June/July recap

June re-cap
6/3 - Riverboat Gamblers w/ Birthday Suits @ Triple Rock. (no longer consider myself a Gamblers fan, too pop)
6/6 - Six Six Crush, The 86'd, Class of 86, Six Six Howlers, Six Pack Queen @ Spring Inn (awesome night of evil rock)
6/8 - Awesome Snakes (ex Soviettes), The Retainers @ Hexagon - Didn't care for either band
6/9 - Six Six Crush @ The Entry (Me, my guy and 5 strippers, that was the crowd, 66 Crush opened)
6/10 - Birthday Suits @ The Turf and Koalas @ The Spring Inn (two of my top local bands, great sets by both)
6/11 - Taping of Drinking With Ian saw The God Damn Doo Wop Band, Die Electric and Gay Beast (thumbs up for Die Electric)
6/13 - Faggot w/ Insect Warfare and Geargrinder @ The Bedlam. All sorts of awesomeness. I sang These Boots Are Made For Walking with Faggot. And it is on tape, well DVD.
6/15 - Some pop punk band in a basement two blocks away. Cops came before I saw the band that lives there.
6/22 - Mark Mallman solo show @ The Artists Corner. Just Mark and a grand piano, free newcastle, vodka and a free whiskey shot. Good times.
6/24 - Roky Erickson, The Boredoms @ The Intonation Music Festival in Chicago. Did I mention I love Roky?
6/25 - Tyrades, Bill Dolan, Panther @ The Intonation Music Fest. LOVED Tyrades, not so much the other three.
6/26 - Hank III w/Murder Junkies in Des Moines - My buddy is a huge fan, shorter set but small place, was pretty fun
6/27 - Hank III w/Murder Junkies @ First Ave - Longer set, packed crowd, people really into it, it rocked.
6/27 - Bellrays @ The Entry - Holy hell was this band awesome. Really stellar guitar player (broke strings on three guitars) matched with a beautiful soulful voice.
6/30 - Birthday Suits @ The Entry - Very energetic two peice that always puts on a great show.
7/2 - Dave Alvin @ The Turf - Hot as hell, rockin guitar, Dave rules, ask Wolf he was there
7/8 - Hank III w/Murder Junkies, Those Poor Bastards in Madison - Met the Hank III message board nerds. Kind of cool, they're a different breed. Hung out with singer from Assjack, rocked out, no injuries.
7/11 - Faggot and Voetsek @ Bedlam theatre.
7/12 - Chooglin @ The Foundry Pub in St. Paul. Always awesome to see a big rockin band in a small dive bar.

Here's some more info on the weekend and days surrounding Roky Erickson in Chicago:

We'll start with thursday night. Got in free to the opening of the Solstice Film Festival. There was free newcastle, kronenberg, and Shakers Vodka. Mark Mallman did a solo set on a grand piano. This was at the Artists Corner in St. Paul which is a jazz club and pretty cool setting for free and everything. Kind of odd though seeing a Mark Mallman show not packed with his hipster fans, most people weren't paying attention to him. From there went for free shots at Pizza Luce for a Drinking With Ian viewing party.

Friday night we left for Chicago at 11 pm and drove through the night. Arrived shortly after 6 in the morning with 6 and a half hours to kill before the hotel would let us check in. Ate at a greasy restaurant called the Golden Nugget while we got to listen to some awesome stereotypical cop banter. Later that day hit the Intonation Music Festival for my beloved Roky Erickson. The guy I was with was not familiar with Roky but went because he know's I'm so into him. He was blown away by the set. Roky was in top form, voice sounded great and his lead guitarist in the Explosives is just phenomenal. As always great hearing Starry Eyes, You're Gonna Miss Me, Zombie, Two Headed Dog and other classics. And to show the diversity of this fest, right after Roky, the Japanese band ,The Boredoms, played. That was an extreme set as well as the band consists of three drummers and a keyboardist that together can push to points of energy, speed and intensity that are unbelievable. While I was watching the boredoms, the guy I was with ran to the bathroom and came back with a ticket stub autographed to me by Roky Erickson. I flipped out. Just missed a chance to meet the man myself. He didn't come get me because he didn't want us both to miss out on the chance of getting something signed for me. Was very cool.

Sunday we went back to the Intonation Festival to see a local Chicago band called the Tyrades. Definitely a band I think a few boardies (hint zook and scooter) would get into. Unfortunately the band doesn't have a web site and its hard to track down when they're playing. They have a great punk female vocalist and guitar and bass player that punch their guitars and at the end of the set ended up smashing one and tossing the other into the crowd. Great way to open the day. Caught a bit of the NYC band the Panthers and was really not impressed. Though you could barely hear the guitar, the vocalist just didn't do it for me.

Monday we drove from Chicago to Des Moines to catch Hank III on our way home. Was very cool as the venue had a capacity of 300 people. Sound was okay, decor was definitely lacking but great to see the band in such a small area. The three sets of country, hellbilly and assjack, while shortened at this show, were very energetic. Not many people stayed for the assjack set which meant being even closer to the action. Though the last time Gary came at the crowd I got knocked into by many people and blew out my ankle. War wound definitely worth pain. We'll see if I agree with that if it doesn't go away soon.

Tuesday, got back to mpls just in time to be 20 minutes late to work. From work went to the Hank III show at First Ave. The Murder Junkies opened still featuring Merle, who was a great presence to see on stage. They were a rockin band but I wasn't as into them as many people there. Hank III came on and did a longer set this time with a packed floor. In most places the only moshing during a Hank III show is during the Assjack set. Not at First Ave. People were dancing and moshing all throughout the country set as well. And lighters lit for the song "Not Everybody Likes Us" which as cheesy as it sounds, brings tears to the eyes of the guy I was with. Just before Assjack finished I headed over to the Entry when the Bellrays went on. What an amazing band they are. One of their shirts has the line "Blues is the teacher, punk is the preacher" and how true that is to their set. Very rock/punk guitars that filled the Entry and fronted by a bluesy soulful singer who did the best cover of Highway to Hell I've ever seen. Really had the entry dancing and if I wasn't peg legged I would have danced even more. I'm disappointed in myself for never seeing this band before, and I won't miss another one of their shows in town. Highly, highly recommended.