Good Georgia: Whirlyball Concerts

Ok, this is a little weird. Last night we went to see Ted Leo & the Pharmacists at a whirlyball place. I had never heard of whirlyball until I moved down here, and I remained unsure as to exactly what it is until last night. Basically, it's a combination of bumper cars, lacrosse, and basketball. There are (I think; I only watched it all damn night so don't expect too accurate of details) 10 cars, 5 on each team, and each player has a lacrosse type thing, and there's a ball (whiffle, I believe), and basketabll things without nets at either end, and the object is to get the ball with your lacrosse thing and hit the target on the net-less basketball thing while people are bumping into you and trying to steal the ball. There is even a referee. Whirlyball is all over the place down here - there is one across the street from our house, even, which seems to be an extremely popular destination for those Latino 15th birthday parties. Seems like there is one there every day, in fact.

So, bizarrely enough, a whirlyball place in Roswell, GA (home of Mr. & Mrs. Russ, Sr.) has started to have really good indie bands play in their bar area. It's pretty cool beacause the venue is tiny, like maybe 300 people max and a very small stage, so it's very intimate.

Speaking of intimate, Ted Leo is smokin'.

I had no idea. He's a little too earnest for me (vegan and straight-edge), but seriously super cute and just an amazing guitarist, singer, and performer. He gives off this amazing energy and bis band are hilarious. The drummer looks like a muppet-version of Mick Fleetwood and, as my friend Matt put it, looks completely surprised all the time. The bassist has the craziest hair and beard since the original Sabbath lineup. They seriously rocked and seemed to be having the best time. When we got there, they were playing whirlyball with the guys from Chunklet magazine, who were wearing Team Chunklet coveralls. It looked like fun so Bunches played, then Bunces and Matt both played. I have to say, they both SUCKED. Bunches has informed us all via e-mail that he is HOOKED and we shall be playing again soon (despite what he claims was an attempt by the referee to steal his wallet, a claim which sounds paranoid, but I may agree with him).

So today's lesson: Play whirlyball. See Ted Leo if he comes to your town. And watch your wallet when the referee with the mohawak from Roswell whirlyball is around.