One Trick Pony- The Ponys w/ The Black Lips-Black Cat 3/24
This reminds me of Jimbromski.
This reminds me of Jimbromski.
In anticipation of Sacklunch's Black Lips/Ponys review, I'm finally posting the picture I took at our first Black Lips show. Take a look at at that glorious 'stache. As Chazz Michael Michaels would say, "Go ahead. Drink it in."
Needless to say, I think all of Rock Club should be sporting mustaches. I'm long overdue for one. Here's a picture of me with a whispy 'stache in the spring of '86. That was the same year I saw Judas Priest at the Capital Centre, which as we all know is the only Rock Club show to receive a perfect 10.0 rating.
Let me be James Blunt for a minute. I expected the movie to kind of suck. I saw a few medicore reviews and that lowerd my expectations. So, did the movie suck or was it actually quite entertaining and an excellent choice for a Rock Club movie? If you guessed the latter, you win absolutely nothing but the small feeling of self-satisfaction. Take it. It may be the only one you get today.
The movie got off to a funny start with old punks talking about how much they hated Reagan, their parents, their bosses, cardiagan sweaters, the uptight attitudes of the times, etc. To illustrate America of the early '80's they used great stock footage of the whitest people in America, all outifitted by J. Crew. The punks also went off on the classic rock bands of the like Journey and Fleetwood Mac. Jimbromski took exception to the constant dissing of Fleetwood Mac. I didn't mind it so much.
As Potsy pointed out before we started the movie, most hardcore music blows. The movie confirmed this but it also showed that some of it was quite good. The clearest example was Bad Brains. They flat out kicked ass. Then they kicked it some more. Seeing footage of their shows makes me wish Rock Club had a time machine. Instead of scanning the local clubs to see who's coming to town, we'd travel through time solving crimes. Then we'd celebrate by going to the greatest concerts in rock history. The crime solving was Jimbromski's idea. I'm on board as long as we have our own mystery machine.
They interviewed a number of old punk rockers for the documentary. Two really stood out in my mind. The first was Ian MacKaye. He came across much more lucid and thoughtful than the other people interviewed. Of course, most punks in LA, Boston, and NY did more drugs than a touring funk band. Meanwhile, Ian was straight edge. I'm sure there's a lesson here for Rock Club. Maybe it's time to clean up, go legit. No more meth labs. Something we should consider.
The other person I enjoyed in the movie was a guy called Mugger. He was part of the Black Flag road crew. He told some pretty funny stories, one of them being how he came up with the name of his band, Nig-Heist. His band didn't amount to much, but somehow he became part owner in SST Records. Eventually, he was bought out. He dumped his money in tech stocks and now he's indepenently wealthy. I have to say, seeing these former hardcore punks years later as upright, middle-to-upper class citizens might be the most disturbing thing in the movie.
I give American Hardcore a 7.3. Very entertaining despite some bad music. I now invite your comments below...
DC United vs Chivas de Guadalajara, Concacaf Champions Cup, 03/15/07
RFK Stadium
The latest Rock Club outing was a trip to RFK to see DC United face off against Chivas. It was cold as fuck and rainy too, so it felt like we were in England, circa 1985 or so, just laid off from our jobs at the mining pit, going to see Luton Town play Scunthorpe in 40 degree weather and pissing down rain. After the game we went to the chippy, then smashed up the pub.
I will start out by saying that I was pretty hyped up for this show so my opinions may be somewaht biased. It was good to have RC at full strength as it had been sometime since all 4 members were present for a show. Good work by Potsy for getting the tickets in advance as the show was sold out by Friday evening. I had the luxury of a designated driver, so after a short, yet productive visit to Potsys apartment (sorry CO-OP) we all headed over to the BC. My apologies to our friends in Statehood, but I was downstairs during their set, still taking advantage of my designated driver situation. Jumbo went up for a few songs and proclaimed that "they sounded good" and "seemed to be getting better with each show". I will trust his opinion seeing how he has seen every Statehood show to date.
The rest of RC ventured upstairs to see the next opening band, The Big Sleep. This 3-piece out of Brooklyn plays an interesting blend of guitar rock. Definitely better without the vocals. They rocked the house and the capacity crowd enjoyed their musical stylings. At one point I thought they sounded a bit like prog-rock veterans Rush, with the Lifeson/Lee sonic assault in full effect. The only thing that dampered my experience was the two alternative lifestyle dudes dancing next to me. Guys, this isnt Tracks, lets simmer down a bit.
The Thermals took the stage and proceeded to rock the house. It was a nice change of pace from the other shows we had been to lately (I am talking to you Midlake). Quick, uptempo anthems really got the crowd into it. The lead singer (I dont know his name and am too lazy to look it up...) seemed almost surprised by the enthusiasm of the crowd. Does DC have a repuation for lame crowds? This was not the case on Friday night as the crowd was worked into a frenzy with "Pillar of Salt", a single off their latest album. They played for about an hour and concluded with an encore of a few songs.
I think one reason I enjoyed this show so much was not only the quality of the music and excitement of the crowd, but the length of the songs. There is something to be said about songs that run 2:30-3:00 minutes in length. There is no chance to get bored and you know the next tune is right around the corner. I believe Rock Club needs to attend more shows like this, as opposed to the Midlakes/Gob Irons of the rock world. That type of music is fine on CD whilst making sweet love to your wife (sorry Potsy) or as background music when working. So far, it appears that the RC shows that have gotten the highest ratings are the ones with energy and noise. It was good to have the R back in Rock Club. Rating 7.9.
Note: I would have given the show an 8.1 or 8.2 but Jimbromski set the numerical bar kind of low with his review of Sleatter-Kinney (and you all know how I feel about that show).
Okay, updated listings.
Did you know there's a place called "Baltimore," north of Washington D.C.? Me neither. Anyway, there is such a place, and sometimes musicians perform there. Musicians such as.....
Date | Venue | Band | ||
3/6/2007 | Black Cat | Clinic | ||
3/6/2007 | 9:30 | Badly Drawn Boy | ||
3/9/2007 | Ottobar | The Walkmen/Broken West | ||
3/11/2007 | RNRH | The Horrors | ||
3/15/2007 | RFK | DC United/Chivas | ||
3/16/2007 | RNRH | The Raveonettes | ||
3/20/2007 | Sonar | Heartless Bastards | ||
3/23/2007 | 9:30 | RjD2 | ||
3/23/2007 | RNRH | The Walkmen/Broken West | ||
3/24/2007 | Black Cat | The Ponys | ||
3/25/2007 | Rams Head | Robyn Hitchcock | ||
3/27/2007 | Black Cat | Fake Accents | ||
3/28/2007 | 9:30 | Cold War Kids | ||
3/29/2007 | 9:30 | Ted Leo | ||
3/31/2007 | 9:30 | EPMD/Black Sheep | ||
4/3/2007 | RNRH | Long Winters/Broken West | ||
4/5/2007 | RNRH | Black Angels | ||
4/6/2007 | Fletcher's | Chubb Rock | ||
4/6/2007 | Wolf Trap | Roger McGuinn | ||
4/7/2007 | 9:30 | Kaiser Chiefs/Walkmen | ||
4/8/2007 | 9:30 | Lily Allen | ||
4/9/2007 | RNRH | Erase Errata | ||
4/10/2007 | 9:30 | Low | ||
4/13/2007 | Black Cat | Junior Boys | ||
4/18/2007 | 9:30 | TV On The Radio | ||
4/19/2007 | 9:30 | TV On The Radio | ||
4/28/2007 | Black Cat | Dismemberment Plan | ||
4/29/2007 | Ottobar | The Wrens | ||
4/30/2007 | 9:30 | Peter Bjorn and John | ||
5/2/2007 | RNRH | Sunset Rubdown | ||
5/4/2007 | Black Cat | Konono No. 1 | ||
5/13/2007 | Black Cat | Sloan | ||
5/13/2007 | 9:30 | LCD Soundsystem |
I just got an email from Eric saying The Dismemberment Plan is getting back together for a benefit show on April 28th. It'll be the first time they've played in almost 4 years. Needless to say, I insist Rock Club make its presence known at this show. Maybe we can all wear snowmobile suits or something. I don't know. I'm just spitballing here.
Tickets go on sale tomorrow at 5PM. Let's get ours right away.