july 16, 2001 - omaha, ne - sokol underground

excerpted from nosebleed

... Following Putracine was Swearing At Motorists, a duo made up of singer/guitarist Dave Doughman and drummer Joseph Siwinski (formerly of the Daytonians). This was the 91st and final show of their tour, but the pair showed no signs of fatigue in either their performance or their stage presence. The charismatic Doughman took over the stage, making small talk with the audience, working them up in a typical rock-star way ("Omaha, if we want to come back, would that be all right with you?”) With a shock of hair reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix, combined with a wide-eyed stare that made me think, absurdly, of a cheerful Charlie Manson, Doughman leapt all over the stage during guitar lines and then brought things to a jerky halt to lean over the mike and stare down the crowd during vocals. His voice is melodic and almost ridiculously appealing, slipping effortlessly from a cigarette-rasp to a choir-boy clarity as he delivers his simple-but-strong lyrics about smoking joints, seeing movies, and everyday life. "Drunk On Monday," a number about running into an old flame after time has passed, speaks of an awkward conversation on a busy afternoon street: "How's your mom / And are you working at the same place / Your hair got long / And on and on." Swearing At Motorists delivered a strong set, and when the crowd shouted their approval of Doughman’s request to return to Omaha, they said it like they meant it. ...

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