UFO

10. Love to Love (Lights Out, 1977) featured PR on keyboards. Although a slower song, it featured heavy drums and a heavy bass line. VM switched between his electric and acoustic guitars (the latter on a stand). This song was played in extended form and featured a great VM guitar solo. VM used Dean Guitars and Engl Amplification. At the end of the song PM reached in his pocket and pulled out some currency. [I thought he was going to tip the crowd for their enthusiasm, but PM had other plans that came to light after the next song.]

11. Mystery Train (Junior Parker/Sam Phillips cover, 1953) is a cover song from nearly 60 years ago with a very strong blues feel and clap along introduction. PM sang this song in a very low octave, so much so that the veins in his left temple were prominently exposed. [The veins were so apparent that PM looked like one of the victims in the 1981 horror film “Scanners” with the unfortunate fate of having his mind controlled by the scanner alien beings bearing great psychic power. I was waiting for PM’s temple to profusely bleed and eventually explode. Maybe that is why PM drank so much beer, to numb his brain to the point that it did not explode, something that may also work for me when my brain begins to feel warm, like a poached egg after continued, excessive head banging.] The song also featured harmonica. At first I was puzzled as I did not see any band mate toting a harmonica. But I looked up and saw PR synthesizing this effect on his keyboard. [It would have been more authentic to see PM pull out a harmonica out of his pocket.] At the end of this song a waitress toting a small plate with a beer walked right next to me front row and handed PM another beer. PM approached her with the currency he had earlier taken out and the waitress begrudgingly accepted the money.

12. Too Hot to Handle (Lights Out, 1977) features a great chorus and was one of the top three songs of the night. During the solo VM and RDL each lifted and positioned their axes behind their heads and then approached each other, standing within a few feet of each other while jamming. After about 30 seconds of dueling axes, VM took it a step further and began to pluck his guitar strings with his teeth. [Jimi Hendrix would have been proud. I wonder if VM’s band mates ever tease him by offering him a high E-string in lieu of dental floss once he gets in his jammies.] Positioned atop the monitor within a few feet of AP’s left shoulder was a colorful toy figurine measuring approximately three inches holding a guitar and gyrating his hips left and right like Elvis Presley in response to the sound reverberating through the small club. A very fitting addition to the band’s tongue in cheek humor. [Given AP’s husky frame, he looked like King Kong next to the figurine. AP’s menacing snarl, teeth grinding, and head shaking made it seem as if, at any moment, he would snatch the figurine and engulf it in one bite like a gummy bear.] At the end of the song PM pontificated, “Since this is the last gig [before UFO resumes the tour in Europe in mid November], I asked the band their thoughts on playing in a band. As it turns out, they all think different things.” [One of the readers out there please e mail me the point PM tried to make. I felt like I was listening to Confucius. PM’s eternal wisdom was far beyond what my miniscule brain could handle. I am still grappling and contemplating the difficult question of the true shape of my fuzzy navel.]