Until next time, then?

Maybe you had to be there... Or, maybe it doesn't sound as astounding now, here, in the overcast-Meh-lucidity of an early April's chilled morn'... But when Jen David... already known for her engaging and affable stage presence, marched on stage as "Eminem..." baggy sweat-pants and navy-blue cotton hoodie -in-all... we thought, Well, splendid...that's charming and quite in keeping with the freewheeling masquerade and local-celebratory spirit of Detroit by Detroit -

But when she flings the hoodie off and reveals that, oh, wait, actually she also buzzed off all of her characteristic shoulder-lenght, thick, billowy black curls and then bleached her new crew cut, complete with a D-12 tattoo down her left arm...

Well... the overall impression was not only instant ingratiation, beyond that it was inspiration... in fact, for as fleeting as the sublte explosion was of her merely flinging off that coat and displaying what, was to the eyes of those gathered (the eyes that now have gotten to know her so well over the last full year) it had the oomph of what felt like a true transformation...

Sure, lots of Detroit bands went to lengths to embody... visually and aurally... other Detroit bands for last night's charity event (for the American Red Cross Disaster Relief for Japan)

Gordon Smith donned a stringy black wig for Andrew W.K. as did the Kickstand Band deck out in all white with fake blood... and Mick Bassett made a fine Randy-Deastro complete with rainbow-fuzz-ball splashes and dayglo make-up... Citizen Smile, with impressive musicality, ripped through a fine Macrame Tiger set (complete with Pedro Tiger's characteristic colored sunglasses) and even Woodman went so far as to replicate their "favorite era" of Duende line-up, visually at least, with former bassist Jason Worden's trenchoat and current guitarist Joel McCune's 2009-lasting tendency to wear a distinctive fur hat...

Maybe it was the onset of midnight... the first sip of the third high life... or the fact that Illy Mack's Steve Kendzorski so effectively mimiced the beats and bass lines of classic Eminem tracks ("Forgot About Dre" - "My Name Is" - "Lose Yourself")... It also helped that the duo, already known for pullnig out a new cover almost every-other-show...from Stevie Wonder to Cee-Lo to the Beatles, really held it down, vocally, matching even the motor-mouthed cadence required for the chorus of "Dre..." but also the necessary physical delivery - anthemic for "Lose Yourself," and sardonic for "My Name..."

but... 'tell you the truth, some of us were just a bit flabbergasted... not knowing what to say after the buzz-cut came out... it was just...essentially, pardon my low brow diction... 'bad-ass'

But that was the kind of thing anyone would hope for... to come out of an event like this...

Even before Woodman finished their third song as Duende... I leaned over to Bryan (Mister) Lackner... and said: "I can already smell this happening again sometime... better pick out who you wanna be..."

And why not do it again? And most certainly... do it again for charity! The energy is here... Our hearts would be in it... Last night was like Halloween wrapped into April Fool's Day wrapped into Opposite Day...wrapped into Guitar Hero Karaokee trips...and radiating with the vibe of some stumbling basement party game.

No more ice to break. Clearly we all know each other... and there's more bands to cover.

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