A few weeks ago, I was a bit disappointed to hear that Son/Ambulance, a pretty, subtle pop band from Nebraska, had canceled its show at the Lager House. So I did something kind of crazy. I went anyway. Lucky me, ’cause the night’s replacements were so much fun. Scott Allen of Red Shirt Brigade and Kris Kaczor of the defunct This Is Adelaide on guitar accompaniment started things off splendidly. I had heard great things about Allen’s solo work and I’ve always been impressed with RSB. What can I say? Believe the hype. So much potential and surprisingly mature emotion is packed inside this underage ball of talent. Chris Walla of Death Cab For Cutie recorded Red Shirt Brigade’s soon-to-be-released album, Home of the Cannon Saints, at Hall of Justice in Seattle. Later this month (Oct. 20), RSB opens for Death Cab For Cutie at Magic Stick. And the CD-release party for Home of the Cannon Saints is at Magic Stick Nov. 9, with Windy & Carl, Judah Johnson and the Recital. Funny you mention the Recital, because that band closed out the last-minute replacement show. The Recital was missing its drummer, so the group had recorded (on video) a drummer playing all the songs and the rest of the band played along without a hitch and only minimal rewinding of the tape. Very inventive and good songs too.
FAUX FOOTAGE?
Just last weekend, I went to the Detektive Riot CD-release party at the Magic Bag. Talk about hype — this band also did a little video recording before its show. Before the guys came onstage, they showed some footage of themselves waiting for their limo to arrive and then the screen flashed to “live footage” of the limo rolling up to the venue and a countdown to when the band “entered the building.” Hmmm. I was too engrossed in my large bucket of popcorn to investigate whether or not this was for real, so we’ll just let it go. The band opened with a Blues Brothers-esque “De-troit jam,” and settled into some of its more characteristically heavy material. A few songs in, a hair stylist entered from stage right and proceeded to give the keyboardist a mullet. From my vantage point, it was hard to declare a classification right away, but after some extensive research at mulletsgalore.com, I think his cut might be classified as either a “Rokken Mullet” or a “Trailer Mullet.” OK.
After that I headed over to detroit contemporary to see Wolf Eyes, Violent Ramp and Oneida, but sadly missed them all because I got there too late. I didn’t, however, miss the street skateboarding and ramp tricks that immediately followed. Geez Louise — skating, mullets and minors playing in bars. To make the flashback official, I am now going to go to the bathroom with another girl and giggle while she pees. But before that, I have to tell you that Wolf Eyes is playing tonight (Wednesday) too, if you also missed that other show. It’ll be a fun fresh festival of crude electronics when they play with Nautical Almanac from Maryland and Meerk Puffy from Rhode Island. Mammal and DJ Mike Kearns who are from around these parts will perform too. It’s all going down at Third Street Saloon.
FUNDRAISING
The WDET-FM 101.9 fundraiser at 313.JAC begins Wed., Oct. 10 and ends Sat., Oct. 13. Audra Kubat and Blair host an open-mic on Wednesday. Simplicity and Westphalia perform Thursday. The following night, Atalaya and Octopus will perform rock at varying volumes. And the finale features performances from the Witches, Slumber Party and Matt Smith (of Outrageous Cherry, Volebeats) solo and with friends.
If you want to go to 313.JAC this weekend too, Inside Five Minutes is playing Friday with Leaving Rouge (including ex-members of Thoughts of Ionesco) and Blue Song. IFM is putting out a split 7-inch with the Tight Bros. From Way Back When. This is the only Inside Five Minutes show scheduled for a while, because the band is taking some time off from playing live to write more new songs.
Two weeks from now, some bands and hip-hop artists are performing at Token Lounge in Westland in a 13-hour music marathon benefiting New York firefighters. It’s happening Saturday, Oct. 20, 1 p.m.-2 a.m. A few of the scheduled performers are Backstab the Kingpin, DJ Houseshoes, Artful Dodgers, Uncle Ill, DJ Rick, Motor City Burgers, Bump-n-Uglies, Funktelligence, The Impaler. Call 313-314-7563 for details.
E-mail in One Ear at [email protected]
