Evan Dando, the lead singer for The Lemonheads, is getting some unwanted publicity right now for a picture he posted via twitter that appears to be him and a couple of friends in a hotel room sitting at a table preparing to snort some lines of something.
When I think of alternative music; The Lemonheads always come to mind. I remember them as being one of the first bands I had ever heard as being described as “alternative”, which meant they were cool and kind of under the radar. This was in the days before the internet , heck it was the dawn of the pc age; so you only heard this type of band on MTV’s “120″ minutes, or if you were lucky enough on an after-hours program your local radio station usually aired at 1:00 am on Sunday nights.
They eventually made it into mainstream with the song “It’s a Shame about Ray” and followed that with many other radio friendly hits. I saw them once back in the mid 90′s at a venue called the Southside Music Hall where the opening act was a then unheard of Matchbox 20. It was a great show.
So why the post? He is a wonderful song writer and musician, whose potential in my opinion has been held back by his drug problems. Evan’s got a long time relationship with drugs, documented at length on the internet, but just as easily by the many songs he has written on the subject. Evan and his Lemonheads are going to be at a gig one week from today at The Bottletree Cafe in Birmingham, which is about a 20 minute drive from where I am. I am not planning on going to the show, but if Mr. Dando reads this and would like to go to a gig of a different sort before the sound-check… hit me up on the site. Sorry for being a downer and airing your dirty laundry (see previous post on Josh Hamilton) but I’m just practicing some tough love (see previous post on L is for Loser).
