song performed: “Your Touch” from the album Magic Potion
conan’s reaction: “great. thank you. *shakes dan’s hand* the black keys everybody, we’ll take a break, we’ll be right back. *reaches to shake patrick’s hand*”

the band
when I hear about the black keys, i hear about them being the pride of their hometown of akron, ohio a lot which i find interesting. from where i grew up, akron was almost the same distance from me as was detroit. needless to say, i never made it to the city, but just outside of cleveland and its rock-n-roll hall of fame is akron - a city made from its rubber trade, where firestore and goodyear tires are made, where breakfast cereal was first mass produced, and also where the first alcoholics anonymous meeting was. it also feels like home as it is a popular place to name your kid - “dan”.

my point? the black keys come from a place where people don’t mess around. off the beaten path from detroit rock city, yet their hometown is filled with the phermones of muscle cars and booze - working hard and drinking hard.

their sound suprisingly is not to distant from this. i remember hearing “do the rump” the big come up for the first time and I instantly felt molested - it was not cool. but that feeling subsided, which was good. this is music for people of the music. I don’t think the jocks are going to be chanting “have love will travel” anytime soon.

the performance
I haven’t seen the black keys live, so I was quite excited. my first question and observation was what the heck kind of axe does dan play. my best description is that it reminds me of the goalie masks of the roger crozier in buffalo in the 70’s - stark white and angled and really heavy and kind of creepy too. (…)

my next observation was that drummer patrick carney’s arms are huge. his crash symbols are standing height, but he has no problem whipping them around. he also looks really serious like the hanson brothers from slapshot, but tall and lanky-like.  i think someone should go grocery shopping with the black keys. that would be cool because i bet molasses and castor oil would be bought.  if castor oil is available.

dan really rocked out and patrick kept seeming larger and larger on his drums as the song went on. during the singing bits, dan’s guitar got these amazing harmonics.  I want that guitar now.

other notes
i just have to throw out there that i get why bands stick with the drum/singer/guitar combo. less overhead and more stage. nod to the white stripes, the black keys, the raveonettes, the kills, death from above 1979, groovesters i am the world trade center, beehive, wackos the dresden dolls, my favorites the fiery furnaces, heck even local h, and that band that rocked out in a back alley in tinseltown that I didn’t catch the name of.

and then there is the king of them all, since they will never end up on Conan, I thought it worth mentioning - hella. They are the internet’s muse, although as of this year, they are a group of five. dern.