The "Mats" Stub Story

There’s an average movie called Can’t Hardly Wait that was trying hard for a Dazed and Confused / American Graffiti vibe, but mostly failing that, what it did do... was get me thinking about the song they used for the title and ending credits. One of my favorite songs from The Replacements. That same day I cracked open my Rolling Stone Magazine and the first thing I see was a little blurb about a reunion? Watta an awesome quinky dink… Rock 104 here in Fort Wayne had a pretty progressively thinking program manager at one time that went by “Doc West”. Since then, all the Fort Wayne stations have been reeled in and only play what their narrow genre allows from limited market researched play lists and such. But before safe by-the-numbers blandness ruled, Doc would let some pretty alternative groups encroach in on the “rock” list. Bands like The Cure, The Smiths, and The Replacements actually got air time in the big farm town of Fort Wayne. Thanks to hearing songs like “I’ll Be You” and “Talent Show” combined with some Rolling Stone magazine reading I eventually bought several of their CD’s. When “All Shook Down” came out, I immediately bought it, and when a show in Chicago was announced, I immediately bought tickets to that too. Unfortunately the girl I was dating at the time couldn’t have been more mainstream pop. If I had gotten Madonna tickets instead, THAT might have impressed her. Failing to find one single girl in Fort Wayne that even knew who The Replacements were(or guy for that matter) I headed out towards Chicago all by myself in hopes of selling the extra ticket. (A few years earlier I found myself in the same predicament, a concert with no date.. —something I’ve dealt with far more times than I care to remember—. I was there with another couple and they saw me try and get SOMETHING for the extra ticket, but David Byrne was doing his mambo tour and there wasn’t a whole lot of interest, and thinking I sold it for like half price, unfortunately a little slight of hand from a scalper made me realized I sold it for like $7… oh well.) I started out late morning with the plans of stopping by my old roommate from Ball State: Mark Dominiac’s place. To this day he still probably lives within a mile or two from his parents, within a mile or two of Catholic Church, within a mile or two of a bar. Such is Whiting, Indiana, the last little bit of Indiana squeezed in before Chicago full of Polish immigrants working in “The Region” miles and miles of endless refineries. Sadly I only got as far as the bypass going by Plymouth, Indiana, when my car started overheating. The gas station I stopped at was basically a ‘convenience store’ and by convenience I mean “car repair” wasn’t one of them. I was able to drive it further into town and by getting a water pump delivered to them across town I was finally back on the road after about a 3 hour delay. Fortunately I had started out early enough I even still had enough time to see the ol' college roommate... well, for about half an hour… oh well… on my way into the big city.(btw Mark’s tastes in music did not go anywhere past “classic rock” so he had no interest in going) Well as opposed to the David Byrne mambo show at the same venue, this one was completely sold-out. What I didn’t know at the time was this was already be considered a farewell tour that eventual came back to the Windy City a mere 5 months later for a final show. So I was easily able to sell my ticket… even at a profit for my trouble…(I hope the statute of limitation has long passed for scalping;-)  The general admission place was packed! I was able to procure a place about half way back on the main floor way off to the side. I even got to know a few of my surrounding patrons as it became very necessary to block out space if any one of us that wanted to make a beer or restroom run. You had to basically spread your feet out and hold your ground as people tried to force their way into the vacant spot. Talking with what turned out to be a group of Chicago lawyers and hot legal assistants, it was fun to talk common interests like last month's Neil Young/Crazy Horse "Ragged Glory" tour as I’m sure the godfather of punk was certainly an idol to the punks of Westerberg and the like. And of course we ALL enjoyed the antics of the party hard band of The Replacements. I remember at one point the band was playing and Paul was singing but he was no where to be seen. Then “I’m up here you asshole” Paul said, getting the spotlight guy’s attention, and from the ornate “box seat” which wasn’t much more than decoration I would think, Paul was standing up on the edge and swinging from it’s frame. Knowing the bands reputation for excessive inebriation, I was glad he didn’t proceed to fall into the audience…. All in all a great fun show. And then a few short moths later in July, in nearby Grant Park, they return to Chicago and then it was all over. After a small reunion in 2006, they all went their separate ways until as I first mentioned, reading in Rolling Stone and few more details on Wikipedia mention >>On October 3, 2012, it was announced that The Replacements have reformed and singer Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson were in the studio recording an EP containing song covers. The EP will be sold in a 250-copy edition of 10" vinyl and auctioned online to benefit former Replacements guitarist Slim Dunlap, who had recently suffered a stroke. Westerberg has said that the band does not rule out touring or recording a new album<< Hafta keep my eye out for this… Getting ready to "publish" this, when I realized I shudda use the line: I had to get a "REPLACEMENT" water pump! Ha! Update: 9-25-14 -Cool! Someone just posted a playlist...... I assume it's accurate. The Setlist for this show