I wanna be a rock and roll star

Will Hoge
Originally uploaded by MrBadExample.

So, remember that Will Hoge show I mentioned a few weeks back? What? You don't? You haven't been reading every entry? I am disappointed in you.

Anyway, so I went to the Will Hoge show at the Mercury Lounge. I had seen a different incarnation of the band (with Yayhoo and Tinsel and Rot's first cover boy Dan Baird on guitar) at the same club a bunch of years ago (a vague phrase that enables me not to look up the exact date, because, well, I don't really want to) and I was certainly one of only a handful of folks who came to see them that night. I also was among a small group of Hoge fans at the shows they did at the late, rarely lamented Wetlands Preserve, where they once opened for Flickerstick, who won VH-1's "Bands on the Run" and have spent the last few years carefully working their way back into obscurity.

Will Hoge, on the other hand, has developed a steady following since lo that bunch of years ago, so I expected this show to have more than a handful of people to show up to greet Hoge and his bandmates.

Little did I know that there would be quite a bit more than a handful. And that they would be young women. Loud, young women. With too much alcohol in them. And a desire to declare the hotness of various band members repeatedly over the course of 70 minutes. And there was no escape from them from my spot near the stage.

Don't get me wrong. I am a big fan of attractive, young women (though the feeling, tragically, does not seem to be mutual). However, I prefer them to be quiet and, if at all possible, attracted to me and not the better-looking guy with the guitar and the vintage t-shirt. And, if that's not possible, if they could just not stage whisper "Ohmigod! He is so f**king hot!" during a quiet moment in a song, I'm probably gonna enjoy the evening more.

For a few minutes during the show, I started wishing it was the good old days, until I realized that my good old days and the band's good old days probably don't match up. Sure, I really liked being able to get close to the stage at Wetlands to take a couple of action shots and feel a little closer to the music. But my guess is the band is pretty glad that the silently bobbing heads of me and a few other baseball-capped guys have been augmented by a few infinitely better-looking females, professing their love in breathless screams of devotion.

So I tipped my cap to the gods of music, promised to stop being so judgmental, and vowed not to let the new folks stop me from seeing Will Hoge at Maxwell's in Hoboken. That show's Tuesday night (8/9). Come on out if you can and look for me.

I'll probably be in the back this time. Silently bobbing my head.