Gonzo And C'mon

12/15/08 12:03pm

by Steve McLean (CHARTattack)

My friends and I get together once a month for fellowship, food, drinks and to watch documentaries. I must credit Jeff Kilpatrick for putting the most elaborate one together on Friday, as far as nourishment is concerned. He prepared a bunch of delicious dishes and concocted some mean juleps and whiskey sours. And his choice of Gonzo, a documentary about groundbreaking journalist Hunter S. Thompson, was a good one.

My friend Daryl — a true rock 'n' roll warrior and almost unparalleled music fan — contacted me earlier in the day and said he wanted to come up to Toronto from his home in Buffalo so he could have his "ass kicked" and "head ripped off" by seeing C'mon at the Horseshoe. So after filling ourselves and enjoying the film, we headed from documentary central at chez Cohen to the 'Shoe.

I saw C'mon quite a bit in their early days, but it had been a couple of years since the last time, so Daryl and I got right up front where we were assured of getting guitar in the face from the hirsute Sir Ian Blurton. It wasn't deafeningly loud, like some C'mon shows I remember, but that was fine with me. It still rawked. Blurton left the stage at one point and gave his axe to a fan in the crowd and let him wail while he returned to the stage to take it all in. Bassist Katie Lynn Campbell, meanwhile, also did some interacting with the crowd during the set. They also downed quite a few shots.

C'mon leave for Europe this week. I wish them well.

After the performance, I got caught up with a few friends who I hadn't seen in a while and met City And Colour's bassist. I told him I wasn't a fan, which he accepted graciously, but Daryl now wants to see Dallas Green and company in Buffalo when they play The Town Ballroom with William Elliott Whitmore on Jan. 10.