I thought Ollin was (were?) great. They weren't EXACTLY the Mexican Pogues - well, they were at times but they were more than that - the music jumped, with a squeezebox, trumpet, sax, electric guitars, mandolin, a clarinet - hey, they just turned this song into a mazurka! Two of the guys are identical twins, chicano guys who are about 5'2", wearing zoot suits and leaping about. The band is big - eight guys. The sax player was right in front of us, so we were very aware of how much he was WAILING.
http://www.myspace.com/eastlosollin
I'd looked them up online beforehand and saw that they usually had a tradition, on St. Patrick's Day, of playing "Rum Sodomy & The Lash" in its entirety. But THIS year, they were in New York City, opening for the Pogues. They'd opened a bunch of West Coast shows last fall, but those were hometown gigs. This must be a huge thrill for these guys, I thought. They sure seemed happy to be there.
They covered a lot of different styles, and their set flew by. The lights came back up and the house music they'd been playing all night - "Love and Theft" - came back on. It seemed odd that they were playing an entire album instead of a DJ or a mix tape, but I love that album. Finally the Clash started playing - "The Call Up" - and the road crew began the Roadie Dance. A guy behind us taunted them mercilessly - "WHOOO!! Check that MIKE! Check check CHECK!!! WHOOOO!!!!" Joey Cashman came out to a rousing cheer from the front row. He flipped us off. Actually I think Kathleen was going to claim he flipped HER off, so I'll amend that to say: Joey Cashman flipped Kathleen with a K the bird.
"The Magnificent Seven" played. The air was electric. We passed around a few wee bottles. That Latino version of "Like A Rolling Stone" played. It seemed to annoy some of the crowd. Is that from Masked and Anonymous? Everyone was READY. "Let's DO this thing," someone said.
(to be continued)
