The Afghan Whigs with Marcy Mays

I saw the Afghan Whigs a couple of times in Columbus. Once, at the Newport, they opened their tour in Columbus.

Local heroes and the latest Central Ohio band to sign to a major label only to flop, Howling Maggie started things off. They came out in rather dramatic fashion, wearing cloaks and overusing the smoke machine. It was OK.

The Whigs, on the other hand, were great. They ripped through a set of everything from their Sub Pop days to the current release at the time, Black Love. The highlight was when Marcy Mays of Scrawl fame joined the band for a gut-wrenching performance of "My Curse."

Stephen Malkmus Doesn't Know His Own Lyrics and Blackie Onassis Is Gay

A buddy of mine used to work for the weekly entertainment rag in Columbus. His editor had been around and seen a few shows in her day. One of those shows was a Pavement show at Stache's.

After the gig, the woman approached front man Stephen Malkmus. She proceeded to tell him that he sang the wrong lyrics to Pavement favorite "Summer Babe".

Knowing that he wrote and recorded the song in question, Malkmus disagreed. The woman insisted that he sang it differently than how he had on the record. Malkmus stuck by his story and eventually escaped my friend's boss.

It should also be noted that this same person who questioned Malkmus also tried to proposition Urge Overkill drummer Blackie Onassis, also in Stache's. While making a b-line for the uber-cool percussionist, Marcy Mays (Scrawl co-founder) stopped the editor from making a terrible mistake. "Don't waste your time," Mays warned. "He's gay."

Too bad no one stopped her from making an ass of herself to Malkmus.

(Stories courtesy of Chad.)