It’s Saturday night, 11:30 p.m. I’ve got my newly MP-addicted friend Emily with me, eager as ever. The ride from College Park is a little long and cold, and by the time we reach Baltimore, all we want is dear, sweet Mary – validating our womanly urges.
The theme was “Chinese New Year” and the sound check Chinese rock n’ roll provided a fresh break from the usual angst. Around midnight, MP hits the stage. Mary is dressed in a lovely silk, kimono-esque dress, complete with fishets, cowgirl boots, and that token red hat she always tosses off halfway through the second set. MP starts the set with “Swan Dive,” a special Chinese Food carry out version of “Tits and Whisky” and the crowd roars.
Then again, this is Fletcher’s.
After seeing Def Leppard play in Salisbury, Md., the night before, the “Def Leppard Tribute” in “Breakfast” is all the more meaningful. Next time she makes it, watch Phil. Unfortunately, Mary didn’t do any covers of “Pour some sugar on me” or “Armageddon It,” but we did get a couple rarities, the real treat being “Art Fag Bastard,” which I have only heard once, on the Lou Brutis WHFS morning show in summer 1998.
Highlights included “The World is Full of Bastards” (I totally prefer the “da da das to the guitar solo), and the encore, a song “so new I hardly know it,” Mary said. I’m not sure what the song is called, but I think it was about a woman who shoots her man and then, as he lies dying, wonders out loud if he ever loved her.
I’ve decided Fletcher’s is definitely the place to be for Mary Prankster. The Chinese New Year decorations Phil chose added great umph to the theme. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any “Mac and Cheese,” but I dug the fortune cookies MP so graciously threw out in the middle of the set. And I love the paper dragon I snagged after the show.