Saturday, July 31, 2004

Titles are rad, except for this one

Wow, another 10-day lull between posts (and that last one was just quick info!), so we'll dedicate this one to ol' Lee "Tok Dogg" Masheter for finally begging me to get on the job. I think the main problem is that I haven't seen a whole lot of shows recently. Anyhoo, I think the plan for tonight is for Andy and I to check out the Vertical_Slumbeque (the stupid underline thing is the only way I could figure to get the stupid link to continue, any better ideas are greatly appreciated) at Little Brothers. It starts around 6, with lots of local and national bands and some BBQ. Should be a damn good time. Next week the rock could definitely pick up quite nicely. Skullys is a possibility for both Tuesday and Wednesday: Tuesday's bill features the Heroes of History (though it's a "Blitz Local Stuff" show, which I think deserves a boo), and Wednesday night is the rescheduled Doctah X, Wicked Lung & the Wookalar, and River of Wine (new project led by Antoine of the dearly departed Monster Movies) show, awesome. Thursday night I would love to hit Bernies to see Pearlene, a supposedly quality band that I missed the last time they were in town. And I'm sure I'll catch some shows next weekend, maybe another Little Bros rockin BBQ show, the possibilities are endless. And...show reviews!!!

Thursday: Amy, Ashley and I were just hangin' out at the Ravari Room, minding our own business, and the FUNK issued forth! I later found out it was the New Basics Brass Band, recently reborn here in Columbus. Upon further research at their site, I discovered that this is now a weekly thing, which is fuckin awesome, especially if its always free! They even had Paul Brown make an appearance on the geetar, sweeeeet. I think my favorite tune that I heard was their cover of the Meters' "Cissy Strut," though of course hearing it made me think of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band cover. Highly recommended Thursday night horn funk!

Wednesday: Andy, Jason and I went to Cafe Bourbon Street for a hip-hop/hardcore DJin shindig. Ol' Wes Flexner and cohorts (I don't think we even heard Alan Greenspin or Columbus hip-hop superstar Envelope spin) were crunkin out the jam! It even got me thinking that the song about spinners (yeah that probably doesn't narrow it down) ain't that bad.

Last Friday: Chops, Andy and I saw Wicked Lung & the Wookalar and the Lab Rats kill shit at Bernies (we missed the Husher set, oh well). The Wicked Lung set was a bit experimental, as they had a jazz drummer friend of theirs ("Fluff Snake") playing along on every song. It was pretty cool. And of course stuffed animals and People magazines bit the dust, along with a fine performance by a battery-powered crawling Minnie Mouse that Wookalar may have sexually attacked. Hahahaha. I was quite impressed by the Lab Rats, who just do some (mostly) straight-ahead hip-hop. And then, just to keep you on your toes, the MC pulls out a guitar and puts down a bluesy solo. Check them out here and check them out live!

OK, I think I covered all the bases. This Band of Bees album is pretty good, and after much searching I found it for cheap at spun.com. Hard to describe, as they can be funky, psychedelic, poppy, and mopey, all on the same disc. Good stuff, especially since they show their true love for Brazilian rock and cover "A Minha Menina" by Os Mutantes, now that's a quality band. Have a good day, everybody, and keep me on task, huh?

Wednesday, July 21, 2004

ALL POINTS BULLETIN!!!

This just in:  Yours truly, (An)drew "Funky D" Patton, will be making a second appearance spinning some records with Wicked Lung and the Wookalar at the Ravari Room Tuesday night, August 10th.  I know, most of you who are local and care already know by now, but I gotta cover all the bases.  And don't worry, you'll hear alot about this in the upcoming weeks.  OK, you can get back to reading the nerdiness below.

Tuesday, July 20, 2004

Simple Math: Nerd - nerd + nerd = NERD

Yeah, and back in the day I was nerdy about "useful" stuff like academics.  Ha!  Anyway, I'm finally getting around to writing about my musical weekend.  Until Friday, I had a streak going of 14 shows in a row at different venues, by my own estimation.  Of course, this includes free events like OSU Springfest and Comfest (and counts Comfest as one show) and also Bonnaroo, though I paid enough money for that I think I can count it as whatever I want to.  Here's the list, starting in late May:
 
Dick's Den, Newport, Oldfield's on High, Skully's, Little Brothers, Springfest (South Oval), Bonnaroo, Bourbon Street, Comfest (Goodale Park), Promowest Pavilion, Wexner Center, Bernie's, Ruby Tuesdays, and Andyman's Treehouse.
 
With the rockstravaganza that Saturday became, chances were good to really stretch out the streak.  But I got a tip from Mike of Heroes of History that Dirty Johnny & the Makebelieves from Athens were coming back to Bourbon St. Friday night.  So after a fine Happy Hour at Ravari Room, I convinced a quality posse (Ashley, Chops, Mandy, Renkes, and Renkes' friend Dan, who is awesome because he doesn't sell weed) that we should all head to the Bourbon St show.  Of course, we get there and as we're paying cover, find out that Dirty Johnny and the boys were playing Saturday, not Friday.  Sonofabitch.  Too late.  So we ended up seeing the Everyday Heroes (decent rock band, shitty singer) and the Bogtrodders ("Third Irish Blind"), and the streak was broken for no good reason.  Well, at least I got my Gut Bomb fix.

Saturday, I got to work starting a new streak, and achieved the nerdy awesomeness of 5 shows (and approximately 10 acts) in 3 days.  First up was the Unpossibles' convenient 5 o'clock opening slot at Volatility, the Madlab Theater benefit at...Madlab.  They rocked, of course, and Andy, Jason and I had a good time.  Though there were many other bands playing the show, the youngsters weren't down with rocking past 6, so we promptly took off.  Later on, I met up with my sister and her friends to see my co-workers play in the Latin band Dejavu at the Dell Cafe, which is a pretty cool place.  Of course, we got there around 10:40 and Victor assured us that the opening band, Malayerba, would play a quick set and their band would be on around 11:30; while Malayerba didn't actually start until 11:30.  So I caught the first of their two sets, but I soon realized that I wanted to see the hip-hop show, and took off.  I showed up at Oldfield's on Fourth at the end of Chase Manhatten's set, which was him sharing the stage with his local supergroup, the F.I. Division.  Good stuff.  The rest of the night was Cincy hip-hop.  There was Serg, a decent thugged-out guy, and then Dangler Fam Ink, the group I really wanted to see.  They didn't rock "She's a Clever Beaver Cleaver," but there were definitely some quality tracks, like that bolos song.  Look out for the album when it comes out.  Last up was Wes Blizzy and Agile with none other that Cincinnati hip-hop mainstay Skandal da Ruckus Man on the tables.  Their set was also good, with a song that sampled an old soul song (Al Green I think), much to the joy of the girls dancing in front of me.  Skandal's got some beats.  He showed off a bunch of them during the freestyle session which included all the associated MCs above and Cincy's CJ the Cynic, of Weightless fame.  One beat flipped the Schroeder theme from Peanuts quite nicely.  Anyway, it was cool to support the FI boys and it was a good show.  One long night o' rock.

Yes, it hit stores last Tuesday, and I still do not own it.  Don't fret y'all, it'll happen soon enough.  Cuz let's face it, me without a Cos remix album is like Wisconsin without cheese, or something.  I did succeed in picking up Eccentric Soul-The Capsoul Label, though, and now the "Boss with the RED Hot Sauce" can sing me to sleep every night.  Seriously though, the album is pretty damn dope, including "Who Knows" by Marion Black, sampled for a track on RJD2's Deadringer, because RJ is still as local as the day is long.  Good ol' Bustown.
Well, that's more than enough typing for now.  Well, one more random thought, Napoleon Dynamite is pretty flippin' sweet.  Go see it, I'll see it again with you.  OK, bye.
 

Friday, July 16, 2004

Fridays: Making Me Happy Since the Very Late 70s

Yes indeed folks, it's that time again.  Another loooong week in the books.  My last-minute plans to see DJ Greyboy in Cleveland with Ashley have been thwarted by Greyboy supposedly missing his flight and therefore cancelling his show.  Fine, that's fine!  This way I can keep my eye on Columbus and make sure it's rocking sufficiently.  I found out very recently that Dirty Johnny and the Makebelieves are playing Cafe Bourbon Street tonight, so that's a distinct possibility.  And I am hopefully a go on all three shows tomorrow night (details below), so if all goes according to plan, when the dust settles I will have hit 5 shows in 3 days.  Good ol' Bustown.

Last night's Gravy Train and Fat Girls by the Snack Table show at Andyman's Treehouse was pretty awesome.  The Fat Girls rocked pretty hard, despite having a member in the Bahamas and therefore having to go without keyboards and some vocals.  I don't know what it's called, but I think my favorite song of their set was the one where there's lots of numbers in the chorus and it ends with "9-8-7-6, 5-4-Fuck You!"  It was a big dance party.  After the set, we talked to the lead singer, whom it turns out had previously found this blog after my review of the last Fat Girls show I saw and was offended by my use of the word "thick" to describe the Girls (well, offended for two hours).  So, for the record, I was using thick to say that I don't think they're fat but still honor the name they gave themselves.  Anyway, it was nice talking to her (wish I knew her name) and it's always (always meaning once) nice to discover people I don't know reading my blog.  You should check the Girls out on the web right about nyah and hopefully they have some fine merchandise soon.  Gravy Train was cool, though they probably only played 20-30 minutes tops, I guess one of their keyboards or something was busted.  So it was a brief gay dance party, yet still very enjoyable for the heterosexual writing this.  I bought the "Ghost Boobs" 12", hopefully it rocks.

Big Summer Tour Lament: Between the days of July 10 and 13, there were three awesome "jam-bandy" bands coming through town.  Unfortunately, they were all opening on huge big-money shows that I had no interest in.  Evidence: The North Mississippi All-Stars opened for Big Head Todd & the Monsters (which would have been strangely awesome) and Blues Traveler (boo!) on Saturday, Robert Randolph & the Family Band opened for Eric Clapton (super-mega-bucks!!!) on Monday night, and Medeski Martin & Wood opened for 311 (shaky at best) on Tuesday.  Dammmit.  Now if only all those fine openers just skipped their tours for the weekend and played a mega-cool show together here in town.  Now that would have been sweet.  Damn these big-money shows that throw on a jamband for popular appeal.  And in a completely different genre, both Ghostface and MOP are on the secret second stage at the "Projekt Revolution" tour which hits town next weekend.  Dammmmit.  Why can't the cool bands play together for affordable prices?  We need a revolution!  "Vive Jay Sherman!  Vive Quebec!!!  Vive Jay Sherman!  Vive Quebec!!!"  Maybe a beaver on a flag held by a man in a goalie outfit on a moose would convince these bastards. 
OK, that's all I got.  Rock rock rock, rock with the rock.

Monday, July 12, 2004

Wait wait wait wait wait, it gets worse!!!

And, come to think of it, while I'm not DYING of thirst, I could go for a refreshing beverage and am assuredly not watered-down.

So yes, I know, it's been way too long with no updates. Yesterday Chops re-formatted his hard drive and his computer is now once again able to reach the internet, so here I am. I mean, it only took me 10 days! So, before I go into old timey show reviews, I'll give you a quick peak into the future, mwahahahaha!

Thursday: Gravy Train w/ Fat Girls By the Snack Table, 6:30, Andyman's Treehouse. Yes indeed, two crazy, keyboarded-out girl groups will rock an early show at Andyman's Thursday. As noted here before, I have seen the Fat Girls (Columbus' own) already, and they rock (and I wouldn't call them fat, either). Andy and I are going, you should too.

Saturday: Possibilities: Unpossibles, 5:00, at Madlab Benefit show. Dejavu w/ Malayerba at the Dell Cafe, around 10. Chase Manhatten & DJ Auxsend, Dangler Fam, Serg, Wes Blizzy, 10 PM, Oldfields on 4th. Can I do three in a night? It would be sweet if I could, especially since I'm friends with at least one person involved in each of these shows. Andy and I are already set on the Unpossibles show, gotta love the set time. Two of my co-workers are in Dejavu, a Columbus Latin band, and I've recently wanted to check out the Dell, plus my sister and her friend are going, so that is a strong possibility. But the hip-hop extravaganza at Oldfields is also looking pretty nice. Chase and Auxsend are good guys, and I wanna see the Dangler Fam after hearing some of their MP3s (like "She's a Clever Beaver Cleaver"), plus the show costs 3 measly bones. Decisions, decisions.

So now I will proceed to turn my sights back to the past and give you the show write-ups you've been salivating over...

Friday: Heroes of History rocked Ruby Tuesdays. Now, I might have been the only person in attendance (well, other than the band) that was really into it, but damn, it might have been my favorites Heroes set yet, even without "Your Mom." Just full-tilt rock 'n roll mayhem, other than the one story-based song. Ashley and Katie get cool points for seeing them with me, though I don't think they were rocked that hard. Or maybe it just seemed that way to me.

Sunday (4th of July): The "Off the Clock" EP Release Party w/Illogic & DJ PRZM and Spitball at Bernies was another crunked-out good time. Illogic's set was polished, Spitball did "Hold the Floor," lives were saved. It's that simple. I had a damn fun evening with Chops, Amy, Allison, and Stephanie after the ol' Whetstone fireworks. It's good that Bernies has returned from its liquor-license suspension with a bang (and I'm told they kept up the momentum last night with J. Rawls DJing). God Bless America!

Saturday (the 3rd): Jaga Jazzist rocked the Performance Space at the Wexner Center to its core. This is a band that I've heard bits and pieces about over the last few years, but had never gotten the full picture. Well, I like them alot. It's 10 Norwegian folks (9 skinny guys and a healthy-sized woman playing the tuba!) playing an electronic jazz that's hard to categorize. Some tracks were almost hard rock, others were more light and tuneful, others just ambient noise and blips. But whatever was going on, the band members were into it. There's something about enthusiasm and conviction that can make any type of live presentation work, whether it's a speech, a play, or a musical concert. These guys just loved what they were doing. When they came out and setup, a beat started and most of the band started bobbing their heads, even though there wasn't much going on yet. This included a smiling guy with a bass clarinet around his neck! Full-on band geek awesomeness. You should check out Jaga Jazzist on the web and scroll down the page for their personal thoughts on their first US/Canada tour, including the Columbus show.

Friday (the 2nd): They Might Be Giants and Corn Mo at the Boom Bash, Promowest Pavilion. TMBG was pretty good, with good performances of their songs and witty stage gimmicks. Corn Mo was this "corny" one-man accordion band, with foot cymbal, playing weird originals about being mistaken for Gary Busey and middle school incidents with kids peeing on each other. Weeeird.

As you can tell by that last review, I'm tired of writing. So stay tuned this week for new CD reviews, and keep fighting the good fight, peoples!!!

Friday, July 02, 2004

Don't call it a comeback, I been here for years!!!!!

Nothing like a tribute to probably my most-quoted opening line ever.

So though no one really seems to care too much about the recent lack of updates, here is one anyway. Olentangy 90510 (this is the name of my apartment if it was a primetime soap opera) recently lost another resident, Jamie, and her computer. So there is currently no internet access at the pad. This should be remedied soon, and posting will return to its already slow pace.
The Mannhaus party was rather kickin'. Sure, there was a drunk slore who bit off a dude's tongue and did nothing of redeeming value, and lots of other drunken conflicts, shenanigans, and hippies, but these things just add character. The music was damn good, including a performance by a band called The Bureau (I forget where they're from) that rocked considerably. My set lasted about two hours, and I kicked out some funk, rock, hip-hop smashes, organ jazz covers of Human League, and the damn canaries doing the Mexican Hat Dance. There is no setlist preserved from this wild fiesta, but rest assured it kicked your ass.
Comfest was also a good time. I made it to all three days, though Friday night's visit was a short one after seeing Fahrenheit 9/11. Lotsa good bands, including a fine performance by Emily's friend Zane's dad Chief Johnny Lonesome at the Blues tent on Sunday night. The Sun sounded good, Hoo Doo Soul rocked a Sunday like noone else can, Jello Biafra went on for days about "Freedom is...", and all were happy. Sadly, I missed the latin band Deja Vu, partially comprised of co-workers of mine, but it was Sunday afternoon at 2:20, and I was still getting my 8 hours o' sleep after the party.
I hope everyone has a good 4th of July weekend. Tonight I'm going downtown with my sister Emily and her friend Julie to the Boom Bash headlined by They Might Be Giants and followed by good ol' Red White and Boom. Tomorrow afternoon I will see Coffee & Cigarettes with Andy (the more the merrier) and tomorrow night I might catch Jaga Jazzist at the Wex. The 4th itself should include Whetstone fireworks and the "Off the Clock" release party at Bernies, can't wait. HAPPY AMERICA STUFF!!!!!