Posted by: Adam O'Connor on April 23, 2009 at 10:50 am
Rock Lottery @ The Magic Stick [4.22.09]
Someone took the Sights & Sounds winter holiday quasi-”experience” at the Magic Stick, upgraded it, and presented it to us as the Rock Lottery. People in Detroit obviously take Captain Planet Day seriously, because there were plenty of drunken folks who shelled out $10 to help “green” up the city. With clear conscience, it can be said that every act was entertaining in its own way Wednesday night. Now, whether that’s entertaining in the fact that we cringed at how god awful they were, or that it was clearly impressive that a randomly thrown-together group of musicians was able to put together an enjoyable set (1 original + 1 cover) is up for your interpretation. Two covers (both of ’70s female-led rock bands) stand out in my memory. Randy (Deastro), two Dales (Beavers and Wilson), and Other Dude completely murdered “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac. It was single-handedly the most amusing cover of the night, in a horrible, drunken karaoke-esque sort of way. Heart’s “Barracuda”, by Loretta Lucas and company, was fucking magical, and the clear topper for the evening. In all honesty, it was a relief that no band completely ruined both of their songs, but then again, nobody had insanely high expectations entering this train wreck of Save the Planet-ness. It was definitely tons o’ fun for everyone involved, we all had a few good laughs, and anyone who witnessed the entire show got to see 30 songs total. Props to Virginia and the crew at the Stick for pulling this all together. I can’t wait to see what folks are planning for Flag Day on June 14th!!
7 Comments
Tags: Magic Stick, Rock Lottery
Posted by: Adam O'Connor on April 13, 2009 at 1:27 pm
The Belmont was all ’70s hair and mustaches Friday night. Oh, and a drunk hippie girl falling on her caboose after slipping on some beer. I swear, I’ve never heard someone land on their ass with a louder ‘thud’ in my life. But that was the encore to three solid sets by three bands that I didn’t expect anything less from. The pleasant surprise for me, though, was White Mystery. To my best recollection, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Alex White in any of the 1 million bands she’s been in. But she has a great reputation, and she definitely didn’t disappoint. People were calling it punk and/or garage. Either way, it was refreshing to hear a 2-piece play something that looks and sounds like it fell off the set Read more
Leave a Comment
Posted by: Adam O'Connor on April 6, 2009 at 11:27 am
Deastro/FTDT Record Release Party @ Pike Room [04.04.09]
Deastro’s record release party, via FiveThreeDialTone Records, was a smashing success Saturday night at the Pike Room. Vinyl release #001 was greeted by a capacity crowd (230+) at the free show that also featured phenomenal sets by Lightning Love, F’ke Blood, and Terrible Twos. All three openers rocked the jammed-full room, despite a slow start. Apparently, even though indie kids don’t like sports, everyone stayed home just long enough to see the University of Michigan States College play the Fantastic Four, or whatever silly shit was going on Downtown this weekend. By the time Randolph Chabot Jr. (aka Deastro) took the stage, sporting that creepy rainbow mini-popple hoodie vest-thing, it seemed like the whole wide world was ramped up to see what Read more
Leave a Comment
Tags: Deastro, F'Ke Blood, Five Three Dialtone, Lightning Love, Terrible Twos
Posted by: Adam O'Connor on April 2, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Junior Boys @ The Pike Room [4.1.09]
Yessssssssssglowsticks! While crazy nu-hippie jam band Lotus rocked the patchouli crowd at the Crofoot Ballroom next door, Junior Boys entertained a near-full Pike Room Wednesday night. Nobody was out of control, nothing went beyond mellow/enjoyable, and there was no bullshit gimmicky seizure-inducing light show. Their set was extremely solid and very dance-able, although it was pointed out to me that Detroiters tend to not dance, sway, or even bob their heads more than a little at most musical performances. By the time the Boys played “In The Morning” to end their pre-encore set, however, there were more than a few white folks grooving as best they could. I’d bet my Detour paycheck that the 80-100 people that turned out definitely experienced everything they could have been hoping for. Their latest release, Begone Dull Care, dropped in Canada last week, and because ‘Merica sucks, we won’t see it legally until April 7th. Perhaps that means we’ll be seeing a review for it shortly…
Leave a Comment
Tags: Junior Boys, The Crofoot Ballroom
Posted by: Adam O'Connor on March 27, 2009 at 2:05 pm
A.C. Newman, The Broken West @ The Pike Room [3/26/09]
A.C. Newman and his traveling gypsy band rocked a packed Pike Room Thursday night in Pontiac. The buttoned-up, mature, Starbucks crowd started the evening with arms folded, then slowly began to tap their collective foot, and then finally everyone in attendance let loose as the band nailed their set beyond expectations. Assuming that Newman would carry the set, it was a surprise to see how talented his backing (5 additional members) band was. Throughout the show, they would play a total of Read more
1 Comment
Tags: A.C. Newman
Posted by: Adam O'Connor on March 26, 2009 at 10:39 am
MP3: The Constantines :: Our Age (alternate version)
MP3: Pearl Jam :: Evenflow (remixed)
MP3: Radiohead :: The National Anthem
With their March 17th release Kensington Heights / Too Slow for Love - A Companion EP of Newly Recorded Alternate Versions, one-time indie darlings The Constantines have cemented their Pearl Jam-in-training status. Once upon a time, the Eddie Vedder-led band was the group for the masses. They spurned Ticketmaster, they played their entire catalog at multi-day festivals, and they battled the establishment. Now, they’ve reduced themselves to re-releasing their crowning achievement album Ten as “super deluxe”, “legacy release”, cash-grab bullshit. Complete with remixes, remasters, bonus tracks, and even a half-eaten egg salad sandwich signed by Eddie Vedder himself, the legendary re-release will obviously come nowhere near Read more
1 Comment
Tags: Pearl Jam, Radiohead, The Constantines
Posted by: Adam O'Connor on March 25, 2009 at 10:00 am
Ratatat, Despot @ Crofoot Ballroom [3.22.09]
Instrumental bands can often be hard to get into. It makes for great background noise, but it’s especially tough to stomach as a live show. Not the case Sunday night at the Crofoot. Ratatat sold out the Ballroom on the sabbath, with two relatively weak opening acts, making it more impressive still. Think About Life opened the evening, and while it wasn’t exactly my thing, the kids seemed to love it (despite the feel-good, Pro Life-sounding name). There was mixed reaction to Despot. We’ve already experienced one white rapper in Detroit, and since you sound just like him, it’s Read more
2 Comments
Tags: Crofoot, Despot, Ratatat
Posted by: Adam O'Connor on March 20, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Tokyo Police Club, Born Ruffians, Honorary Title @ The Crofoot Ballroom [3.19.09]
Huge Relief #1 was the turnout for Tokyo Police Club at the Crofoot Ballroom Thursday night. The place was packed. Packed with people who knew the words to songs, and/or could at least hand-clap along to some of the beat. This was not only a success for recent Detroit turnouts, but for the fact that the last time Tokyo Police Club came through town (Magic Stick ‘08), the show was less than stellar. Huge Relief #2 was the amount of young folks at the show. It’s not about the too-chubby-for-skinny-jeans girls, or the dudes with Read more
13 Comments
Posted by: Adam O'Connor on March 14, 2009 at 8:23 am
Matt Mays + El Torpedo look and sound like they would be at home in a sloppy, drunken saloon in New Mexico. Needless to say, they’ve yet to build a loyal following in Michigan. Their second stop in Metro Detroit in the past year (in support of July release Terminal Romance), the JUNO-nominated band had a tough time with the crowd at the Pike Room in Pontiac Friday evening. The opening acts were more the style of the date-rape, frat party crowd, and set a difficult tone for the show (no joke, one opener actually covered Sublime). By the time Matt Mays took the stage, more than half the room had cleared out. Fresh off a performance at Lee’s Palace for Canadian Music Week in Toronto the day before, the Halifax natives still had plenty left to give whatever crowd was still in attendance. “Tall Trees”, “Northern Belle”, and “Cocaine Cowgirl” sounded amazing. The twenty-some audience members left standing (those that weren’t confused why their favorite suburban cover bands weren’t still around to play more Black Crowes covers) were treated to quite the performance by the five-piece. Dropping a shout-out to Mr. Robert Ritchie, who the band supported for seven tour dates this past summer, Mays entertained the crowd with stories of fornication on-stage and how wonderful it is to be able to smoke in-doors.
Leave a Comment
Posted by: Adam O'Connor on March 11, 2009 at 10:41 am
“We’ll come back through next tour, maybe things will be better then.” Sympathy is not something you hear often from a touring band, especially one playing to a dismal six paying audience members. Jordan Hell, synth monkey for DD/MM/YYYY, seems to understand the plight of Metro Detroit, and has high hopes that the shit turnout on a rainy Tuesday evening isn’t what Detroit holds for all touring bands these days. One can only hope that their show tonight at the Elbow Room with Child Bite has better things in store than the baker’s dozen that showed up at the Pike Room Tuesday night. This total includes the doorfella, bottle-getter, barwench, and 4 family members of the band. The shame of it all is that this was the loudest, most crisp, explosive set from a jam-punk band since Malajube in 2007. The show almost didn’t happen. Opener-turned-headliner Red China arrived late, and coupled with the piss-poor turnout, DD/MM/YYYY nearly got scratched. In true punk fashion, the quintent said “fuck that, we’ll play”. Three different band members proceeded to play the drums (one of which may or may not have been wearing green thermal PJ bottoms onstage, saggy crotch included), two played synth, and there was even a brief sax appearance. Black Square, the quintet’s latest release, dropped digitally in February, and will be available everywhere else this St. Patrick’s Day.
5 Comments
Tags: Black Square, DD/MM/YYYY, Malajube, Pike Room, Red China
SHWFLYR
Recent Posts
- What’s On My Mind: The Detour Status Update
- Detroitist >> Detour >> Dyspathy
- Reviews of Golden Silvers, The High Strung, Immaculate Machine, The Sweptaways + More
- Dave Bing Won’t Be The OSHA Man Of The Year, Things Are Different In West Michigan, And Lots Of Newspaper Fun
- Russian Circles @ The Magic Stick [4.24.09]
- Never Let The Jocks Count The Money, Don Williamson Doesn’t Trust The Mails, And Martha Reeves Is A Big Mess O’ FAIL! Tulips Also
- Homemade Not Porn: Detour Talks to Matt Cassatta of These People Comedy
- Felons Love A Fierce Man Purse, There’s No Reason To Poll World Of Warcraft Because Mages Don’t Vote, And Faith Healers Keep Thinning Out The Herd
- Mmmmmmmm….A Statue-Sized Fistful Of Little Roquefort Cheese Morsels Rolled In Crushed Nuts
- Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head (Rebuild! Restore! Watch Silly Vintage Video!)
- The Weekend In Rawk: Russian Circles, Computer Perfection, French Kicks, + More
- Face Punches, Bitch Fights, Skid Row’s Yo Yo Ma, Heavy Metal Canadians + Jews On Film
- Peter Karmanos Talks Wacky, Highland Park Tries To Hide The Evidence, And Matt Stafford Will Be The Next Chuck Long
- The Night In Rawk: Pewter Cub, Black Lodge, The Sugar People, + More
- Rock Lottery Recap
- Detroit Misplaced All Of Its Parking Money, State Parks Look Like Meth-Addled West Virginia Trailer Park, And There’s A Rick DeVos Now
- The Night In Rawk: Rock Lottery, Life and Times, + More
- The Night In Rawk: Parkway Drive, Stick To Your Guns, The Madison Opera + More
- Reviews of Art Brut, Cryptacize, Firs & Spruces, Japandroids + More
- Pulitzer Committee Joins Adolph Mongo’s Imaginary Lynch Mob, A Plot Against The People’s Incinerator, And The Best Toys Were Always Dangerous
- Linking back, 8 May 2009 « archizoo on Mmmmmmmm….A Statue-Sized Fistful Of Little Roquefort Cheese Morsels Rolled In Crushed Nuts Hey kids, Check out http://www.dyspathy.com to get a preview of the new site's look and feel. Let me know what you ...
- Woodwards Friend on Detroitist >> Detour >> Dyspathy Shit! Now I have to change my favorites AGAIN! Serously, I can't wait for your new site and I ...
- Julie on Detroitist >> Detour >> Dyspathy Oh for kwame's sake why didn't you just sell the place instead of padlocking the doors. Are you taking ...
- cj on What’s On My Mind: The Detour Status Update Congrats and good luck. Now, let's work on getting Woodman to open for X. Cheers!
- Woodman on What’s On My Mind: The Detour Status Update damn you and your restless ass. come back soon.
- david on Detroitist >> Detour >> Dyspathy Supergay pitcher & catcher jokes make Mt Clemens smile. I'll just buy the shots, how's that? You just have to ...
- August on Detroitist >> Detour >> Dyspathy Hey. I'm sorry. I think it's my fault. See, I found Detroitist (and tried to make everybody I know read ...
- AmyinMotown on Detroitist >> Detour >> Dyspathy Cesarean in the sense that it's happening on the fly and done in order to save this baby. There's a ...
- Woodwards Friend on Detroitist >> Detour >> Dyspathy "...about the cesarean birth of Dyspathy" Do you feel like you're being untimely ripped from Detour-mag's womb?
- Norm on Detroitist >> Detour >> Dyspathy