Saturday night I ventured downtown to the Soulard Ale House to see Lucky Boys Confusion. It was a surprisingly good show considering the cold drizzly weather and the number of drunk people there, but something needs to be said about one of the other bands playing.

Right before LBC came on, a seemingly-drunk British-sounding singer named Ian Jones and his band of aging rockers took the stage. Ian (who named the band after himself), wore a white suit and devil horns. It quickly became apparent that the music, nondescript rock, took a backseat to Ian's stage act, which consisted of removing one article of clothing after every song. First it was his jacket, which wasn't too bad, but then he tore off his shirt revealing a pasty-white and out of shape body with two nipple rings and a couple of pointless tattoos. Then he went backstage and removed his pants, replacing them with an American flag that he wore around his waist (and yes, it was a real flag. You could see the grommets on the edges that you hang the flag with). After the next song, he tore off the flag to reveal bright red briefs. It was completely repulsive, but apparently the drunk girls in front of the stage didn't think so, as they let him lean over and grope them during a song. He also went over and grabbed his guitarist's crotch during a solo. Yes, there was actually music going on all this time, although no one was actually paying attention to it.

It was sadly not the only time that I've seen a local band do a striptease during a show, apparently that's the thing to do if your band sucks and your music can't stand on its own. The St. Louis music scene: It really is just Nelly.