Beach Party

The first of three bands I saw at the beach party was Faggot. Now this is the first time I've seen this band and it was pretty much all I expected. Very energetic and despite not having the greatest voice, Tim is an awesome front man. Their music is definitely punk but with a hint of classic rock. The whole band, scantily clad in bikinis and speedos was all over the small stage and kept the crowd rockin.

The next band was Kites. I was in back and couldn't see much of what was going on but I'm pretty sure that this was just one person. And the music, is pure noise and distortion. It seemed at some points to try and make a melody but it was more a wall of sound and gyrations. I wouldn't necessarily call them songs but there were three groups of music to the set. I probably wouldn't go to a show soley on this guy but it would be interesting to see how sets differ.

Last up was USAISAMONSTER. I was very impressed with this band. Described as "gnarly nomadic psychedelic warriors," "a brilliantly fried two-piece guitar and drums band of sun spotters hailing from Brooklyn, NY."

And to continue quoting reviewers, because I'm not a writer (from their website http://www.loadrecords.com/bands/usaisamonster.html) "The sound of the record is a synapse firing melt of rock and other-wordly whisper. The rock goes from balls out to a gentle, massaging hand reaching into your cortex. Think astral plane hitchhikers like MEAT PUPPETS and SABBATH in the same mental fart as LOAD two piece terrorists. The fidelity of this record is total."

Needless to say I'm very glad my friend convince me to stay and check out this band. Despite the songs sometimes running on a bit much the sound was wonderful and I'll be keeping an eye out for anytime they play.

Tornavalanche

So Saturday night I went to Big V's to see this band I heard was so great called Tornavalanche. Signal To Trust and Plastic Constellations were opening. Now Signal to Trust, are a very decent band. The Plastic Constellations are what caused the art school contingent that was the audience at Big V's. For one Big V's is never crowded and if it is I expect it to be full of black, maybe some leather jackets, tattoos and peircings. Well no, that night it was full of afghan wearing chicks with bad dye jobs and rainbow covered scarfs. And I also felt as though I was not a member of the club because I didn't not bring a messenger bag to a rock show. Silly me. And you can tell they had never been to Big V's before because so many of them missed the step to the area at the right of the stage and tripped and fell into a bunch of mic stands, to my entertainment. Seriously, you would think they learned but I say about 5 or 6 people do that. Tornavalanche, despite being on a Milwaukee Hard Core festival list a few weeks prior were not hardcore at all. And it was obvious that they cared more about their vocals than their guitar. When they played their cords and did their shit they had a rockin sound, but that would stop when the guy started singing, and I didn't care for it at all. If they kept the rock through the whole song, I might have been more into it.

Halloween

After parties on Saturday night and being hung over on Sunday night it was back to the music on Monday. I rocked out to the Toxic Avengers at the Triple Rock, did the Hip Shake with Eleganza in the Entry, busted a move in the First Ave mainroom and the Safety Dance in the VIP Lounge. It was quite the night.

The Toxic Avengers were very fun ripping through some great Avengers covers all while The Toxic Avenger played in Fast Forward. After that I hit the Entry. Eleganza played Suspicious Minds which had been in my head for the past two weeks so I sang my heart out with them. As usual a strong set of some good old rock songs.

Missed Smitty DJing cause I was in the Entry. There was some hip hop stuff in the mainroom, I danced a bit and was glad to see a good crowd there. Then up to the VIP Lounge for some 80s music including Milli Vanilli and the Safety Dance. An all around movin' sort of night.

2 Show Friday Night

Friday night started off with myself being in a little bit of hell. I went to the Quest to see Six Six Crush in the Ascot Room. After wanting to murder four different Quest employees before even making it in the room, I had to go through the main room to get to the Ascot. Yeah whatever shitty Quest for Mayhem band was on at that time was playing a Bon Jovi cover. Like I said, HELL. As soon as Six Six Crush finished I bolted for the door. Despite a stellar performance by one of my favorite locals, I needed to get the fuck out of there. Heading toward the exit sign someone at the Quest of course had to stop and ask me if I was leaving. No I though exit mean bathroom.

Then I headed over to the Urban Wildlife for Hot Rod Hearse and members of the Squabs. Always good to go to a free show with $2 PBR tallboys. Missed quite a bit of the Squab boys set but I've always enjoyed their music. Hot Rod Hearse as usual played a very strong set. The boys put all they've got into that music and their performance shows it. If you're at all into Rockabilly and you haven't checked out this band, there's something wrong.

Sir Paul

Last night I went to see Paul McCartney with my Dad. My Dad is a huge Beatles fan and dished out $250 a piece for our tickets, I knew this meant a lot to him. He showed up in his Beatles shirt and was singing before we even left for the concert.

Being that he is so into this band, it is the music that I was raised with. Every Sunday morning we listened to Beatles albums, and the Beatle Brunch as he made breakfast, read the newspaper and spent the day just as he pleased often times pulling out a guitar to jam along. It was very cool to see him in his element dancing and singing along to songs that I've been hearing all my life. His eyes lit up and he shouted "Magical Mystery Tour" as the first chords of the evening came roaring out into the packed crowd.

We heard lots of Beatles songs including Blackbird, Drive My Car, Please Please Me, She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, Good Day Sunshine, Back In The U.S.S.R., The Long and Winding Road, I'll Follow The Sun, Eleanor Rigby, Penny Lane, Yesterday, Let It Be, Hey Jude and Helter Skelter.

Though I'm not a Wings fan Maybe I'm Amazed and Band On The Run got a great response from the crowd despite the fairly stand still approach that was taken during most of the show. Live and Let Die of course had the pyrotechnics of a Kiss show with large booming balls of fire followed by streams of blue, green and orange colored flames.

His backing band was pretty good, nothing really too impressive but that didn't matter. Paul mixed things up with rockers, solo acoustic numbers and piano driven songs. His voice still sounded great which was such an added bonus when hearing these songs.

While it's not a concert I would pay $250 to attend I was happy to be able to share the music and the show with my Dad who probably had one of the best nights he's had in years. Was very nice to see his excitement.

Jonathan Richman/Vic Chesnutt

Tuesday night was Jonathan Richman and Vic Chesnutt at the Turf Club.

Vic opened up the show and I think he's a pretty talented songwriter. He's in a wheel chair and has limited use of his right hand and uses a thumb pick. But he's got a voice that is very cool in that deep yet a perfect hint of nasal that not many people can pull off. I need to spend more time taking in the lyrics to his songs and the music overall. I was really digging one of his final songs that talked about saving a woman from a man that beat her and being her hero, which is not what she wanted. If anyone knows the proper name to this song please let me know.

Jonathan despite having some laryngitis put on a strong performance. His songs are very fun and I love his guitar playing. He is a very animated person that can always put a smile on his face. To me his eyes look sad and then he smiles and it just makes me giggle. An all around entertainer who knowingly couldn't keep his voice up so he danced and really got the audience into it. Very fun set at a great club.

Soul Asylum

Last night Soul Asylum was supposed to play the 7th St Entry which I was looking forward to so much. Well there were PA problems and the set got moved over to the First Ave Mainroom. It was still a very good show but I was really looking forward to seeing those guys with Tommy Stinson on the Entry stage. They let more people into the show for the mainroom, some free and some paid $12. But the crowd was not as moving as I thought they would have been in the Entry.

Tommy on bass and Michael Bland on drums helped create a huge sound at the show. Dan Murphy was in top notch form and was very focused throughout the set. Dave sounded very good and was having a great time rockin out with Tommy. His chant of "Karl, Karl, Karl" at one point seemed a bit cheesy but you know the guys are going through hard times. The sound came out strong on songs like Bittersweat Heart, Somebody To Shove, and Just Like Anyone. Other strong points were the cover of Summer of Drugs, Cartoon and Closer to the Stars. Their new songs came out loud and rockin and I'm really looking forward to their next release.