Is Wa-Ha a verb or an adjective?
I first saw Free Hot Lunch in the summer of 1983, at a bar in Platteville.
It's a bit of a story. Settle in, Get comfortable.
I was taking some summer classes, prior to transferring colleges. A friend was in town visiting, and we already had done a fair bit of drinking the night before (this was summer, and the middle of corn country; having hayfever, I was almost always a bit looped on antihistamines, and was usually a cheap date). On this day, we got up at the crack of afternoon, and futzed around for awhile playing half-assed croquet and drinking half-assed boat drinks made with generic Orange Drink and lots of ice. It was hot.
When we ran out of booze, we started wandering off in the general direction of some bars. We stopped in the local music store and abused a few instruments until some real musicians came in, then wandered off again. Downhill; it was hot.
At this point, our primary goal was a cold drink in an air conditioned bar. Have I mentioned it was hot? The only game at 4 in the afternoon was the Hoist House; not a bad choice, but the air conditioner was laboring valiantly, having seen better days. We settled in with a pitcher of Augsburger Dark, but really didn't make much headway on it. Seemed out of sync somehow.
When the bartender served up a tray of gin and tonics to another patron, it seemed all too plain; thick German style beer just doesn't work on a hot day. So we switched; beer for G&Ts. This worked and the afternoon started to slide away in that painless way. I think we had some food; but I can't be sure. A Limited budget makes for hard choices, and we were making them.
We saw the signs for the band; I only knew that they were from Madison. I had some impression they were a blues band, but have no idea where I got that from. Finally, after we had successfully ignored the soundcheck, one came up to see if they could squeeze a cover out of us, and we started to argue a bit; the bartender eventually comped for us because we had been there all afternoon.
And Free Hot Lunch played.
It's always been hard to describe Wa-Ha Music to someone who hasn't seen them; as with so much good music, it lives at the fullest when played live. Many people, upon hearing the recordings, compare them to Jimmy Buffett, and I grudgingly concede the similarity. However, I always then have to point out one important, glaring difference: I don't like Jimmy Buffett (and yes, I have seen him in a show).
Free Hot Lunch's Influences range from folk, and jazz, and country, with a fair amount of bluegrass and pop thrown in and maybe a little bit of reggae. Woven throughout is ace musicianship, and wonderful vocal harmonies. But throughout all, the band has an irrepressible sense of humor, especially about sex (one of their songs, they called it 'folk-punk', was titled "My Wife and My Best Friend's Girl") and a healthy dose of self-deprecation. They always displayed clever wit on stage, and dealt with hecklers like experienced stand ups. It was always easy to get them off track, and more than once I saw them stop a song in the middle to drink a shot of tequila bought by a member of the audience, a tradition. Give and take between the band and the audience is expected, and is actually as much a part of the show; they don't care if you drink, dance, or just shout out rude comments, but they won't let you just sit there.
It must be mentioned that at the time, I was growing out of my high school metal phase, and had been happily wandering through punk, alternative, and new wave music. But regardless, we had an immensely enjoyable time; I actually think I was even more impressed because the music wasn't my typical fare, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. After the show, I bought the band's album (big vinyl one) and a t-shirt, and went wandering off through the local bars to find other friends who I could drunkenly harangue about this band.
Since then, we have followed the band over many years, and seen them in many places. It's impossible to remember how many times, but I would guess at least thirty. We saw amazing shows in the Club de Wash in Madison, and Summerfest. But the band suffered from Music Industry Weasel Syndrome: they couldn't be handily pigeonholed, packaged, and promoted, so despite a rabid regional fan base, local radio play, an honest and adult work ethic and great songs (even scoring a laudatory review in Playboy) they plateaued in the 90's and hung up the flowered shirts in 1995 or thereabouts.
As one of the band members ruefully admitted the other night "It just wasn't fun anymore" and looking back, I guess we could see that. The on stage humor was less natural, and more sniping seemed to be going on; nobody seemed to want to talk to the audience after the shows anymore.
But before that time, through all these different parts of my life, dragging a bunch of bemused friends to Free Hot Lunch kept a constant refrain. After seeing the boys perform that first night, I wrote a long rambling near-incoherent letter to my then girlfriend, who read with bemusement to say the least. Eventually, I managed to take her to a show, and then she understood. Actually, I dare say it may have damaged her somehow, because she eventually married me.
So it was with much regret that we heard that the band had hung it up in the 90s. Since then, it has always seemed that something was just missing at Summerfest, or that it seemed like a Free Hot Lunch show should be coming up; With all the music I listen to, no one band has ever really filled the void they left.
Then, a couple of years ago, at a Christmas Party, a friend mentioned that he had heard that a reunion gig was in the offing. I immediately grabbed him by the shirt and extracted all the information I could, reminding him that if he was wrong, i would have to kill him. He understood. But when I managed to track down the Wa-Ha Surf Shop later, I found it was true, kind of. Turns out the band was going to be all in one place at one time, and thought they'd play a few songs...in Hawaii.
WTF. Turns out that the band members had gone various directions, one staying in Madison, one moving to Florida, and one moving to Hawaii.
what choice was there? We scraped the money together and got on the Bar That Flies, to a WaHa vacation in paradise. The band was sloppy, and didn't know many songs, the locals were confused, but ended up dancing, and the 30 or so people from the Midwest who made it were some of the happiest sunburned people you've ever seen. we got it all on video.
Last year, they actually made a 'tour' of it, playing Summerfest, a couple of shows in Madison, and an NPR style chautauqua in Bayfield. The band members admitted they had fun, so...
It was Florida's turn. Fort Myers Beach, to be exact. And that's where I was all last week, if you couldn't figure it out. The band played Friday and Saturday night to 100 of their friends; the waitstaff and bartenders had no idea what to expect but had nearly as good a time as the crowd, and got tipped for it. Much tequila was drank, and I'm proud to say I was the first to buy the band shots on Friday night. On Saturday I think the band got shots before they started the first song. John Corning said at one point that his wife suggested that he not drink any more tequila; he replied "well, I'm not going to drink any LESS tequila"
The band actually practiced (!), and dug into the WayBack machine, playing all of my favorites: Oz, Yours, Ring Around The Moon, Forgot What I Was Drinking To Forget, Home of The whales... and several even I hadn't heard before. Or at least don't remember hearing. And, of course, I Hate To Wake Up Sober In Nebraska. They played completely different sets both nights, and ended up, of course, with Reiba's Cantina and encored with Sailor's Prayer. There were new t-shirts available, and they even dug out some old promo glossies and were giving them away. The members of the band were maybe a bit overwhelmed, but had nearly as good a time as we did. It was epic, and a friend got a digital soundboard patch, so we should have a high quality recording soon.
They messed up a couple of songs, of course; but managed to make it part of the ongoing semi-comedy routine throughout the songs. Oh, and there was that Gilligan's Stairway interlude...
They even played a NEW Free Hot Lunch song.
True exchange from the stage: "When was the last time you heard a new Free Hot Lunch song?"
From the audience: "Last night!"
From the band, laughter, then: "I love playing these Alzheimer's shows."
Here's a coda, just to irritate those that didn't rearrange their lives to make it:
It was, without a doubt, the definitive Free Hot Lunch show; by spreading it over 4 long sets and two nights, they managed two sober portions of the show, and two 'drinking' sets, as well as playing practically every song anybody could want to hear. And the 100 people who traveled from all ends off the continent had more fun than is legal, anymore. It must be wonderfully rewarding for Jeff, John and Jeff to be able to make that many people so happy.
Well, this is much longer than I thought it would be. Kudos to anyone who managed to make it all the way through.
