Snippy At SummerDance

After a tension-filled day of unpleasantries at work, Mary Ann reminded me of my promise to attend tango night at SummerDance.  No way I was actually going to dance, but I had said I would go hear the music.  Mary Ann, for those of you who don’t know, was born in Argentina.  She speaks like where she was raised, though — Hillside, Illinois.  They don’t even have a hill, by the way.

We took a bus to Chinatown and the Red Line downtown from there.  Here are a few shots from the Chinatown station:

The only way I could think of to have fun at SummerDance was to mock people out and annoy Mary Ann.  Childish?  Yep.  Do I apologize?  Nope.

There was a guy with a blue blanket covered with images of skiers.  He bugged me by standing in front of us, so I created the legend of The Ski Master:

done

Then I moved around for a closer view of the “dancing”:

done

On the way back, our last CTA connection, the Cermak bus, took about 40 minutes to show up.  Thanks to you, too, CTA.  And you were doing such a nice job until then.

The bus did eventually drop us off at the Skylark, where the good company (aided by a few beverages) took the edge off the pain.  I would have bought the Ski Master a beer, but he never showed.

Twee Musician Thinks He’s In Charge of Everybody’s Blog

Someone I know went to see The Magnetic Fields tonight, a band popular among certain hip members of the Least Generation, albeit unknown to everyone else.  The leader of the band, Mr. Stephin Merritt (no, that’s not a typo), insisted that no one blog about certain aspects of the show.  Maybe he feels only he can blog about his band.  I just thought I’d mention that here in my BLOG.  Blog, blog, blog, blog, blog.  Stephin Merritt, Stephin Merrit, Stephin Merrit.  Old Town School of Folk Music.  March 16, 2008.  Hey Stephin — blog this!

Wraygun Rumbles at Bernice’s

On Saturday we went to a chock-full-of-character Bridgeport bar named Bernice’s Tavern to hear some music by Wraygun, a Link Wray cover band that, on different occasions, turns into a Cramps cover band. Link Wray, of course, was one of the pioneers of the power chord in the late 50s and early 60s, especially in his big hit “Rumble.” “Rumble”, even though it’s an instrumental, was actually banned from some radio stations at the time because it might subvert the youth of America.

Larry (bass), Jack (drums), and a guitarist whose name I didn’t catch (although I do remember his fine Fender tube reverb unit), brought a smile to everyone’s face with a mix of Link Wray and vintage surf tunes. It’s always a good night when I hear “Pipeline.” In the second set, they added a guest saxophonist and guitarist, both of whom I enjoyed. Larry also sang a couple of songs.

The sound was excellent — just the actual sound of the amps and drums and a small vocal PA. To me, rock is meant to be heard in small clubs where you can hear the amps and drums themselves, not some muffled, over-amplified mix where the kick drum seems to be the lead instrument. Are you reading this, Metro?

The crowd at Bernice’s, which is quite eclectic and ranges in age from 20-somethings to people seemingly born in the 20s, had a great happy vibe. People were just plain having fun. It’s contagious. We met some friends there too, which added a lot. Mike, Bernice’s son, worked the crowd like a veritable ringmaster of libations.

Great job, guys! At least as far as I can remember….

done

Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow

I love psychedelic music. A lot of people only know the Strawberry Alarm Clock for their immortal hit “Incense and Peppermints,” but they were actually a pretty respectable band. My second-favorite song by them is “Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow,” which has been preserved in the movie Psych-Out. I wouldn’t say Psych-Out is a great film, but it is of some interest in that it features early performances by Susan Strasberg, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, and the immortal Dean Stockwell.

Believe it or not, the original guys from this band are still out there performing. Here’s the same song, circa 2007! (You don’t have to watch the whole thing, nor would I necessarily recommend it.)

It’s Monk Time

It’s time to learn how to embed YouTube videos. Here are The Monks, a wired proto-punk (sort of) band that never made it to the U.S., even though its members were all American. Nowadays, their only original album, Black Monk Time, is considered somewhat of a classic. You have to love a band whose members actually cut their hair like monks, including the crazed banjo player. Tribal ‘65!