Digging this blog out of the shitpile

I must apologize to my loyal readership. When I started this thing back in February of 04, the mission was to chronicle the shows I went to, and add some album reviews and other musical hearsay. I did this pretty well for a long time, if I may say so myself. Of course, because I do attend a fair amount of shows, this got rather tedious at times for both me and you. So lately (the last four months or so), I haven't reviewed at all. Sad. Of course, I've reviewed some shows for Team Columbus!, which has also hindered my desire to review here. As of today, however, I'm gonna try to do better. I won't review every little show I go to, but I will try to do what I can. With that said, on with the show!

Duck and Cover!!!

This Thursday, October 20th, I will again be playing some funk records as a part of Mikey G & The Latino Pimp's Funky Thursdays @ the Ravari Room. Same bat time, same bat channel. Do it good.

On That Sam Cooke Steez
But damn, the Envelope Insignificant Anthems release party (and the album itself) was well worth the wait. The headlining set was a hip-hop musical, with Envelope dressed up as a "Centelope," with a wooden re-creation of a horse's body and a flowing mane. DJ Amos Famous was in an ice cream man get-up and throwing out ice cream and cookies to all. The proceeds were "narra-hosted" by Jeff Fernengel of Tree of Snakes fame. Though there were a bunch of sound problems, the boys succeeded in putting on an entertaining show. Go pick up the album, OK? El Jesus de Magico rocked as they have been lately, and the various DJs throughout the night kicked out various jams, culminating in a crunked-out dance party at the end. Good times.

I Want Candy
Yes indeed, Andy and I succeeded in making it to Athens last Thursday for some Taco John's...and MC Chris!!! The voice star of Sea Lab 2021 and Aqua Teen Hunger Force performed an hour and a half (!!!!!) of his solo raps, various requested bits of his cartoon work, and alot of standup-esque humorous observations on his career and life. It was a pretty good show. His throat was sore, which clearly affected him on alot of his songs, but he was a trooper. The large crowd at The Union was very responsive to his material and his exhortations, and he responded by saying that it was one of the best rooms he had played over his extensive tour. He even performed "Fett's Vette" twice, once with a Star Wars beat and once with the original. Good times. Though we missed openers The Ergs, we did see SNMNMNM, who were a quirky indie-pop band from Chapel Hill. Fine road trip.

Please Please Me
Tuesday was Pleaseeasaur at the High Five with Dave. As I wrote back in May, Mr. Saur was quite enjoyable as the opener for Neil Hamburger. This time he headlined, and it was another funny set. I don't know that we saw any new songs, but it was still hilarious. 1-800-NO-PROB-LIMO! Various members of local comedy troupe The Perineum were pretty funny to start the night off, and then The Stapler fuzz-rocked us into oblivion. Good stuff for a Tuesday night.

The Sun Always Shines On the Rock Empire
Last Monday, of course, was the fine bill of The Sun, Apollo Sunshine, and Greenlawn Abbey at Little Brothers. All bands put in fine sets. This show marked the release of the Sun's pioneering DVD album. I still haven't watched the videos, so no comment on that I guess. They kicked out all the jams, including an encore with "Say Goodbye" and "Spirit of 72," which I hadn't heard in a loooong time. Ol' Apollo Sunshine was pretty good. This was the eighth time I've seen them, and I still enjoy their sets. Their new music seems to be jammier than before, but it don't bother me none. Jesse (lead singer) had a female audience member come on stage and read the not-so-positive show preview that Stephen Slaybaugh wrote for the Columbus Alive. I thought it was funny. Greenlawn Abbey opened with another good set of indie-pop-rock. I need to see those dudes more often.

Well, this post has taken almost two hours, including bouts with Internet distraction and hunger pangs. I'll try to stay on the job.