Brief But Intense
Jim E. Brown is not the Hall of Fame running back at O’Brien’s Pub on Wednesday, 30 April 2025.
Targus Targus and G. Gordon Gritty go gonzo in the opening slots.
Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix
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Hump Nights
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Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix 〰️ Hump Nights 〰️
Hump Nights
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Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix
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Hump Nights 〰️ Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix 〰️
A sold out, or nearly there (?), crowd greeted musician slash comedian slash odd duck Jim E. Brown at O’Brien’s Pub. It was his first return to the area since a July gig at the 4th Wall in 2024. And if you’ve been to one of his gigs before, you know he always brings plenty of literature for sale.
G. Gordon Gritty
G. Gordon Gritty
Opener G. Gordon Gritty must have been paying attention because they brought some literature of their own, which looked to be specially-engineered for the occasion. The title read: “G. Gordon Gritty, Jim E. Brown, and Lana Del Rey: Vol. I.”
Say what you will about G3, you can’t say the noise punkers don’t get up for shows. Their set began with a spoken word prelude, presumably an excerpt from Volume I.
The rest of the set? A gonzo chaos parade, mixing guitars, brass, percussion into one singular woofing chorus of rock. The fronter scrambled around the room like a Rhesus monkey on acid, wearing a Britney Spears-era headset microphone that freed up an extra hand for doing battle with the spectre of mediocrity.
The band coaxed Jim E. Brown to the stage for a singalong cameo late in the set. He obliged, but bowed out after a couple of minutes, looking a little confused like he didn’t know what he was supposed to be doing. The answer was probably any damn thing he wanted.
Targus Targus
Targus Targus
Music and comedy are familiar bedfellows at big festivals and small (and usually free) open mic nights. The pairing is less common at every type of show between those two extremes. People tend to prefer to spend midlevel ticket dollars on shows that are all comedy, all music, all this, or all that.
That’s just how it tends to go. But the pairing can work great, and works best when the bands are in on the joke. You know, not trying to be comedians themselves so much as warming up the room in the general spirit of levity.
Targus Targus were in on the joke. The Wave Race-core jazz bangers belted out a chorus of synths, a lightning bolt of an electric saxophone (or electric something? Honestly, it looked like Robocop’s dick), and a percussive backdrop heavy on the bongos. Was that a track I heard from Mario Sunshine, one of the least fun entries into the 3D Mario video game series? Seriously, fuck that F.L.U.D.D. mechanic bullshit.
Top Targus Targus track of the night? Probably “Targus Targus Targus,” off the album Targus Targus Targus Targus.
Jim E. Brown
Jim E. Brown
The inestimable, unsupportable, and importune Jim E. Brown took the stage to an appreciative crowd.
Was it over-appreciative? Maybe such a thing is not possible for a touring artist looking to sell out a gig. I’m just trying to wrap my head around the psycho-emotional landscape of a crowd that pitstomped its way through Brown’s cover of The Cranberries’ “Linger.”
The cover was a unique exception on a night full of originals from Brown’s extensive discography, whose extensive extensiveness is seconded only by the extending extension of his bibliography. There were plenty of books at the merch table to promote, and he promoted them with an unquenchable passion.
The stories that begin in his books find their way into song, and vice versa. On tap for the night, anecdotes about observing abandoned chicken fillets in a public park, sneaking a covert burger in the restroom at a McDonald’s, romantic flings with the elderly, and custody battles involving his on-again, off-again role as father to his son, Tanner.
All of the above scored to a pulsating, synth-driven post punk rhythm that didn’t ask too much from Brown in the way of musicianship. He strummed a few chords and pulled out an electric flute (or electric something? Again, it looked like Robocop’s dick, which I don’t speak about from experience) to serenade the crowd for a dozen bars or so until he remembered to ask his adoring fans for another freebie pint.
He received more freebie pints than he could possibly drink. But isn’t drinking them part of the bit?
#prayfortanner
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Jim E. Brown is not the Hall of Fame running back at O’Brien’s Pub.