guys got my in free on the guest list, and I was stoked.
The thing that sucks about living in Tulsa, is that there is no support when
good bands come through. It's ridiculous. That night there were probably 20
people there, and I'm not exaggerating even a little. Davit Souders, the
owner of IKON (the club that they were playing) was good about getting real
bands even if they didn't pull a million people. I will always be grateful
for his open mindedness. Barkmarket's touring partners, Grotus played first
and did a right fine job. Next Barkmarket takes the stage and immediately
have the entire audience come up on stage with them. They turn in toward us,
with their backs to the empty club. If my memory serves, they started out
with a song from L RON, which I later found out was "Falling". It was nuts,
everyone was loving it. Gradually the other 19 people there drifted off the
stage back on to the floor. I ended up staying up there with them acting
like a fool, dancing around in perfect choreography to the music. The
highlight of my life then occurred when David Sardy and I did a duet on
"Hack it off" probably about my favorite song in the world. It was amazing.
I also remember Rock forgetting his cue on "redundant" the part where the
song stops and rings out, then the snare starts up and brings it to the
amazing ending. There was just silence, he was sitting back there looking
confused and everyone was looking at him. I made the universal snare playing
gesture, and he caught it and took off. It was great.
We had terrible curfew of 11:00 so they had to get off stage after maybe an
hour at the most, but the did play an encore. Dave suggested "The new song
with the slide guitar?" which of course was "Visible cow", but we, being so
thirsty for older stuff, requested "Little White Dove" It rocked the house.
Life was good. - Jeff from Tulsa.