Monday, July 03, 2006

Lame rock concert turns into anti-Bush rally

Chicago's House of Blues played host to cult-act Ministry Saturday and Sunday. Ministry's best known song is "Everyday (is Halloween)," and that's only because the song was used in a beer commercial, I think for Old Style Light, in the 1980s.

Ministry is led by BDS-sufferer Al Jourgensen. They're a hard group to label musically, but goth and industrial seem to feet the bill for the one-time Chicago based band.

Here's an excerpt of an unfavorable review of Saturday's gig by Bob Gendron of the Chicago Tribune--free registration required:

With goofy images of a cowboyed-up President Bush and the message "Our Texas Heritage" projected against a large white backdrop, Ministry plunged full bore into "SenorPeligro," the condemning visuals leaving nothing to the imagination.

The frenetic song was the second of nine consecutive opening shots Ministry fired at Bush's administration and wartime actions during the first of a two-night stand Saturday at the House of Blues, the group's thematic approach decidedly similar to a visceral concert it played in town at the Vic in October 2004. But this time around, the results weren't as convincing.

Ministry comptroller Al Jourgensen has built a career on savaging Bush presidents. Adorned in all-black outfit complete with protective arm pads, he got his kicks mocking the current leader of the free world on "The Great Satan" and "Rio Grande Blood."

Encouraging the packed audience to participate in the political protest, Jourgensen frequently interacted with fans via hand gestures and clownish facial expressions. Yet despite his spirited animation, the former Chicagoan has lost a step, age lessening his physical movement and rowdiness. The 47-year-old strapped on a guitar just twice during the 90-minute show, and rather than scamper around, primarily pointed at soloing band members and let prerecorded samples do the heavy lifting. Jourgensen also had trouble singing above the din, the relentless barrage of blinding beats and speed-metal riffs rendering many of his distortion-filtered verses unintelligible.

In short, Ministry's leader Jourgensen didn't sing well, didn't move around well, played his guitar on just two songs, and even his Bush Derangement Syndrome act wasn't very good.

Moron Jourgensen, from Stuff Magazine in 2003:

What's your most memorable drug experience?

Tripping with Timothy Leary and shooting heroin with William Burroughs. Burroughs doesn't live on this planet. Basically, we talked about eradicating the raccoons from his petunia garden. We finally decided on dosing them with methadone. That slowed them down enough for Bill to take out his .38 and scare them away.

Since it appears that Jourgensen's musical career is winding down, what could be Al's next move?

In this article, Jourgensen, who holds a master's degree in history, it's mentioned that the Ministry leader hopes to become a university professor.

Given the current state of Moonbat-ism in academia, Jourgensen will fit right in.

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