Every Saturday, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 28-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.
Often I find going to the gym before singing can be sort of draining, but I really wanted to squeeze it in, so when the first song wasn’t perfect, I wasn’t surprised, but I was excited about showing Dave the Dr. Feelgood video, Wilko Johnson playing “She Does It Right,” and I wanted to talk about the production values of a very recently released album by an icon (who shall go unnamed, and now that I hear PiL, make that two icons, where John sounds like Vi Subvera and that’s a good thing, but I don’t like the production on this either).
I’m making tea and Dave is playing the “She Does It Right” riff to amuse me, and I tell him about some of the recent online dating stuff, including the guy I spent part of Sunday exchanging emails with, the guy with the Goldwing who appears to be more of a security guard than the paramedic he claimed to be. He lives with his father and a little dog, which leads into me making up a story about what would happen if I followed that path, with a guy who had said, “occasionally we’ll do some things solo.” This sent Dave into near-hysterics, me saying, “The guy has no idea. Yes, occasionally we will be doing some things apart.”
Dave thought it was hilarious that I’d asked the guy if English was his first language.
In my story, I’m making breakfast for his dad while he’s off guarding some vacant lot with crackheads wandering around, and his dad is saying he does not want table syrup, he wants maple syrup, and so I get on the Goldwing with the little dog to go to Costco, and I’ve got the headset on, and I’m dialing Dave’s number to tell him all about my new life.
Anyway, it’s pretty funny. This is when Dave realizes that we need to jump to the faster songs, and we rip through “Super Valu Logo” and “Art Is The Great Leveler,” and everything comes together—avoiding production values, “She Does It Right” and the new songs, now with a whole new intensity. They are weapons against the crushing intrusion of what could be, if one didn’t have ways to relegate, water off a Goldwing’s back.
