DEVO tional 2001

Fred Hollins: proprietor of www.fredpc.com and www.spudboys.com . 

Here's my take on the weekend....

Friday night was a hoot. Lisa and I came in from Cedar Point dog tired and I was a bit sunburned. When we walked in the door of the hotel, there was Nick, Michael and others in the lobby. Nick says "Here comes somebody.", because I was wearing my Club DEVO shirt. From then on I felt I was among friends with my fellow geeks. Lisa was tired and stayed in the room, but the force of DEVO pulled me away. We then headed to Dennies for that corner seat. Grub was served and a few six packs grabbed at the store next door and up to Michaels room for some early geeking. Dominic broke out his DEVO magazine articles, (mainly French) with pictures I had never seen. A sink makes a pretty good beer cooler until someone leaves on the hot water. 

Lisa and I made it to the venue about 10:30am. I grabbed a table for the box of spud joy and layed out the contents. The DEVO museum was just amazing. I have one regret. I didn't look at the 3d slides! I guess I noticed but never took the chance to look. I was stunned by Will's Duty Now paper shirt and pants as well as an original New Traditionalists shirt. I did some successful trading and got 2 license frames, 3 CD's, and 1 video. I also was able to sell 2 shirts that Lisa had made. Professor Von Marco and Rick will look quite suave in those turtlenecks... I showed off my experiments to reproduce the New Tra shirt, and tell the tale several times of DEVO getting arrested in Houston. The volume of DEVO artifacts was just stunning. 

General Boy seemed to be the nicest guy ever. I asked him "what do you think of all this, do you think we are a bunch of weirdos?". He said "No, why would I , I'm just like you." Listening to him speak about young Mark, Robert and Jim and how they developed musically was fascinating. 

Jim Mothersbaugh seemed unprepared but was equally fascinating. He threw in some technical jargon about envelope whozit mixers that I'll never understand, but I'm sure someone there did. He also told us about development of early electronic drum kits. When asked if he regretted not being in the commercially successful DEVO. He quickly said "No, I love my family and I wouldn't change a thing". Now there's a spud with his feet planted firmly on the ground.

The videos were an eye popper. Thank you Michaels Pilmer and Watters. I was especially impressed with the rough cut of the Twist N Launch video and the Sundance performance. The extended New Tra-era Jerry interview was entertaining too.

There were 2 prizes given away that I would kill for. The CD with the 4 dead in OHIO and the Sundance video (dammit Dominic). I expect a full report on 4 dead.. Who got that?

The bands were especially good. CD truth had a tight sound with some catchy tunes. We liked Marvelkind so much we got a CD. It's excellent. The Spudboys gave some interesting interpretations of some of my favorite tunes. One Dumb Thing and the electric version of the EZ listening Girl U Want were a couple of my favorites. I got to play roadie a bit for Rick and pass him a bongo for Race of Doom. The karaoke versions were fun too. I kind of wish I had volunteered. Maybe next year. 

We left the venue at 1:30am. What a day.

We went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Sunday. Then went to the airport. We stopped to get a snack and then I collapsed in a chair. I sat there about 1/2 an hour before I realized I NO LONGER HAD THE BOX OF SPUD JOY WITH ME!!! HOLY SHIT!!!! I quickly back-traced my steps, heart-pounding... I went were I got the snack and the lady said, "We sent it to the police station". My heart slowed and I found the police station and my box that they were going through. I had to explain .... But I got the box back . WHEW.