DEVO kicked off their "50 Years of Devolution" (don't say Farewell!) tour Nov. 2, at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. 44 years later, Kath and I were there AGAIN, pogo'ing our brains out.
Looking over at Kath, nothing had changed. Gut Feeling was playing and we were going nuts; no longer drunk and sweating in plastic hazmat suits, but still beaming from ear to ear, we were connected in the now of it all. That timeless place that erases 44 years with one drumbeat. The mystical force that brought us together when we were teenage DJ's in college radio, had two names. Punk and New Wave. It blasted through our turntables, the Livewire 95 airwaves, and through our hearts. Our life was ON because of it.
We both went on to lifelong careers in radio, sans college diplomas.
I made a lot of art, but my world was all about the music.
I couldn't have imagined 2 years ago when I wrote the Pogo'ing blog post, that the painting, they called him Boogie Boy would end up on stage with the band, OR that Booji Boy would actually be wearing stripes when he came out!! I also couldn't have imagined the extreme devolution that we're witnessing today. Much to their chagrin, Devo were right. “We wish we were just some crazy art group, we didn’t want to be right”.
Artists have the power to make people aware.
Before DEVO left the stage, Booji Boy, discoursing on the state of things, shouted this ending dictate "MUTATE NOW !!!"
Honestly, I think they might be right...again.
Thanks to Ed for the great on stage photos, and for his generosity.
And thanks to DEVO for the best memories ever. #devo #devo50years #devofarewelltour
