DEMOLITION DOLL RODS IN EVREUX NOV 4, 2004
"For once, I didn’t have to go to Paris to see a good show : DDR was in town, yesterday, in a cool venue called “l’Abordage”. The gig began with a duet by The Cool Klebs (The Cool Dogs), composed of DDR tour manager and his girlfriend to whom DDR asked to open the show (it was their second show ever but before, the guy played in a group called Kleptomanes – remember you made a review in the Next Big Thing at the time, Lindsay?). (I don’t but I’ll refresh my memory… - LH) Their performance was pretty cool and they dedicated one track to Greg Shaw (RIP). I told the guy that his voice reminds me of Dominique Laboubée (RIP, again), singer of the best French group ever, The Dogs. It seems it was the best compliment he could receive.
As Margaret and Dan were in the audience, I said hi and gave a Cramps live 2004 CD to them (thanx B.). It was much appreciated and will provide good times while driving during their tour. It was fun to see Margaret in a pullover and jeans (see picture) when she’s gonna wear (?!) a very sexy outfit a few minutes later. The set began with “Get It On” and mostly featured songs from the latest album, “On”. One of the highlights of the show was a version of The Gories “Baby Say Unh!”, with Christine, Margaret’s little daughter coming to the front of the stage to sing the last part. On “Cannonball”, Dan sings and plays a (sounds like a Black Oak moment – LH) kinda washboard with a bottleneck (description by a non technician!)while Margaret, wearing gloves a la Rita Hayworth in “Gilda” was lasciviously dancing, then accelerated in a tribal dance with her boobs jumping off her mini bra (string bra, does that make sense?).
I never saw such a number of photos taken during a show, the crowd (around 250 people)appreciated the show and the music too. At one point, Dan jumped into the crowd but didn’t realise that the stage was so high and badly hurt his feet. They did a few more songs but no encores due to Dan being in obvious pain. It was short but very intense.
Then came the Black Keys – I particularly appreciated their version of “Have Love Will travel”, a good compromise between Richard Berry’s original version and The Sonics. They ended with a slow version of “No Fun”. They did encores but I left to talk to Margaret, Christine and Dan after buying some stuff from the DDR merch stall (the new album, window sticker, poster and a lot of T-shirts. Margaret was kindly massaging Dan’s foot that seemed to be getting better. They kindly autographed their new LP for me. We talked about new DDR projects (a DVD is soon to be made available by their pal Allen and Margaret’s connection with Mr Airplane Man), souvenirs from the Gories(1992) and the DDR Paris shows, some of their faves: Oblivians, Reatards and even Jonathan Richman (one of my heroes) who is “a constant source of inspiration” said Margaret.
I left after a last photo with Margaret holding me by the hips “Shake Your Hips” could be a good cover for DDR, don’t you think ?. Those DDR are beautiful human beings."
Patrick
Portrait of the author with Margaret Dollrod
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