the last day saloon
:B@60
nightclub & restaurant OPEN AT 4 PM tHURS. - sATURDAY AND ANY DAY A SHOW IS SCHEDULED
AVAILABLE FOR PRIVATE PARTIES, BANQUETS, FUNDRAISERS AND OUTSIDE PROMOTERS 707.545.5876 10/28
7:30 - 10:00 PM > TRIVIA
QUIZMANIAX! PUB QUIZ 10/29
9:00 PM SHOW > $20 > COMEDY
CRAIG GA SS
seen on "Sex and the city", "king of queens", "the roast of gene simmons"
10/30
ALSO ON
8:00 PM SHOW > $20 > COMEDY
CRAIG GA SS encore performance 10/30
9:30 PM SHOW > $20 > ROCK
H>DA 20=3;4 1DA=43 >DC
IT'S A HALLOWEEN BASH W/
AC/D S HE All-Girl tribute to AC/DC + ADD/C + PRIZES FOR THE 3 BEST COSTUMES
10/31
8:30 PM SHOW > $20 > ROCK
TRAPT + the disciples + simoom 11/5
9:30 PM SHOW > $10 > DANCE, HIP HOP
POP FICTION + DJ MATT MCKILLOP 11/6
9:00 PM SHOW > $30 > PUNK ROCK
THE MISFITS
+ JUICEHEAD + PITCHFORK REBELLION 11/7
7:30 PM SHOW > $12 > AMERICANA
roger clyne & the peacemakers + STOLL VAUGHN 11/13
8:30 PM SHOW > $10 > ROCK
SFARZO STRINGS & LAST DAY SALOON PRESENT
LCM
+ MILES SCHON BAND + DARKSIDE SHINE 11/15
8:30 PM SHOW > $18/20 > ROCK
NONPOINT + IN THIS MOMENT all shows are 21+ unless noted for reservations: 707.545.5876
707.545.2343 120 5th street @ davis street santa rosa, ca
lastdaysaloon.com 30
10.27.10-11.02.10
THE BOHEMIAN
For Terry Zwigoff, the same music that perchance caused death is just as good as any afterward.
AXc\^ ST [^b <dTac^b What do you want played at your funeral?
By David Templeton
5
rom the dawn of civilizationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and maybe even earlierâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;every funeral has required a bit of well-chosen music. Whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a chamber orchestra playing a requiem mass or your cousinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s boombox playing Israel Kamakawiwoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;oleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s version of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Over the Rainbow,â&#x20AC;? no burial seems complete without a little tunage. In most cases, of course, it is our survivors who choose the music, and their choices are usually tasteful, respectful and appropriate. To hell with all that, suggests novelist Christopher Moore. When he dies, the cult-favorite author (Bloodsucking Fiends, Practical Demonkeeping, The Stupidest Angel and A Dirty Job) has already decided that his funeral will conclude with the playing of Tom Waitsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 1985 song â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tango Till Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re Sore.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s from the Rain Dogs album,â&#x20AC;? says Moore, anticipating his earthly farewell. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the perfect dirge,â&#x20AC;? he says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;a mixture of the joy of life and the melancholy of its inevitable end.â&#x20AC;? To be sure, most of us donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t plan our own funerals, but if we didâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;including choosing the music played during the more dramatic momentsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;those funerals might be a whole lot more interesting. I asked a number of North Bay musicians, authors, actors and standup comics what music theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d choose for the climax of their eventual grand interment, and their answers ran from the smart to the smart-ass, from the serious to the seriously messed up. Comedian Dan St. Paul, whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always said he doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fear death nearly as much as he fears never seeing any more baseball games, wants â&#x20AC;&#x153;Take Me Out to the Ball Gameâ&#x20AC;? as his coffin is carried away. Fellow comic Arthur Gaus selects the Bugglesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Video Killed the Radio Star,â&#x20AC;? because, as he puts it, â&#x20AC;&#x153;It doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make any sense to have that song at a funeralâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and I like that about it.â&#x20AC;? Fittingly enough, theater publicist Kim Taylor wants her funeral to include the Ray Noble version of the big-band song â&#x20AC;&#x153;Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Say Goodbye.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;And thenâ&#x20AC;? she says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;when I go to heaven, I hope thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a cocktail lounge, where I can smoke without anyone chastising meâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and I hope Ray Noble is there singing that song.â&#x20AC;? For actor-director Conrad Bishopâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; whose current show Hands Up (Friday, Oct. 29, at the Occidental Arts Center) takes a surreal look at mortality and the end of lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the song most tempting to have played at his funeral is Edith Piaf â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Milord.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know if Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d actually ask that,â&#x20AC;? Bishop allows, â&#x20AC;&#x153;as nobody but Elizabeth would understand.â&#x20AC;? (Conradâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wife and longtime performance partner is Elizabeth Fuller.) â&#x20AC;&#x153;But that song was constantly playing on the jukebox at the scroungy little greasyspoon cafe that was the actorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; hangout near Northwestern U in 1960 though â&#x20AC;&#x2122;61, when we were courting. And besides the intense nostalgia of that memory, the song sums upâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;in the building momentum of its final chorusâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the spirit of joy thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sustained us through these 50 years.â&#x20AC;? Of course, there are those who prefer not to think about it. Director Terry Zwigoff (Ghost World, Bad Santa, Crumb) points out that corpses canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hear, and prefers to leave such decisions to others. â&#x20AC;&#x153;What do I care what they play? Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be dead,â&#x20AC;? says Zwigoff. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They can play Elton John for all I careâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; and I hate Elton John.â&#x20AC;? David Templetonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s full segment about death songs airs on the Oct. 27 edition of KRCBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ArtsID program. 91.1-FM, 7pm. www.artsid.org.