JOHN STAGLIANO PLAYS SURPRISE ROCK SHOW IN PHILADELPHIA!

Philadelphia nightclubbers and rock music afficionados were treated to an unlucky surprise acoustic set a few nights back by porn industry magnate (and political hot-button) John Stagliano at local music club Johnny Brenda's. Following a rollicking set by local rock team Chance Degaulle, Stagliano, or "the stags", as his followers have dubbed him wowed the audience by strutting onto the stage, picking up an acoustic guitar and softly crooning a few lines of the Doors' "Riders on the Storm", before moving subtly into a 46-minute set of folk and rock gems from the past twenty or thirty years, backed by local violinist Ace Buttons.

While this certainly isn't the first any of us have heard of the Stag's musical leanings, this is his first public performance in quite some time, and we're fuckin' exicted as shit. There used to be some really great footage of his 1994 show in St. Louis available on VHS, but that stuff never got put on DVD and it's pretty tough to get a hold of. Let it be said that the guy knows a thing or two about performance.

"He's a panther," said Mark Tripp of Chance Degaulle. "He's got this kind of rage within him, but he's gentle as silk at the same time."

The setlist in full is printed below.

SETLIST

Riders on the Storm
I've Got Something on my Mind
Billion Dollar Babies
Walkin' the rock (Stagliano original)
Nervous Night
The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down
John, I'm Only Dancing
X-Files Theme
White Light, White Heat
Wild Flower (The Cult)
Wild Flower(Stagliano original)

After the set, he walked directly out of the bar, refusing to acknowledge or high-five any of the rabid fans. Thirty minutes later, he sauntered through the door, this time wearing Oakley sunglasses, and again strode onto the stage accompanied by Chance Degaulle. "Sorry dudes. I was chasing this guy around the block. Fuck 'em, you know? Time for some fuckin' Zevon. I played bass on this," he said as the group launched themselves into a rollicking cover of "Exciteable Boy".

"It was fucking disgusting," said local club-goer Jeff Sneed. "The dude rocked 'Exciteable Boy' with a whole extra new verse about his adventures with the law. I thought he was gonna bust into 'Lawyers, Guns and Money' after that, 'cause that probably woulda been, like, up his alley after his stuff with the law. But then he didn't play that, so I dunno. Also I don't think he played bass on the Zevon song."

The Stag did, however, close the evening with a sort of eerily whispered, droning, half-time take on Neil Young's "Harvest Moon", which sort of floored everyone in the room. We were lucky to have been there to see it.