The Make-Up played at the Ottobar, and what a great show! I hadn’t seen the Make-Up since they last played Baltimore (at Lith Hall – check out the photos from that show here) in 2013, I don’t believe. Maybe they haven’t even played since then, I don’t know? They sounded even better this time, I think, and the Sassiest Boy In America still has his stage moves down pat as well, which was heartening. Speaking of that infamous article, that is actually probably how I first heard of the Make-Up, and maybe even NoU, as I remember seeing a copy of that Sassy at at a friend’s house when it came out. In ’91 I would have already have gotten into hardcore like Minor Threat and so forth, I think, but Nation of Ulysses would have probably been too weird for me.

No appearance from The Vortex at the show, at least not in costume, but I hope he is okay whoever he is. (Incidentally, I drunkenly accused Jason Hamacher of being the Vortex once and he told me who it was, but now I forget). Incidentally, it’s really hard to Google the Vortex, so if you have any good Vortex pics or stories, please reply.

Anyway, here is A LINK TO ALL THE PHOTOS

LINKS ROUNDUP

• The Make-Up bandcamp
• Ottobar Show Listing
• the Make-Up/Chain and the Gang blog post from 2014
• Chris Richards’ article about Ian
• Sassiest Boys In America Where Are They Now blog post
• Jason Hamacher’s dang Wikipedia page
• Link to all the photos from the show on Flickr, can you believe that still exists