Something To Do In Lincoln Before Football Starts

Well, look who's coming back (and given the fact that I had at least five of these guys in a Death Pool going back to 2003, I'm even more stunned). The still infamous Zoo Bar in Downtown Lincoln is celebrating their 35th Anniversary with a two-day long street festival (on 14th between O & P, which means that the Mackenzie's of the world will be able to smoke AND drink to their hearts content). Just to show how big of a celebration this is, the Zoo Bar is ramping things up in a big way, getting one of the area's most popular local bands to reunite for one-night only after breaking up 8 years ago.

The Self Righteous Brothers are one of those bands that you can only experience live. And in their case, live would mean at the Zoo Bar, and batshit drunk out of your ass. Because that's the way the band wants it. The two lead singers, who go by Sonny and Mister Righteous, share vocals on every song, have dance numbers choreographed perfectly, start off wearing full tuxes but lose everything except their pants by the first hour, and spend the time between songs asking audience members and bar staff to continuously bring drinks. It's the sort of show anyone five-years removed from college who is yearning for a wild night of debauchery dreams about when getting a night out.

And to further hype things up, our boys now have their own blog and of course a myspace page. And if you know the SRB's, you'll find yourself spending way more time than a person should at these sites. You'll see that all of the original members are coming back to play the Zoo Bar at 11pm on Saturday, except for their drummer, who despite living in Lincoln is declining to participate. In true SRB fashion, both of their sites are declaring their drummer dead (he's listed with the RIP tag on all pictures and mentions, and I expect nothing less when it comes to these guys). The band picture that appears in the ads for the Zoo Bars gala is of some obscure music act of guys who look like they're at least 65 years old.

If you've never seen these guys perform, I hate you. You can listen to some old songs on their blog, even look at some videos, but none of these tell you anything (although in one of their photo albums, Mackenzie is in the background dancing with a rather attractive young lady). The Zoo Bar is currently (and will do so this weekend) selling CD's of some of their early work, including a performance from their legendary Christmas show from 1998.

But you really just need to throw back a few shots of whiskey and load up to a live show. Meaning Saturday, because everyone says this is a one-time thing for them (at least three of the members had stopped performing since they last performed). There's a reason they're in Duffy's Hall of Fame. I have no clue what to expect this weekend, but they used to do a killer cover of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean", without the chorus. Another highlight was a medley of three Tom Jones classics. Of course they had catchy original songs that also became fan favorites. The key to their act is the theatrics of Sonny & Mister Righteous. They've earned the much coveted final performance of the weekend, and I'm sure there will plenty of tastee beverages. I have no intention of being anywhere near a set of car keys before or after the show.