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Goodbye Sober Day

Comments (0) By Sam Prestianni Wednesday, Dec 29 1999

Goodbye Sober Day
"Goodbye Sober Day" is the final track on Mr. Bungle's California, arguably thealbum of the year -- if such accolades were awarded solely on the basis of extreme artistic merit. The tune serves as a model of Bungle sociopathy: schizoid arrangements that answer to no one's norms, slinking smartly from the group's trademark screwball funk and art thrash into Gregorian benediction and mosh-ready Balinese monkey-chant. Executed with mind-blowing precision, the soundscape's hallucinatory fever is enough to drive one to extended bouts at the mescal bar. Not a bad cocktail for Y2K New Year's Eve.

Jay Blakesberg

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But alcohol poisoning can kill. So thank Dick Clark for ipecac, a creeping South American vine used as an emetic. Not coincidentally, Ipecac is also the name of Bungle singer Mike Patton's year-old DIY record label, which hosts a cavalcade of underground heroes sure to set your insides a-rumbling, including the undisputed sovereigns of sludge (Melvins), Patton's severe attention-deficit experiment (Fantômas), and inspiring special-ed teen rock 'n' groovers (Kids of Widney High).

For this Slim's-presented gala, the Ipecac triumvirate will perform along with Mr. Bungle and Vancouver proto-punks NoMeansNo at what promises to be San Francisco's primo, turn-of-the-century, mad-music fete. Damage your eardrums, dance drunk till you puke, sing a skewed harmony: "Goodbyyye soberrrr daaaaaay ...."

Mr. Bungle appears with Melvins, NoMeansNo, Fantômas, and Kids of Widney High Friday, Dec. 31, at 8 p.m. at the S.F. Design Center Galleria, 101 Henry Adams (at Alameda), S.F. Tickets are $60; call the Slim's box office at 522-0333 for more information.