Melvins & Totimoshi @ The Casbah

Road Trip!

Got out of work half an hour early and made my way for 5 1/2 hours down the I-15 to San Diego for a weekend of rock and catching up with an old friend. The drive down was smooth except for traffic around Yermo because of that fucking ridiculous fruit checkpoint on the freeway. California has no better way to employ 30 people than to cause traffic on a major freeway?

Anyway I arrived at my close-by accommodations, Motel 6 at the airport at about 9pm. Just enough time to relax a few minutes and then walk around the corner to the Casbah - the scene of tonight's rock. I have no idea what time the bands start, but hopefully I hadn't missed anything. Got to the venue in enough time to have a beer before Totimoshi came on stage. I new nothing of this band but is seems they are the crew for the Melvins - using the drum set all ready to go. These guys are great. A perfect fit musically for the Melvins (take note Pixies). Totimoshi ripped through about 45 minutes of unknown-to-me rock which impressed the early crowd.

Instantly I am a big fan of the Casbah. It is a small venue (no more than 200 people) and great access to the bands. I just wish they had of got the air conditioner to work earlier. It's not particularly hot, but with the humidity, I can not stop sweating. Between bands 2 of the Melvins briefly lingered with the crowd before finally a door opened and Buzz walked on stage. The rest of the band arrived, walking through the crowd to the stage, in some sort of turquoise-bedazzeld-Gladiator outfit and the the twin drum attack set the crowd alight. Melvins powered through their set and it is amazing to watch them, especially the intertwined 2 drummers. I know plenty of Melvins music, though not the names of songs, and there were plenty that I recognized tonight (though in 5 shows they've never played my favorite - Honeybucket). The set was awesome, and the Pinhead (Ramones) cover was wild. I was supposed to come down a few months back, but left it too late to get a ticket. I am very happy that I got my finger out and got down for this one.

The Crap Facts:

This is my 302nd concert.

The Casbah is the 81st venue I've seen a concert.

This is my 2nd concert in San Diego.

This is my 8th concert in California.

This is my 110th concert in the USA.

Totimoshi are the 376th band I've seen.
This is my 5th Melvins concert.
Melvins are the 1st band I've seen in 4 states.