Not surprisingly there isn’t a ton of live video footage of the Cranks out there, but I did find a video from ’09 which includes “Desperate Friend” about 3 minutes in:

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We arrived pretty early to the show on Friday so I was able to get a good shot of Bob’s rig before the shitty Colectivo lights went on, as well as an ancient Fender Bassman amp from his and Spencer’s Pussy Galore days.

As is my style, I got a spot right at the stage for Spencer’s performance and took a few decent photos (after heavily editing the bad lighting, of course), plus scored Coomes’ copy of the setlist at the end of the night.

The HITmakers played several tracks from Spencer Gets It Lit including some of my top picks: the opener “Junk Man,” “Bruise” (I need to somehow work this into a yoga playlist as one of the main refrains is “inhale/exhale”), “Death Ray,” “Get It Right Now” and the super-sexy “Worm Town” (the name of the song=not so sexy). They also played a couple of songs from Spencer’s last release, Spencer Sings the Hits! like “Beetle Boots,” “Overlord,” “Cape” and “Do the Trash Can” (as one of the encores) plus the super-early Jon Spencer Blues Explosion song “Shirt Jac” (1992).

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Last week I got a copy of Bob Bert’s kinda-autobiography I’m Just the Drummer, sent and signed to me by Bert himself. It’s a delightful read, a little bit about the man: his background, musical influences and collaborations, and art – one of his works is featured as Blue Gene Stew’s cover – but mostly it’s short interviews and photographs of the multitude of other artists he’s worked with over the years. Some of those interviews are pulled from Bert’s zine BB Gun from the early 2000′s.

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I saw Bob Bert perform with Jon Spencer last summer, July 2018. His “drum kit” was a refabbed car engine atop a bass drum and hooked onto a trash can; he hit his kit mainly with hammers.

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Love in Exile is lo-fi and sleazy, sort of the sound you hear while in the nasty bathroom of the local dive bar at 1:30 a.m. (granted, it is a very hip dive bar). “Lost Time Blues” is a perfect example of this vibe: churning rhythm, shrieked and strained vocals with an undercurrent of real danger. “See That My Grave is Kept Clean” is a cover of one of Blind Lemon Jefferson’s tunes, recorded in 1927 on Paramount. The Cranks version is dirgey, a Cramps-esque creepy lament, traditional blues deconstructed and then rolled through an ashtray or two.

Well, there’s one kind of favor I’ll ask of you
Well, there’s one kind of favor I’ll ask of you
There’s just one kind of favor I’ll ask of you
You can see that my grave is kept clean

And there’s two white horses following me
And there’s two white horses following me
I got two white horses following me
Waiting on my burying ground

Did you ever hear that coffin’ sound
Have you ever heard that coffin’ sound
Did you ever hear that coffin’ sound
Means another poor boy is under ground

Did you ever hear them church bells tone
Have you ever hear’d them church bells tone
Did you ever hear them church bells tone
Means another poor boy is dead and gone

Well, my heart stopped beating and my hands turned cold
And, my heart stopped beating and my hands turned cold
Well, my heart stopped beating and my hands turned cold
Now I believe what the bible told

There’s just one last favor I’ll ask of you
And there’s one last favor I’ll ask of you
There’s just one last favor I’ll ask of you
See that my grave is kept clean

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