WCHC pick of the week: the Misfits

I do not know if you remember the day you discovered that Santa Claus was nothing more than an obnoxious Norman Rockwell illustration, and that consequently, the Easter Bunny was also just a part-time, teenage Sears employee in a pink rabbit suit. While I cannot say that I recall those exact moments in time (I have trouble remembering what I have to do for homework...and sometimes my name), I can say that I relived those feelings of sadness, crushed dreams, and disappointment last Thursday night when I saw the legendary punk-horror band, the Misfits (or what is left of them) perform live at Hartford's Webster Theater pre-Halloween show.

I was certainly looking forward to hearing the band that has defined my youth live, and in concert, but my dreams were crushed shortly after the skeleton of a band shuffled on stage. What used to be Glenn Danzig, Jerry Only, Joey Image, and Bobby Steele now consists of punk rock veterans Dez Cadena and Robo from Black Flag, and of course, Jerry Only. While I was aware of the band's long time dismemberment, I tried to convince myself that seeing this reincarnation of the Misfits was kind of like a Payless sale, but with punk rock stars: buy one, get two free.

Even with this "steal,"the concert just made me plain sad, and I had the worst case of buyer's remorse ever. Seeing Jerry Only onstage with his usual tight black pants that seemed to be unflattering and extra tight, white ghoul make-up, and devillock hairstyle that I have, on more than one occassion, tried to imitate, I began to wonder when rockstars should just quit.

The set they played was every Misfits song that I could ever ask for, but even that they managed to mess up. The acoustics of the theater and the unneccessary feedback from the mics turned my favorite songs into what sounded like the equivalent of banshee wails, and I do not think that is the sound that even the Misfits were going for. Jerry Only's vocals are not what they used to be, which was never good to begin with anyway, and most of the songs were off. I could not even figure out what the song was until half way through. I thought that "T.V. Casualty" was "Hybrid Moments" and "Helena" sounded like "American Nightmare."

At this point, maybe I was just annoyed, but I did not buy into Jerry Only's performance either. His face snarls, chest slaps, and fist pumps were way too choreographed and predictable. He did a variation of these movements an average of every ten seconds.

Dez Cadena's performance on guitar reflected his green Frankenstein painted face. He lacked a passion for the music and played with about as much enthusiasm as my Nana's tea parties. I think I might have even seen him yawn once, but I think that I am just being hopeful that he is actually human and does have emotions, even if it is just fatigue.

After all is said and done, I suppose that I should have known what I was getting myself into when I went to the concert, but like all faithful fans, maybe I was just in a state of denial. Like Santa and the Easter Bunny, I did not want to believe that the Misfits were old and faded even though I knew that they had been offically broken up for quite some time. The only reason they continue to play is because of Jerry Only's dreams to rehash the glory days of 1977 punk rock and capitalize on the commercialization of their signature "fiend face" skull emblem. If you go into any HotTopic, not that I make this a habit, the Misfit skull will be everywhere, right next to Hello Kitty and Care Bears. The band has truly never been the same since Danzig's departure in 1987 and Jerry Only's efforts to continue to reform the Misfits with, well, other rock misfits.

I left the concert with a heavy heart, knowing that the Misfits are now ghosts, but their legacy lives on in their early albums. To experience them at their best, check out their first albums Walk Among Us (1982), and Static Age (recorded in 1978). That is what I am going to do after I am done shedding this single, silent tear.