Greg Dulli on piano at Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia (10/20/2010)
The man’s music already altered my life once. It’d be greedy to expect it to do it again.
I was 17 (half of my current age) when “Gentlemen” entered my life. I saw the video for “Debonair” once and that was enough to get The Afghan Whigs major label debut album added to my Christmas wish list. The CD was purchased at The Wall, formerly Wall to Wall Sound & Video (the square blue sticker remains on the the back of the jewel case), as a gift for me from my oldest brother. What I didn’t know then was just how profoundly the music would change me. Now, anyone familiar with The Afghan Whigs might be worried I’d become a misogynistic drug addict at the tender age of 17. Now, that didn’t happen until my mid-20’s…ha! I kid, of course.
Because of Greg Dulli and The Afghan Whigs, I’ve spent the past 17 years in a beautiful love affair with music, my 1st true love really. I believe in music as catalyst for personal growth, launching you on a lifelong journey you never could have planned for yourself. It happened to me, so I know it’s true.
Last night, I saw the Afghan Whigs frontman perform an acoustic concert billed as “An Evening with Greg Dulli”. He was accompanied by a cello/violin, minor percussion and additional acoustic guitar. I’ve seen him on stage somewhere between 13-15 times as a member of The Afghan Whigs and later, The Twilight Singers, but Wednesday night marked the 1st time I’d seen the man perform in nearly a decade.
The show was fantastic. Dulli and his band played several Afghan Whigs and Twilight Singers songs, including “Summer’s Kiss” and, even acoustically, it sent shivers up my spine. Never heard it? Check it out here:
In a not-that-roundabout kinda way, Greg Dulli and The Afghan Whigs are why OWTK exists. My passion for sound & words put to disc began with him/them and continues today with the far less self-destructive songwriters in the kindie music world.
Want to hear a confession? I almost didn’t travel to Philly last night. The babysitter couldn’t stay into the wee hours, so the Mrs. was out. Plus, I was beat and the thought of that Schuylkill Expressway drive nearly got me to stay put. I fought the urge for comfort and the allure of my sweatpants. As I sit there contemplating my oldness and the new level of pathetic I’d reach if I skipped the show, I realized that I’m more excited about kid’s music than adult music. And it’s not even close. I got a new kindie album emailed to me yesterday, one I’ve been eager to hear for some time, and it dominated my afternoon and my dinner conversation with the Mrs. I could not wait to share with her my early-favorite songs. I cannot recall the last time a grown-up band’s disc and/or song prompted that kind of enthusiasm (Local Natives “Cubism Dream”, perhaps).
What does all this mean? Beats me. But I fought the good fight against aging last night and won, and while the music itself failed to change me for a 2nd time, the mere fact that I got to the club, stayed till the end, and then blasted that yet-to-be-released kindie album at 1am on the way home signaled to me that my life had actually been altered again. And in a not-that-roundabout kinda way, Greg Dulli helped me realize it.
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