A shot of conviction to the neck

Yes, as I said last time, a grand era in Patton family car history is over. And, for the record, Abele was slightly wrong, or at least inexhaustive, in one of his grand remembrances of the Goose. My clearest, most awesome memory of that mystery guy in the Hardees drive thru was the time that they were out of ketchup packets, and we NEEDED ketchup. So he took a small styrofoam container and filled it with ketchup. It was the best fast-food service ever. Anyway, the car pictured above is my new car, a silver 2001 Toyota Camry LE (kinda). Its lack of character (compared to the immense presence of The Goose) has already been lamented, but just call it the Silver Stallion and you'll get used to it, OK? Good.

Man, you know I was there!

The Apollo Sunshine Express hit Little Brothers Wednesday night, and despite other tempting options (well, one, the Hella show), I could not resist seeing the Boston boys for the seventh time. I arrived during local band Twin Cam's set, and I enjoyed their power-pop-rock 'n roll. Greenlawn Abbey, a Columbus band led by that tall guy I often see at shows, was also good rockins. It was good to see both of these bands for the first time. Apollo Sunshine has added a fourth member (that guy in the back of the picture above) named Sean, and he seems to be pretty talented in the ol' "I'll trade this here guitar for that there bass if you play vibes and you kick the steel geetar" scheme of things. It was my first time hearing their new material, and it rocked. Lots more quirky rock songs, and folky rock songs, and rocky rock songs. There was a decent crowd there, and folks were having a good time, even when commanded to dance. I think the reason that I like this band alot and have seen them 7 times finally hit me (literally): You can tell they have a strong sense of conviction about their music. They really mean it. Maybe that's bullshit, but I think it's true. Anyhoo, the highlight for me was when the last song ended and Jeremy's drumstick flew out of his hand and hit me in the neck! Well, I guess that's not a real highlight, but it's a cool souvenir. And oh yeah, Don B (Batman guy) sang both "Batman" and "Louie Louie" with the guys, and Jesse reminisced about him singing "Batman" at their first Columbus gig at Bernie's three years ago. Good show indeed.

Wow, I guess rock has been slow as of late. When your #1 rockin' sidekick is on the DL (not down low, the REAL DL), it gets tough. Chops and I have rocked "Funky Thursdays" at the Ravari Room the last two weeks, and it's been hot. Mikey G, RawDog, & The Latino Pimp have been cookin with gas! They seem to be doing lots of Thursdays, like next week, so give 'em a shot!

Song of the Week

Crown Royals - "All Night Burner," All Night Burner

Estrus Records isn't known as the home of funky soul, but some vintage Crown Royals tunes are pretty funky. Greasy modern organ funk is always a welcome thing.

Well, that's about all I got. If you have any suggestions to liven up this fair blog, or something that would encourage some sort of dialogue, I'm all ears.

You Thought All Those Other Deaths Were Bad...

R.I.P. "The Grey Goose," 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, 1986-2005

Yeah, Happy St. Patty's Day. Above is a likeness (not an actual photo) of my beloved car of the past four years. Over the weekend, some fuckhead (much like his fuckhead ancestor of two years ago - Darwin is still trying to work with the fuckheads) tried to steal my car. Yes, that car. I guess it is popular for parts, since there are still millions of the same/similar cars on the road. Anyway, they ruined the steering column and it turned out that the cost of repairing the column was more than the determined value of the car...so it's totaled. The value was found to be $825, which I thought was pretty good, and I will end up with about $780. I saw it for the last time yesterday, which was pretty sad. I will have many fond memories of that car (and some not-so-fond ones) for a long time. Feel free to post your memories of the Grey Goose below, OK?

Rockzilla!
Last night, System Link put on another awesome event, basically a dance party starring J. Rawls and Dante Carfagna behind the wheels of steel. Davekwon and I went out and rocked it hard. As usual, Numeric, Ginsu, & Detox kicked off the festivities with jams we really didn't hear. J. Rawls, of Lone Catalysts and his own solo albums fame, spun a great set of classic/current hip-hop. The rather solid crowd was getting into it, which was awesome to see. There was a large population of b-boys at the show (Street Symphony performed some breakin routines between sets, watch video here), and they were obviously enjoying the jams. Then Dante came on and played some serious funk, which was to be expected. It was another cool System Link event, and there seem to be more to come.
On Monday, I made an appearance at Cafe Bourbon Street as Cool Brother Kyle, aka Kyle, owner of Lost Weekend, the coolest record store within walking distance, was spinning records with Captain Lonesome. I'm jealous of the fact that Kyle has an early-'80s reissue of Capsoul Records' greatest hits, and started out his set with everyone's favorite song, "Sock It to Em, Soul Brother," by Bill Moss. Good times.
On Saturday, Renkes, Chops, and I caught some of Formerly Quarters' set at Larry's, and it was a rockin' good time. They definitely impressed me alot more than the last time. Some smokin covers and some meaty originals. Now that's a solid rock band.

When Your Roots Attack...

Yeah, let's hope this is good. I think some Norwegian deathjazz should get me going, along with whatever the hell Fevergreens by fellow Norwegian Jono El Grande (yes Abele, of course I bought it for the name) is. Those two should show up tomorrow.

Well, keep drinking green beer for another few hours, because it's only Friday tomorrow, and Fridays are (or should be) easy.

Chris Abele: The man, the myth, the legend

(NOTE: Don't worry, the week in rock was indeed reviewed. Please read this first, however, then return to reading below about rock you don't care about.)

FUCK THE ASTROS (PITCH TO BONDS)!!!!!
FUCK MICHAEL SCHUMACHER!!!!!

Christopher John Abele was once my roommate. Back in our college days, we shot the shit, him talking incessantly about auto racing and me talking incessantly about music. Then we went to Backyard Burger (R.I.P., in Wooster at least) or Hardees. Ah, those were the days. Now he lives in L.A. with his feet up, racing his go-kart and drinking Ravenswood wine. In the immortal words of Hepcat, "No worries, man, no worries." Must be nice. Of course, I think he still likes Jet, so I guess we can't all be perfect. So this post is dedicated to Chris Abele, because he won a contest on this here blog and because..."DAT'S MY ROOOOOMMMAAAAAAATE!!!!!"

I don't have Bad Mattitude

Don't you wish you were here? Well, except for the wall of snow that remains in place, growing stronger brick by brick. Shit, hold on. That's better. What's up, peeps? I hope no one showed up at the Ravari Tuesday night, only to realize the distinct lack of my presence. Actually, if anyone reading this was there, what happened? Entertainment? I'm curious. I'm scheduled to make my triumphant Ravari return on Tuesday, April 5, so get ready. And CD101 Day sold out. Boo.

Your Mom!!!!!
Yes, the triumphant sounds of me requesting my favoritest Heroes of History song rang through the biker-filled expanse of Whiskey Dick's last night. The Heroes played a fine set of their hard rock magic, and just when we thought it was over, the boys in Mors Ontologica begged them for more. Of course, I seized the moment, and Pat ended up re-learning "Your Mom" to splendid results. Hopefully, once the album comes out, the guys will come through on a follow-up EP with softer stuff like that gem. Dave and I stayed for the first set of Mors, which was pretty snazzy too. I bought their vinyl-only (well, vinyl and download-only) album Don't Cry, which should be pretty sweet. Rocktastic.

Wow. On Sunday night, I went down to the Newport to see Matisyahu, the Hasidic Reggae superstar! As you can imagine, this was a pretty unique show. To quote his website, "With his long beard and black hat, this 24-yr-old lyricist, MC, and beatboxer is a singular performer, whose power, poetry, and skills combine the sounds of Bob Marley and Shlomo Carlebach, yet remaining wholly original." Crazy. His band kicked out reggae jams while he sang and chanted and rapped and beatboxed and all that. Sweet stuff. I'd say that the crowd was close to half-Jewish, with a large portion of the remainder being barely interested OSU kids who were there from some Community Fest. Though I can't identify with the religious beliefs, I could definitely feel the love in the room.
Friday night was cra-zayyyyy. Dubbed the "Pisces Crisis," this High Five shindig was a joint birthday party for Envelope, his DJ Amos Famous, and a bunch of other folks. It sold out and was supposedly the highest money-making show for the High Five ever, or under the current management, or something spectacular. First up was rapper Bru Lei (well, after the DJing of DJ True Skillz, with the funkiest crates this side of Poughkeepsie) with DJ Pos2 on the wheels. He tore shit up as usual, what can I say? Then Dove !nk label head Eyamme came on with his MC Davu from Pittsburgh. Good jazzy hip-hop, I was diggin' it. Then, in a much-discussed lineup decision, local punk 'n rollers Tree of Snakes commenced to kick ass for an extended period of time. I love those guys, so it was great for me, and I sang and moshed as best I could. Finally, Envelope and Jamos Famous killed it. The new jams sound pretty hot. Unfortunately, the album has been delayed by the boys' transition from local label Dove !nk to local label Weightless, but it should be out in the next few months. I'll start up another countdown as soon as I know what I'm counting to. Good shit indeed.
On Wednesday, Todd and I made it to Skully's for the CD101 VHS or Beta Low Dough show. It took forever to get started, but around 10:15, locals Manda & the Marbles began their set. It was my first time seeing them, and I wasn't too impressed. Their sound reminded me of Gwen Stefani singing for Cyndi Lauper's backup band on happy pills. OK, but boring fast. But Todd's fellow Louisvillains ("I mean, what do I call them? Guami Bears? Guambats? The Guamish?") eventually burst forth with those dancin new wave jams. They did finally have a guy playing keyboards, so I think I finally got to hear a song or two from Le Funk, but as those songs aren't super-distinctive, I'm not completely sure. Good times though. They're opening for Duran Duran when they come through the Bus, should be sweeet, haha.

"...And the power's out in the heart of man..."

Yes, I gave in today and bought Funeral by Arcade Fire off my cousin for $8.50 (it was brand new). And it's pretty sweet. Lots of strings 'n things, lots of emotion, and the occasional dose of rock. Those Canadians can do anything, can't they? Just like I can finally be cool in 2004......dammit.

Well, that's all for this post. There should be excitement this weekend, with lotsa old Scots wandering around. Catch ya on the flipside.

ABORT!!! ABORT!!!

I just found out that I will NOT be DJing tonight. I guess Wookalar had butt surgery, and is taking the month of March off. I guess I'm first on the list for the month of April, so I will let you know what's up as soon as I know.

CANCELLED Tuesday, March 8th, Ravari Room, 10:30 - ??? CANCELLED

"Well, I guess I was hungry for stink..."

The lesson for the week is: Humor is about both funny material and audience. Just remember that. Anyhoo, I hope you had a good weekend. Chris Abele did indeed win the latest uncared-about trivia challenge, but his mighty reward of a post dedicated entirely to him is still in the works. I'll shoot for next week sometime. And I did find the best piece of vinyl ever on Saturday at Sour Records in Westerville...but you'll have to hit Ravari next week to find out what it is.

Blam!!!

The Octopus Project attacked the High Five again last night, and it was awesome. Yvonne's theremin playing is fucking tremendous. Lotsa jams, and instrument-switching, and hinting at Usher songs, and other blizznazz. I definitely recommend their instrumental-electronica-rock for all! Locals The Patsys came on before, and were OK. It was weird to have them on the bill, because they are a straight-ahead rock band, but whatever. First up was Soft Top Jeep, which was two skinny guys "singing" weird electro-rock songs about Melissa Etheridge having cancer and then butt-dancing to "Drop It Like It's Hot." Weird, but they (with a decent legion of friends in the audience) would have been a much better lead-in to the headliner than the Patsys. Oh well, good timez.
I saw/heard bits of Trapper John and Junior High Mustache on Saturday at Andyman's Treehouse and Postal Friday at Ravari, but not enough of any to warrant a report. Keep rockin', boys.
Thursday's show at Cafe Bourbon Street was pretty sweet. Wet Leather (Dayton) opened up with some good rockin stuff. Hard for me to describe right now, but they brought it, don't you worry. And it's always good to see a fellow College of Wooster grad bringin the rock, just like The Unpossibles or that other band. Then Enemy Love from Boston came on with some bombastic keyboard-punk or something that rocked the house. And the chick was kinda hot too. Davekwon showed up during their set, which was awesome. Unfortunately, I could not stay for Times New Viking, but I'm sure they were cool too.

Song of the Week

"Kitchen" - Sex Mob, Dime Grind Palace, Ropeadope Records, 2003

I got this album for a song at Sour Records on Saturday, and this jam just reached out and smacked me. Funkiest beat for a weird-jazz song ever! Great stuff.

Well, that's about all I got. Don't worry, Abele-love is just around the corner. So is VHS or Beta, who I'm seeing at Skully's tonight with Todd from work. Rawk! More rocking to happen this weekend, including Envelope's jam at the High Five on Friday and Matisyahu, The Hasidic Reggae Superstar, at the Newport on Sunday. See ya there!