How old was that Jesus Lizard?

Way back before the dawn of recorded time, I used to venture from my humble abode in St. Louis to the big city of Chicago to hang with my friend R.

R lived with a bunch of Jesus Lizards-- well actually only two of them. Given that there were only two, I won't engage at this time in a lengthy discourse about the proper nomenclature for a group of lizards.  However, suffice it to say that their small number negates their group being referred to as a "flock" or a "pride." The squalor of their abode suggested the moniker of a "den" of lizards, so lets just leave it at that.

Of the two Jesus Lizards, one played guitar, one played bass.   R. lived in the "den" with the two Jesus Lizards in a flat near Humboldt Park and California Street.   As I recall, they were the only people of similar ethnicity to myself for blocks and blocks around.  That was back then.   In this current millennium, the Humboldt Park neighborhood (being in close proximity to the Wicker Park "revitalization") has all sorts of people that probably look like me.  Except they are younger and likely have more hair.  Whether they act like me is an open question.   But that's always an open question. 

When I stayed in the den, it was the closest to communal life I have ever experienced.  Except perhaps when I'm at a music festival.  People coming and going at all hours of the night.   Random women.  After all, the Jesus Lizards were rock stars of sorts. DS, the lizard who played bass maintained a little informal shrine when you entered the flat dedicated to what were probably the last vestiges of his childhood including action figure miniatures, comics,  and Wheaties boxes embossed with his childhood photo.

But this little vignette is more about DD, the guitar player.  DD also taught guitar lessons on the side. The students for his lessons were invariably attractive co-eds.  Except that one time that he taught me how to play an Everly Brothers song for the Masked Minstrels.  R. regularly commented that DD acted the way he did because he was "old."   By old, R. meant that DD was 34.   Like I said, this was a long time ago.

Given that DD was "old" way back then, it was reasonable to assume that he would still be old even now--that is, if he were still alive.   So I Googled him and found to my surprise that not only is he still alive, but that the Jesus Lizard is even playing reunion concerts after a long hiatus.  Not only that, but DD was voted one of Spin magazine's top 100 guitarists of all time.  It seems that not only was DD classically trained (unusual for a punk rocker), but that the Jesus Lizard was "avant garde," "influential," and that DD's career spanned playing in such diverse bands as Hank Williams III, to giving online guitar lessons in Guitar World Magazine.  Shit, DD is even in a touring band now called the Legendary Shack Shakers or something like that.  They have a gig at Donnies Homespun later this month in Springfield.

Though DD is still kicking, the Rainbow Room, Crash Palace, Lounge Ax, Duck's, and Big Alice's have disappeared from the landscape.   I wonder where all the tragic chicks hang out in the windy city this century?