Blog: Don't just do something, stand there

Decked out in a sharp-looking brown suit, John Doe welcomed the Rumba Cafe crowd to a "country-western Sunday jamboree" on Mother's Day evening. And that's pretty much what it was, as Doe led his backing band—immensely talented Canadian roots-rockers the Sadies—through a set of songs by country royalty like Johnny Cash, Porter Wagoner, Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard. Doe got his start back in the late '70s playing bass and sharing vocal duties in X, one of the most influential and critically celebrated punk bands to come out of Los Angeles. Cult followers of X shouldn't be too [...]