(March 12, 2012) Friday night I was whisked back to the 1980’s and 90’s at Jake Rudh’s Transmission Anniversary Party.  While Jake has been at this for 11 years, I have only recently caught onto the trend.  Jake’s weekly show on The Current is on my RSS feed for weekly listening and early this year I attended my first Transmission, with a dedication to David Bowie.

I question why it took me this long to catch on, but now that I have, I am definitely hooked!  Friday night’s show combined Jake with a tribute to one of my favorite local bands; The Suburbs.   Local Icon Chan Poling was the guest DJ and spun an excellent set including Roxy Music, Brian Eno, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, The Clash, Talking Heads and Pyschedelic Furs.  You can see these influences in the Suburbs music.

It was a packed house with a great vibe, like my friend of mine said:  “It’s like an old high school party, but without all the assholes!”  I have to agree.

One of the things that seperates Jake from other DJs is his integration of videos into the show, which really brought back some memories of sitting in my friends basements watching early MTV (since I lived out in the country I never had cable TV).   Also, I learned if you really want everyone on the dance floor play Depeche Mode!

Jake has his weekly show at Club Jager and plays monthly shows at Kings Wine Bar.  With summer coming so quickly I am really excited to catch some more of his work.  Catch him this coming weekend back at First Avenue opening for E.L.N.O., as well as an in-studio session and then spinning before Thomas Dolby show at the Cedar Cultural Center on April 6^th.  One more show reminder for Jake, he will be working the Howard Jones show June 26th at the Varsity.

Tried to get a good picture at Transmission on Friday night but with all the flashing did not much luck.  Here are some shots from the Honeydogs CD release show on Saturday night.  Look for reviews coming this week from the weekend shows.  If you are looking for some great reading check out the story about Adam Levy and the death of his son Daniel in the City Pages this week.

Farewell Milwaukee led things off on Saturday night.

Rogue Valley played one of their best sets in the last year at the show!

The Honeydogs gave us a great combination of their latest songs plus their classics.

Ready for some local music this weekend after a long week.  Also if you are going to any of these let me know so we can meet up and if you see anything interesting I should be sharing please let me know.

What I am going to:

Transmission 11th Anniversary Party at First Avenue, Friday March 9th.  DJ Jake Rudh will be providing a tribute to local favorites, The Suburbs, with guest DJ Chan Poling.

Honeydogs CD Release Party with Rogue Valley and Farewell Milwaukee at First Avenue, Saturday March 10th.  A portion of your ticket price will go to a charity in memory of David Levy who died earlier this year after a bout with mental illness.

Other Shows this weekend:

Mustard Seeds at Triple Rock Social Club, Friday March 9th.  Another great SKA show this week in Minneapolis.

BNLX headlining at the Turf Club, Saturday March 10th.  Additional bands include: The Japhies fresh off their SXSW best new band competition last week, Al Church and State and an acoustic set from Two Harbors.

Upcoming shows to think about tickets for:

Wombats at The Fine Line-I love their song 1996, think I am going to have to check them out

Soundset 2012-went last year was definitely on the old side.  Might have to hit VIP this year so I can sit down!

Two other Cool Things:

I have been following the development of local band that includes Matt Whitaker who is the drummer for Jim the Fish, check out their first video here.

And the announcement of an exciting new local music site-Music Scene Minneapolis.  You can expect some contributions from myself there also.

On the whole any publicity is good publicity department: I have been following the comments of Jordan Gatesmith of Howler and the local music scene and some comments made about 4onthefloor.  You can check out the podcast on the British Guardian but it really gets down to two points (1) the scene has stagnated since the Husker Du and Replacement days (except for a brief resurgence by Tapes and Tapes) and (2) that the scene is somehow closed and produces gimmick bands like 4onthefloor.  There is plenty of other great commentary from local music experts like Andrea Swensson and some great commentary around the local music community.
I don’t want regurgitate the entire back and forth but I do want to provide some commentary from someone who really tries to support local music.

1. What is wrong if a band only in their home market?  There is plenty of opportunity here in Minneapolis and St. Paul to start a band and develop a following.  It’s also great that local artists can keep a day job, stay in their community and still entertain all of us.  I guess I don’t see that as a bad thing.
2. This has caused many of those in the local community to come together and think about how we do treat our local musicians and what we can do better support them.  Christian Erickson posted an excellent commentary on what we can do to support local music better.
3. What nineteen year-old hasn’t made a stupid comment that they regretted later?  I mean really I don’t want to get into all the stupid stuff I did at that age but we all know we get smarter with age and we also grow to appreciate how lucky we are to have all this great scene where almost any night I can go out an see quality local music.  There is still definite Howler love for Minneapolis, check out their new site for some of it.
4. 4onthefloor is my idea of a great band-they involve the crowd, each show is a blast and the music really rocks.  I have every intent on support great local bands like this and sharing it all with you.  One of the best memories of last year was their Thanksgiving Eve show at the Triple Rock singing and dancing on the stage with the band and Rupert.
5. This whole thing brought out this great video from 4onthefloor and friends that is a hoot after they were mentioned as Mumford and Sons crap.

So I will still be going to the Howler show in April and I might even wear one of my 4onthefloor shirts to the show.

March 6^th, 2012.  I spent Saturday night with my son at the SKA night at the Red Sea checking out some of our local SKA and Reggae scene sponsored by www.mnska.com.  First thing is the MNSKA is your home for the local SKA scene which I was surprised is as vibrant as it was; make sure you bookmark it for all your SKA needs.  The Red Sea room is pretty small with the bands being pretty restricted by the stage size; it does have a good sound to it though.  My son gave me a lesson earlier on Skanking and lessons on Dub and Dubstep; maybe I can have him provide a guest blog soon to educate us all. There were four bands we checked on Saturday:

Umbrella Bed-Long time Minneapolis SKA band, Umbrella Bed, opened the show.  They can have up to ten people on stage at a time but had a smaller group on Saturday.  Full of great energy they were really a good Skanking band.  Most unique thing about them, you don’t see a lot of SKA bands use a French Horn.  I am sure there are band teachers all over who would be happy to hear that.  Click this link for a great example of their music.

Dred I Dread-Dred I Dread is a very traditional reggae band.  I have one issue with reggae though, it typically only has one way it can really be enjoyed (I think you all know what I mean).  From a timing perspective putting a very slow band in the middle of a couple of SKA bands can really slow a show down.  I did enjoy the lead singer and the attitude of their drummer who is obviously a long-time reggae afficianado.  I enjoy my reggae in the summer outside so I hope to see them this summer.

Definitely the band that I would most likely have play a summer party of mine if I was working with a limited budget is The Prizefighters (lets be honnest, if I had more money we would need a bigger band).  Great musicians and a friendly band, they are one of my local favorites.  One of my favorite pieces of any SKA band is a Hammond organ which The Prizefighters always delivers.  Maybe for the first time I heard a SKA version of “Happy Birthday”, we should really make that the new birthday sound.  Check out their new record “Follow My Sound” and check out this link for an example of their music.

The final band was The Pinstripes from Cincinnati (it strikes me as strange that SKA bands more than any other like to remind us what town they are from, maybe someone can explain that to me).  They are currently on tour and headed to Austin, TX for SXSW.  If you saw them on the street you would think they are your local high school jazz band; get them on stage though and they have soulful sound that is well beyond their years.  Check out their latest album here.

So SKA is alive and well in the area and I look forward to checking out more of the scene this summer as the weather gets a little warmer.

March 5, 2012-I spent Friday night taking in the Vita.mn SXSW Send Off at First Avenue. I did not stay for the whole show so I leave you the Vita.mn link for a review of the entire show (I missed Peter Wolf Crier and Astronautilus).  Wish I did not have a bedtime that would have allowed me to see them, I hear they were both quite good.  I did get to see the three bands competing for the Best New Band Finalists though while hopping between 7^th Street Entry and the Mainroom.  The Japhies are a headbanging group with suprisingly good vocals and a great stage presence; there was no doubt they were the rockingest band out of the three.   Total Babe decendents Prissy Clerks were the most-hyped of the three given their connection to Howler.  Clara Salyer has a great unassumed stage presence and excellent back up with Howard Hamilton of Red Pens on bass.  Their accordian player, Emily Lazear, provided great backing vocals and classed up the joint (she is cute as a button)!  I only got to see the last couple of songs from Xavier Marquis but thought I had walked into a different venue.  With glow sticks, glow paint and some sweet sounding rapping.  It was definitely the biggest party of the three.  The winner not only got to play the Mainroom but also a spot at SXSW at the Vita.mn event there.  I will leave the surprise for the Mainroom review.

Main Room Groups that I got to see include:

Fort Wilson Riot-A continuing trend towards male-female electronic duets, Fort Wilson Riot provided and excellent start to the night.  I continue to debate if I like the electronic drums for these bands but maybe its time we get them all in a room and battle it out.  First Avenue get on it!

Pink Mink-We all know that I won’t turn down an opportunity to see one of my favorite local bands.  With their album climing up the CMJ charts and a mention in the Alternative Press as a top 100 band to watch; Pink Mink continues to provide guitar rock that would make Joan Jett proud.

The Blind Shake-with a style all their own the Blind Shake really let it all hang out. A great physical act (I was tired just watching them),  I want to see them do a show with the Japhies.  It would definitely leave the ears asking for more, add in the Birthday Suits and it would be perfect.

Prissy Clerks-for those of us paying attention we could see them loading onto the Mainstage after the Blind Shake.  Local Flash Mob, Rupert (check out his new video on his site) introduced the winner with a lot of hissing from the other bands fans (why can’t we all just get along?)  I thought the Prissy Clerks sounded better on the bigger stage and after a short technical difficulty early sounded very professional like they deserved to be there.  Of the three bands in contention Prissy Clerks are more my style but I also think they had a built-in advantage with the Howler/Total Babe connection.

Good luck to all these bands heading down to SXSW, next year the goal is that the blog will be down there following all of our great local music in Austin, TX.

Look for my review this week.  Here are some pictures to hold you over from the show at the Red Sea in Minneapolis.

Best use of a French Horn ever by Umbrella Bed.

Real Reggae with Dred I Dread!

One my local SKA favorites, The Prizefighters!

And from Cincinnati, The Pinstripes!!

Red Sea Mosh Pits Instructions!

Great show by Vita.mn at First Avenue on Friday night.

Check for my review on Monday.

Fort Wilson Riot opened the show at First Avenue

Pink Mink Rocking the Show!

Rupert introducing the Winner of the Battle of the Bands Contest!

Winner of the Battle of the Bands; The Prissy Clerks!

March 2, 2012-As most of you know I am not a big Lent guy so when I had an opportunity on a Wednesday night to see the Reverend I could not turn it down.  Reverend Horton Heat, who is celebrating their 25^th year in the business, put on an incredible show at First Avenue .  They started out with a song from each of their nine albums (including the Christmas Album and a rocking rendition of “Run, Run Rudolph”).   The crowd was definitely one you find a Lee’s Liquor Lounge on any night and boy do they know how to party, it was a great mosh pit with people losing glasses, money and skin!   Jim, “Reverend Horton” Heath was rocking the Gretsch with great backup by Jimbo Wallace on the upright bass and Paul Simmons on the drums.  After the run through the nine albums the Reverend then took requests and knocked them out one by one.  I really enjoyed “Psychobilly Freakout” from one of my favorite album names of all time-“Smoke ‘Em if You Got ‘Em”.  The encore kept on rocking with a great rendition of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”.  The Reverend is one of the mose genuine artists out there, you can really tell that he appreciates the audience and is one of the more likable guys in music (see the video post for a thank you from the Reverend).  In the “did not know” department they have opened for both The Cramps and Motorhead at First Avenue in the past.     I was also told I missed a great opening band, Larry and his Flask; need to catch them next time they are in town!  Looking forward to the new Reverend Album  “25 to Life” coming out on March 27^th.