It might just be me, but everytime I look at the above advertisement
all I can think of is Edie McClurg. Not that
there is
anything wrong with that, obviously.
King
Khan & the Shrines Local 506 6/30/08
I've been to
a lot of shows, and I'm racking my brain but I think this might have
been the first one that involved a cheer-
leader/dancer as one of the
members.
It was a packed
show, and I'm not referring to the crowd (though
that was healthy in size) - counting King Khan and the
pom-pom pal,
there were ten band members piled onto the small Local 506 stage.
Depending on where you were
standing, there were some members you
couldn't even see...for me, it was one of the horn blowers and the
percussion
dude in the back...really, god knows who else they had
stuffed on that box.
I placed myself
up at the very front so as to take my shitty
photos, and soon thereafter most of the crowd crammed in
around me.
You'd think there was a contest being held on how uncomfortably close
you can stand next to the people
around you even though there was
plenty of room to spread out; this game is sometimes called "drunk
asshole", and
there were a lot of contestants this night. Certainly
more than I would have expected given the size of the crowd,
pro-
portionally speaking; and as per usual, it only takes a couple of
these douchemongers to ruin the experience for every-
one.
But enough
bellyaching - I wasn't going to let a few bad apples
ruin my good time, and luckily King Khan and his top-
notch Shrines but
on suck a goddamn blistering performance that the asshole distractions
were few and far between.
This was a serious dance
fest, the most danciest good time I've been to in ages. Nearly
the entire crowd was moving
and shaking and the King seemed to be feeding off of it. They
played pretty much their entire newish "Greatest Hits"
record, and probably a few others to boot...I was too busy shaking my
tailfeathers to care really.
Let's touch briefly on the Shrines - they were a regular United Colors
of Benetton out there, hailing from France and
Germany and possibly the US...and maybe Canada! Yes, that
Canada! They were straight killing it from start to
finish, so tight that you'd think you had been transported back 40
years to some manner of "Sock hop" or whatever
it was the kids were into in those days.
It was a glorious time, so goddamn killer that all the coked-up asshole
underage frat boy crowd dicks in the world
couldn't have wiped the smile off my face after the show ended.
I actually took photos with my real camera...see the results below:
"You
know, this is the way we eat in America. I got my meat, I got my
potatoes, I got my vegetables, I got my dessert,
and I don't even have
to wash the dishes.'
Dizzee Rascal - Where's
Da G's. Let's be honest, Dizzee poses a question we've
all asked ourselves at some
point or another.
KG - Sex
Toy Box. Kevin, I still have your CD of this...
Liars - Clear
Island. The new Liars record is easily the best since
the first, maybe even better than that one.
Bonus: Cycle Time.
Nada Surf - Hyperspace.
Couple of tracks from the sophomore effort by this now near-perfect pop
band.
Bonus: Slow Down.
Radar Bros. - Is
That Blood. I listened to the CD these tracks are
from, The Fallen Leaf Pages, a lot while driving
around Death Valley. It was rather fitting, really.
Bonus: To Remember.
I am the slowest
website updater of all time. Here is a show review, there are a
couple of photo journals posted, and
plenty of rockin' songs below.
Swervedriver
with The Nein
Cat's Cradle
6/6/08
I've thought
about this little write-up
for a while, not really knowing what to say. Since I've moved back
to North Carolina,
I've made it out to exactly two shows, and both of
them have been “reunion” affairs. I don't know if this says more
about
me getting old or that more bands are reuniting these
days...probably both. It was also a reunion of sorts with some good
friends, Brian and Ivan, friends who were influential into turning me
onto this band some twelve years ago or so. Now we
were three old
men going to see the live performance of a band that broke up ten
years ago.
You'd never have
known it was ten years
ago Swervedriver released
their last record, based on the show I saw
this fine
evening. Maybe they never lost it, or maybe they just
re-found it since the tour had started out west before it made it's
way here; whatever the reason, they were as goddamn tight and
powerful as the bulging ass muscle on a female
bodybuilder. The
crowd wasn't huge – the Cradle was about half-full – but those
that were there were ecstatic at what
they were witnessing. As far
as the songs played, like always I'm terrible with track names but
they hit across all their
full-length releases fairly evenly; it
should come as no surprise that the crowd was most animated anytime a
song from
“Mezcal Head” came up, and much to my personal delight
a lot of my favorites from “99th Dream” got the live
treatment
as well.
It was a
fantastic show by one of my
all-time favorite bands, and the smiles on both Brian and Ivan's
faces when the
gig let out told me I wasn't alone in these feelings. One can only hope
the band decides to build on this tour, maybe
write
some new songs, put out a new record, go on another tour...hey, an
old nostalgic man can dream.
Also worth
noting were openers The
Nein – they seemed awful familiar to me, reminding me a lot of
another local
group, The White Octave, that I was a big fan of before
I moved away years ago. Turns out the two bands have a
number of
members in common, and by “a number” I mean somewhere between one
(the minimum) and three (the
maximum) and I'm too lazy to research
the exact number. Either way, they have a similar sound to their
parent band,
a blend of Cursive and Fugazi and NC-style indie rock, a
nice mixture as far as I'm concerned and certainly worth check-
ing out
if you've never seen them before.
"Look
at me. I'm fat, black, can't dance, and I have two gay fathers.
People have been messing with me my whole life. I learned a long
time
ago there's no sense getting all riled up every time a bunch of idiots
give you a hard time. In the end, the universe
tends to unfold as it
should. Plus I have a really large penis. That keeps me happy."
Punk Rock Mix! Well, most of it is punk at least. Some old, some new, a
little garage thrown in there as well.
