Thursday was a good start to the days of fun ahead of us. It was a good change for me, instead of having practice and drinking until I was in a stupor I got to see other people play until I was in a stupor. There were some awesome bands that came with the beers I had. I watched the Flint east woods, lord scrummage they made my feet move. Then I found myself out in my van eating pizza like a grizzly bear in a trash can full of fish. So I sucked down a few more beers in the parking lot and re-entered the venue. To my surprise I was greeted my none other than my favorite partner in crime Anthony Anonymous. We stood in the back of the venue pointing fingers at people, giving out hugs, and rehashing our game plan. By the time we got our plan down, Bars of Gold were on stage doing it like they can only do. Down to the garden bowl we ventured. There was a comedian trying to tell jokes, but it seemed hard over my answers to his rhetorical questions( I don't seem to get how comedy shows work I guess). The whole thing was a little odd. More pizza, then back upstairs for the raffle that my beautiful wife is convinced was rigged thanks GBS. (Mainly because she didn't win) after the disappointment of the raffle we decided it was best to leave, we were playing the next night and didn't want to be dragging ass.
Friday night started off smooth and nice like a sip of Kentucky moonshine. Part of the family met up and unloaded at the Painted Lady while our brothers and sisters in All The Wild Children set up over at Whiskey in the Jar. We went to the PNA to see Golden Torso absolutely destroy. Never a let down. We had time to catch a song or two from Jackpine Snag who were also pretty sweet. And then after shooting the bull with Tony Romeo out front, we watched a couple songs from Nice Hooves. I kinda felt bad that I was going to miss the end of the set, because I was pretty sure Randall was going to explode any second. I won't mince words here. Nice Hooves is one of the very best bands in Detroit and I was just happy to catch part of their set. The entire band is solid. Kudos to Graw for building another beautiful monster of a band.
Soon I got a message on my phone, "where are you dad?", and I knew my family was ready to rock. We set sail for Whiskey in the Jar and were tickled to see an incredible turn out. We cuddled up close to the front, talked shit, slapped some buns, and prepared for their set. All the Wild Children were on fire. One of the best sets I've ever seen them play. Their new lineup is super consistent, and gives Paul the solid ground he needs to really jump off the edge which he clearly has no problem doing. It was pure bliss.
Next we went back to the Painted Lady in hopes of catching Fake Surfers. They were just finishing when we got there so we settled in and prepared for Pretty Ghouls. They lived up to the hype with a raunchy, bare bones stomp that clearly got most of the crowd excited. And their drummer truly rocks the glittery silver spandex undies he had on.
After that, we prepared for our set. I knew that many of my good friends were over at the Meatmen show and/or the Pink Lightning show, and that's just part of the deal when you play Blowout. The best text I got was something about keys being lost in a car and not making our set. And one ole-rific friend even sent a message with another friend that he was sorry he was going to miss us. No worries, we give it our best shot every time. A couple handfuls of Ghost Family faithfuls made it just in time, and we did the best we could with our 1am minds and bodies. Paul Clos solved our bass drum problem by sitting in front of it on the floor for half of our set. We finished our set, finished our beer, hugged everyone, and went home.
Saturday
We started our night over at the Whiskey in the Jar with Cosmic light Shapes. They have a super grooved out sound and Eugene Stobe's guitar styles are wild and have a fevered pace which I find to be awesome. We made our way outside to have a smoke and maybe have 8 or 9 beers by a dumpster then off to see the Bee keepers they are always entertaining. I was also pleased because I had a beer in my coat pocket, so bonus. When the BEE KEEPERS finished up we headed back to the Whiskey in the Jar. On the way we ran into a few of our friends and we convinced them to tag along so off we went like a rag tag group of barbarians looking to pillage some poor band for their music. At this point I was tuned up and ready to have my soul shook loose and that is where SUNLIGHT ASCENDING came in. They filled my head with bass heavy grooves that were slightly reminiscent of BEAST IN THE FEILD just not as loud! So all in all I really feel like this weekend in Hamtramck was all it could have been. We had the police out Friday I ate pizza Thursday and you all just read about Saturday. So see you next weekend in FERNDALE!
Here are some haikus my good friend Ryan Roy wrote about the weekend
Enjoy.
She mimes theramin.
Julia finds Wild Children.
Then the cops broke in.
Number 2:
Sunlight Ascending
Echos, bent brains and then some.
That is how it's done!
