House of Blues

Written By: MARTY LENNARTZ

When it’s the coldest night of the year with temps somewhere south of the meterological Mendoza Line, it’s hard to imagine ever sitting inside The Friendly Confines with a hot dog, a cold one and a scorecard. The 3rd Annual Len and Bob Bash, hosted by Cubs broadcasters Len Kasper and Bob Brenly at House of Blues, at least reminded us that there is such a thing as baseball and yes, someday it will be warm again. In fact the show brought more heat than a Carlos Zambrano fastball with explosive and incendiary performances from Tom Morello the Nightwatchman and The Hold Steady.

The Len and Bob Bash is a benefit concert for Cubs Charities and this year’s sold out show raised more than $40,000 which we found out during intermisson when Len and Bob brought to the stage the oversized check with the happy totals. I love those big checks.

Morello and The Hold Steady were perfect choices to play this event. Morello is a lifelong Cubs fan and The Hold Steady, from Minneapolis, are die hard Twins supporters. Craig Finn, at one point, talked about what makes baseball great. He said it’s that you can love your own team, but that everyone can come together because it’s always cool to hate the Yankees.

Morello’s set started with an introduction from Cubs All Star pitcher Ryan Dempster who paraphrased Mary Morello’s famous rage Against The Machine intro, “The Best F***’ing Band In the World”. Tom once again proved that whether with Rage, Audioslave or as The Nightwatchman, the sounds he gets out of his guitar, (that displayed the message, “Arm the homeless” on it’s body) are unmatched.

As always, along with the six string bombs, there were enough verbal f-bombs to eject Lou Pinella from the dugout for an entire season. Morello’s political stance is way back in the left field corner of Wrigley Field, but he delivers it with such intelligent conviction that you want to join his team no matter what.

He said his politics come from being a Cubs fan and supporting the underdog since he was four years old. To that I say, “Hey Hey!”

The Hold Steady’s fans are as rabid and enthusiastic as the bluest of Cubbie fanatics. They know the lyrics to all the songs, which is no small feat. Their rich and detailed character sketches are jam packed with wordy stories of drugs, drinking and hanging out in small midwestern towns. That the songs are wrapped in power chords and joyful sing-a-long choruses sung by the manic, nervous and sort of awkwardly nerdy front man, Craig Finn, makes a Hold Steady show an inclusive celebration of long nights where nothing happens. Similar to many Cubs games I’ve watched over the years.

You can’t help but be swept up in the energy, though. I looked across the way and saw Bob Brenly, former major league catcher, manager and now Cubs broadcaster. With his head bobbing, arms in the air and a smile across his face as wide as Alfonso Soriano’s batting stance and it hit me. Whether it be populist politics, stories that all “Kids In America” can recognize and relate to, or thoughts of a double to the gap that scores three runs, when you’re at House of Blues on a cold, cold January night, those things can bring us together and warm us up just a little.