I Remember Your Fire of Love
By Christine Dunleavy

The place was a grimy hole in the wall. Black paint covered the walls, cracking and peeling with posters and stickers adorning as to cover up the past fault lines of paint. There were people swarming everywhere, drinking, socializing and dancing. Music blared in the background, the beats filling the air in such an intoxicating frenzy of memories and associations. This wasn’t just any other day, this day marked something special that was now gone, something that had touched each and every one of us in some way that, despite what many age differences there might have been, we gathered in remembrance. The date was March 31st, 2006, it had been ten years since the passing of Jeffrey Lee Pierce, the singer of a band called the Gun Club.

The night opened with a beautiful introduction by Jeffrey’s sister, Jacqui. She stood on stage, not being much taller than five feet, she barely reached up to the microphone, her face shrouded in darkness by the big, black, straw hat that surrounded her head. She spoke of her brother in such a loving manner, it flowed through her teeth and lips like only the bond of family could really achieve. Tears welled in her eyes as she stared out into the crowd. I imagine she felt overwhelmed as she stared at all the glowing faces, waiting for her next words to hit the air.

The night officially started off with a Mr. Gabriel Hart and His Upset Black Guitar. He stood on stage with simply his guitar and a great gleaming shine in his eyes. The first stroke of the strings and a wonderful earthy twang was released. I couldn’t help but find myself nodding my head along to it, wanting to feel the guitar possess me and rattle my limbs. He sang of love, suffering, enemies, heartbreak and lastly but certainly not least, he sang of secret fires, one of Jeffrey’s songs and probably one of my all time favorites. Jacqui joined him in the background beating away on a tom-tom drum, echoing the sounds of the old west. The two fit together almost perfectly in their primal desperation, it was true to the original.

Photo by Leon Catfish

Next up was the Guilty Hearts, a three-piece band covered in the raw and primal fuzzed out tones of rock n’ roll, covered so much they were dripping in the stuff. They had honored their whole set that night to Jeffrey and his band, each song done in true memory and spirit to its creator. A pause broke amongst the beautiful chaotic noise and there I was at the front of the stage, awe struck, I noticed on stage next to those guiltiest of hearts, was one of Jeffrey’s jackets, hanging there with the ghost of his memory still lingering in it. Before the next song begun, I signaled my friend Edgar up close to me, he was one of the guitarists in the band. I asked him if I could simply touch that, what was to me, the jacket of all jackets and he said, “go for it!” I rocketed up stage, smirking like an overwhelmed schoolgirl meeting her all time favorite pop star and before I knew it, the music took me in and shook me inside out. I began dancing around the jacket like some sort of voodoo queen conjuring up spirits and then it all began. My other friend, Leon, the singer of the band, beckoned me up to the microphone and there I was, overly shy and somewhat self-conscious, little Christine, singing! To this day I still can’t believe it but the rush of it all, the intense feeling of some sort of belonging overwhelmed me. As the set finally came to its end, I snuck back off stage and into the shadows, simply enjoying the last lingering moments of my first and last singing frenzy.

As the night came to its close, I had the pleasure of meeting Jeffrey’s sister, Jacqui. I gushed and spilled to her the meaning of her brother’s music to me and I could see in her facial expression how much she appreciated that. Her eyes gleamed with tears and she responded to me with a hug and a thank you. After that I really had lost all other words and simply smiled back at her and then we were on our separate ways.

Jeffrey Lee Pierce had died when I was only nine years old, before I even knew his music, but I can relate to so many of his lyrics, his love, sorrow, desperation and understanding of his roots, that I will remember that night for a long while to come. It meant so much for me to be able to make even some kind of impact on others that where there to remember him too, despite how small it even might have been. The memory of that night will forever linger in the back of my mind, like the stars disappearing into the dusk’s embrace, always waiting to return once again.

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