"You know, my son, after Rocktober comes Po-vember"

That's a proverb for the ages, right dere. Cuz you can rock alot, like me, but eventually you run out of phat loots. Thank the Lord that the last business day of the month is the 29th, so that tomorrow shalt be payday!!! Not a second too soon. Well, Rocktober is winding up, but not without a bang! Tonight Andy and I are attempting to see his co-worker's husband's band play at the Scarlet & Grey Cafe, so we'll see how that goes. Tomorrow night, the effort is being made to catch the Charlie Hunter Trio (w/DJ LOGIC!!!!!) at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland, wish me luck! Saturday, it seems that Camper Van Beethoven is playing two or three places, with the actual show being at the Newport, so it is a good day to be 51-7, or something. After that I will definitely be attending Dave's 7th Annual Halloween Movie Marathon, which will undoubtedly rock. And if I don't make it, I'll likely be murderized. Sunday night, Halloween itself, I will bring Rocktober to a successful close by showing up at the release party for Blueprint's "Chamber Music" album at Bernies, with other local acts rappin it up as well. Should be sweet, just like sleeping less than 5 hours on a Sunday night! OK, RECAP TIME!!!!!

Last night, Andy and I upped the Rocktober ante by driving to the Southgate House in Newport, KY (across the river from Cincy) to see Antibalas. By agreeing to make this voyage, Andy earned 1000000000000000000000000000000000 RockPoints, so please don't try and earn any for the next few aeons. So we got there at 10:05 (missing the opener by a few minutes), and we had to wait until just before 11 for Antibalas to hit the stage. Oh well, the Southgate is cool. Anyway, we got to see the sweat-churnin' Afrobeat juggernaut for about an hour before having to turn back for home. They were as political as ever (I caught a "NOVEMBER 2" T-shirt they threw from the stage), and just as funky. I'm sure we missed alot of amazing stuff, but an hour of Antibalas is enough to last for months. We got home a bit after 2, after narrowly surviving a lack-of-gas scare on the outskirts of town (BOO!). Thanks Andy, you da man.
Tuesday night, Val and I caught another type of juggernaut...The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players at Little Brothers! We caught most of the second opener (both of the openers were friends of the Trachtenburgs), a tall man named Andrew something who played a funny keyboard-vocal cover of "Ice Ice Baby" and some other interesting numbers. The Trachtenburgs rocked as hard as ever. Pa Trachtenburg was funny, in his weird way, and their dog wandered around alot. They played the hits like "Mountain Trip to Japan 1959" and "Eggs," and Pa even played part of a song from a solo album of his a while back. Sure, they don't play very long sets, but these sets are played with love.
Monday night was dodgy for the rock. I tried to wander down to Oldfields on High for the weekly Men of Leisure show, as I've been meaning to for a long time, but I guess this week they changed to a open mic thing that drew NO ONE and when I got there, it was already over and there were about 5 people there. BOOOO!!! But on my way back, sure enough there was the Tony McClung Trio live at the Ravari Room! Rocktober was saved! I also ended up hanging out with Ben Oliver and Nate Smith, as well as Columbus music hero Derek Dicenzo, which was rather dope. I still need to catch Ben's band Tiger Tiger or other band, one of which plays every Friday night at the Shi-Sha Lounge. The trio was good, with Tony on drums, Josh Hill on guitar, and Jeff Ciampa (also of the Hoo Doo Soul Band) on bass. They played a nice jazzy cover of "Take Me Home, Country Roads," sweeet. And Derek told the story of Glen Burke, the gay black baseball player for the Dodgers in the '70s who invented the high five. Yes, it was a rocking of the highest order.
Sunday night was McLusky at Little Brothers. Locals El Jesus de Magico opened, and I wasn't that big of a fan, which happens sometimes with me and el Jesus. A few songs rocked, but most were a bit too weird while also not rocking enough. This is Rocktober, folks, you gotta bring yo A-game!!! McLusky, on the other hand, was rather entertaining. They are a trio from somewhere in England, and the somewhat surly lead singer was also pretty funny, with many quips about his fellow British bands. And the bassist told a joke:
Q: "What's the difference between a SUV and a hedgehog?"
A: "Hedgehogs have pricks on the INside."
Bah-dum-dum-ching! And yes, they managed to rock too! With songs like "We Take More Drugs Than a Touring Funk Band," how could you not rock? Check out my McLusky t-shirt sometime, it rocks hard.
The weekend was a bloody party up in Wooster, but there was no rock to be had. Somehow I didn't break out in hives.
Thursday night, cuz I had to rock, I went to Chuck's Junk's "Funknot" or whatever it was called at Ruby Tuesdays. The Lab Rats turned shit out, as always, despite technical problems and a lackluster crowd. Their release party is Friday night with Wicked Lung & the Wookalar and others at Skullys, which is a solid backup plan. In between and during sets, DJ BHB was rockin some hip-hop jams and an open mic in the basement, which was empty but the music was cool. Chuck's Junk was also good. They're pretty funky, though the singer might be a bit sappy for me. I need to see them again.
Wow, another blogathon. Pray for me to survive Rocktober, and I'll catch y'alls on the flipside.