Holiday weekends are usually pretty boring. Eat too much food, lie around lazily, and get tackled by the nieces and nephew brigade. That’s why when I found out that the one and only Mr. Tim Fite would be taking to the stage at the Vic on Saturday night, I was all up on it. Plans to stick around for the headliner, Mr. Les Claypool, ala Primus, were not on the agenda, however. Taking my sister-in-law for a live rendition of “Winona’s Big Brown Beaver” isn’t exactly Easter weekend material, not now, not ever.

I’ve been fascinated with Mr. Fite, aka Timothy Sullivan, aka Little T from Little T and One Track Mike (don’t tell me you forgot about Shaniqua, she don’t live here no mo!) for some time now. I stumbled upon 2005’s “Gone Ain’t Gone” back in my days at WRST FM, and took an immediate liking to his lo-fi, folksy alternative hip hop and country blend.

I caught him live for the first time back in ’05 when he was promoting “Gone Ain’t Gone” at CMJ, and was impressed with his personable presence. You see, Fite isn’t just a musician; he’s a story teller, and visual performer, almost cartoony with his giant neon illustration cards and cotton polyester suspender overalls.

Fite seems to just be living the dream, doing what he loves—making music, telling stories and making plenty of friends along the way. He defied the music industry with last year’s free to download album “Over the Counterculture,” which got rave critic reviews as one of the year’s top records. Opportunity knocked for Fite to release the record commercially, but the invitation was turned down since that would be everything the album had protested in consumerism. You can also download the aptly titled “2 Minute Blues” for free of charge on Fite’s official site as well.

I was very stoked to see Fite and was so caught up in my excitement that I didn’t even realize the theatre was a full house, sold out gig. I also didn’t exactly notice the crowd’s general demographic. Then approximately 90 seconds later, I realized that something was way wrong. Mullets, backward baseball caps, stinks of patchouli, old Tool t-shirts and cans of Budweiser’s surrounded me every which way I turned. This was not Tim Fite’s typical crowd. I was suddenly taken to small town Wisconsin county fair tractor pulls, monster truck demolitions, townie bar hell. This was Les Claypool’s crowd. I then realized that feeding Tim Fite to this drunken, nasty loud and obnoxious crowd before their “4-stringed God” took the stage was comparable to Robyn opening up for L7, or Jason Collett taking before Cannibal Corpse. The general mood and vibe of the venue was not a good one. And it wasn’t too long at all until I was telling off the drunken dirt bags beside me, who had been heckling me for taking notes of the set list.

Despite the embarrassing and unbelievably childish behavior of the crowd, (Tim if you read this, seriously, I have no idea where those people crawled from), Fite played off his charismatic stories and songs very enchantingly. Not only were the songs pleasantly upbeat and entertaining, but I learned several valuable lessons throughout the set. We were taken on a journey of vision tests complete with crowd eye chart chanting; I learned exactly what dogs eat—knives, people bees, muffins and nails, apparently; and I know my sister-in-law particularly enjoyed the tale, “Jo Jo Bobby, Stab a Motherfucker.”

Even drunk hardcore Primus fans couldn’t completely hinder my experience, however. Highlights from Fite’s peppy and head-bob worthy tracks included show opener “I Hope Yer There,” “Over the Counterculture,” “It’s all Right Here,” “Away from the Snakes,” “A Little Bit,” and of course the new single “Big Mistake” which stems from the upcoming release “Fair Ain’t Fair.”

The always smiley partner in crime, Dr. Leisure, and Mr. Tim Fite definitely provided an entertaining holiday weekend story for my elder sister in law and I to share for many Easters to come. I just hope next time they swing through Chicago, they’re accompanied with a different tour mate. Check out Fite’s new single “Big Mistake” over at Stereogum, and keep your eyes peeled for “Fair Ain’t Fair” which hits record shelves on May 6th.

Myspace: Tim Fite
MP3: Tim Fite - “I Called For You”