CoCo Club show
Sunday, November 16, 1997.

"We've got plenty of time," mused Kerwin, munching his Double Decker Taco Supreme.

However, an unbelievable thing happened-- there was traffic on the Bay Bridge!  Oh, you hapless East Bay scenesters.  An apocalyptic automobile romance rendered all but one traffic lane useable, slowing our beloved Happy Hippeaux (as touted by the SF weeklies) by over one and a half hours.  Said Hippeaux resourcefully wiled away time singing a cappella versions of Kool and the Gang tunes and attempting to tune an acoustic guitar in a total vacuum.

Arriving maybe an hour after they said they would, the Hippeaux nevertheless arrived to a closed CoCo Club, and had to flag down the bartender to open it for them. Perversely, Kerwin was in a sense, right.

Members of Bitesize, the Get Go, Lunchbox, the Wingnuts, and a couple other barely significant bands packed the smoke-filled club.  "That's right!-- well, except about the pickup truck."  An unfamiliar drumset, sound balance problems from John's amp, and several donut "black" holes hampered our hereaux, but they nevertheless suceeded in putting forth a damn fine performance to raucously tepid and polite applause.

So, they played Blissed Out Senseless, So Soon (you know, that new danceable ditty), Chinese Puzzle Box/Watchdog, Dead Weight, and an excellent performance of April 22nd.  It was so good the audience was left, well, still contemplating the cryptic musical anagram game.  Hawaii Five-O and You Will Be Loved Again rocked, of course, this time with a prog touch.  Tom from Bitesize even demanded an encore of "Owner of a Lonely Heart." He was immediately escorted to street level.

The crowd talked attentively as the Hippeaux announced the existence of their mailing list and their upcoming shows, as John fumbled with his brand new disposable camera to take a picture of said crowd.  Heartwarming.

Carolina Daze was another solid performance, which perhaps would have made a better finale than the raucous and fumbled climax of "Teenage Mutant Samurai Puppies", another new song.  Much beer flowed, a few superficially nice comments were exchanged, snooty opinions both tacit and physically bruising transpired, and the Hippeaux hi-tailed it back to their East Bay confines as the sole band without a parking ticket at the end of the night.  Good night San Francisco, we love you!


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