The Thorkelsons '06

ROCK CLUB 2006 AWARDS EXTRAVAGANZA!!!!!!!!

Get psyched like you've never gotten psyched before. Rock Club, with financial sponsorship from the Chubb Group, is proud to present the 2006 Peter Halsten Thorkelson* Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Rock Art Form.

This world-famous award is incredibly prestigious, and there are precious metals embedded in the award statuette. It's really something. Here's a picture of one--notice that the table is very sturdy. That's because the statue is 19 lbs. of solid gold, mined from politically-unstable areas, so you know it's got street cred:



Over the next two weeks, watch this space as the Rock Club academy, or "brain trust", if you will, will present their choices for such exciting categories as

Best/Worst Show
Best Use of Special Effects ("FX!")
Best/Worst Albums of 2006!
Best/Worst Singles of 2006!

AND MANY, MANY MORE!!

*AKA Peter Tork, member, Monkees, born Washington DC 1943

And thanks again to our sponsors, the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. Consider insuring your belongings with Chubb Group Insurance.

As seen at the 9:30 Club

The Real Geniuses - December 9, 2006 - Private Party, Old Town Alexandria, VA

"It will be a great time food, dance, fun, drink, frolic."

December proves a tough month for Rock Club. The options seem to dwindle this time of year, and the social and chocolate making calendars fill up fast. But a little serendipity graced RC this past week, as TJ's mom had hired a band for her 60th birthday party. The band, The Real Geniuses, performed at the 9:30 Club in support of the wildly over-rated Super Diamond (a Neil Diamond cover band) earlier this fall. I could easily see why TJ's mom hired this band. I'll bet they outperformed Super Diamond. Now, I like Neil Diamond, and not the "played" Sweet Caroline sing along anthem. Song Sung Blue, and Forever in Blue Jeans are great ND tracks. But Super Diamond takes itself too seriously, and gets old pretty quickly and I know from personal experience.

Okay, back to The Real Geniuses. As you can tell from the picture, I creepily stood behind the band to take this photo. The keyboardist has a nice back, doesn't she? So let's get that out in the open. She was super cute, and that always makes the rock a bit more interesting. The Real Geniuses are in fact geniuses. They're smart enough to know that sometimes the crowd just wants to hear songs they like. I believe it was Tainted Love that lured me up from the basement to check out the band. It was the keyboard that did it. I was summoned by the unmistakeable "duh-duh"..."duh-duh" coming through the ceiling tiles. The Real Geniuses band is, of course, a cover band. And a good one at that. There really isn't a lot more to say about them. They performed admirably. I liked them. The girl was cute. What more do you need?

I can't say that the rest of Rock Club even bothered to check them out. Maybe as they waited at the pasta bar, or the booze bar, but I doubt much more than that. So for those that missed it all together, here's some rather lousy video I shot with my camera. To be fair, in my version, you can actually see TJ's mom dancing at the end. But not so here. Oh well. But this is the song that I've had in my head all weekend.




So after the "show," TJ we suggested we go to one of his favorite local bars. I actually don't need to tell you much about it. I'll let this footage speak for itself. Imagine this scene set to the song, "Closing Time."



Did you notice the dialogue at all? My favorite was hearing the woman moan, "nooooooo!" I was waiting for her to say, "not without my daughter!"

King Luva is visible on the top left. He calmly watches as the "bitch gits tossed." This was followed by more violence on the street.

At least no one died (that I know of).

Witty Statehood Title

If Rock Club had a house band, it'd probably be our well bearded friends, Statehood.

While this was the first official Rock Club show for Statehood, we've seen almost every show they've played. In fact, RC has been represented at 60% of all the shows they've ever played (that's 3 out of 5 for you math whizzes). Their first show was at Fort Reno this past summer (back in Rock Club's salad days). At the time, they had pre-recorded all the guitar parts, leaving Clark to focus on his singing duties. They later ditched the machine and had Clark play guitar AND sing at the same time. The experiment was a success and all the people rejoiced. However, something was still missing. On Saturday night they added a second guitarist and again there was success and rejoicing.

It's been interesting to see the band evolve. The songs have become tighter, harder, faster, and more punk. Clark's singing has really grown on me and the band emphasis on "the kick-ass rock" is clear. Songs such as "Disconnect" and "Giants" rained down upon us with great vengeance and furious anger. The highlight of the evening was when their new guitarist joined them onstage and the band launched into "Plexi". The second guitarist took the song "to eleven". It balanced out the sound with the band's stellar rhythm section and added more a harder feel. Needless to say, I think their sound is getting better and better.

While the songs are certainly getting better, the crowd on Saturday was underwhelmed. Eric even pointed it out during the show. Maybe it's b/c the songs tended to sound similar due to Clark's singing style. Whatever the reason, I don't think the crowd reaction was an accurate measure of the performance. I expect the band to continue to progress into a rock juggernaut. At least I hope so. Rock Club needs a killer house band.

Rock Club Rating: 6.8

Since I bailed on the Radio 4 show and missed what apparently was a great show, I'll finish with some comments on the Rock & Roll Hotel. It was our first visit there and collectively Rock Club was impressed.

We in Rock Club appreciate the finer things in life. We swim in pools of champagne, dine on meals of fresh horse, and sip crude oil from a twisty straw. We demand nothing but the finest, which is why the R & R Hotel could become the unofficial home of Rock Club. Five reasons why we'll be returning to the R&R Hotel:

1. Music and lounge areas are on separate floors so you can escape and hang out if you want
2. The upstairs is divided into cool rooms w/ rock-inspired décor (and not the cheesy Hard Rock Café type of crap)
3. Let's just say if Potsy showed some initiative, he'd have a decent chance of crushing some ass
4. Ample Parking
5. Good beer selection, cheap booze

Comments on the Radio 4 show are welcome.