Rock N' Roll Weekend

Five shows in three days? I sure as hell had a REAL LIVE rock n' roll weekend a few days ago. Let me recap:

Friday afternoon I went to Shake-It Records to check out a live acoustic set from The Duke Spirit. It was so freakin' packed I could barely see a thing, but the few glimpses of Leila Moss I saw about melted me into the ground. Sigh. They packed it in after four songs due to "throat trouble," but still sounded amazing kicking out "The Step And The Walk." Afterwards, I skipped the autograph session and picked up the Davila 666 CD in preparation for the next night, an awesome Gories 7" on Get Hip from '95, and the not-so-great new Easy Action 7" on Shake-It's label. Sweet deal.

Duke Spirit @ Shake-It

Later that night I ventured to The Comet to check out The Mysts Of Time, the new band from Craig Fox, Andy Jody, and Sean Morrissey, who have done time in amazing Cincy bands like Pearlene, The Greenhornes, and Cincinnati Suds. The Fuck Knights from Minneapolis opened the show, with a super-energetic garage sound and a crazy singing drummer that plays standing up on a bare-bones kit. The Mysts Of Time whip up a pretty impressive racket, veering from moody San Francisco guitar psych explorations to full-on Blue Cheer sludge rock. Check out "Aquarium" on their Myspace, its a hell of a jam. Along with the incredible 20th Century Tokyo Princess (a hot cross between T. Rex, Uncle Tupelo, and The Velvet Underground) and The Guitars (Organ-heavy Nuggets worship) there's almost a REAL LIVE movement of Cincinnati garage rock happening now. It's got me all kinds of super-psyched, for sure!

Black Diamond Heavies @ The Lodge (Photo: Scott Beseler)

After The Comet, it was time to check out the Black Diamond Heavies at a new, local DIY spot called the Lodge, which turned out to be an amazing joint with a projector screening movies behind the band playing an a ginormous living room/loft steup. HELL YEAH. Hadn't heard the BDH before, but people assured me that their shows were like a religious experience, which makes sense since the singer/keyboard dude is the son of a preacher. They testified for sure, kicking out what might be the best show of 2009 so far. Endless, hypnotic blues grooves cut with frenzied solos and Captain Beefheart growl vocals. Even better was the jam afterwards, where some Cincy local music heavies (um...) got up to trade riffs. They were STILL playing when I left at 4:30 AM. INDESCRIBABLE, get both of their records NOW. Check out the pic above and try to find me, Where's Waldo style.

Davila 666 kicking out the f'n jam live in Puerto Rico

Saturday night, it was back to the Comet again to check out Davila 666, the lo-fi Spanish-language Rolling Stones straight outta Puerto Rico. I was excited after spinning their debut disc I got the day before, and had heard their shows feature dancers, props, and all kinds of crazy shit. Too bad they must have been running on a short tour staff, since they only had a 6 (6?!) piece band that still managed to sound way more huge than the tiny Comet room. Lots of ass-shakin' and tambourine-bangin', plus a roof-raising versions of "All This & More" from the Dead Boys prefaced with "Yeah Ohio!" That's what I'm talkin' about.

I was damn near on my last legs on Sunday, but I had to go BACK to the Comet (again?!) to check out The Nicotine Fits, a RAGING 6 piece punk band from Colorado. If you're into thick, keyboard-heavy epic punk like the Wipers and Hot Snakes, you'll love it. They destroyed the eardums of me and the three other people who decided to show up and watch. To their credit, they didn't mail it in. Thanks, dudes.

AMAZING weekend overall, though my ears are thrashed and I think I still have a hangover three days later. Don't forget to check out the new episode of Random Old Records podcast on http://rorpodcast.mevio.com. If you have already, thank ya kindly! Next episode will be out in 2 weeks and feature a huge set of new and old CINCINNATI punk, psych, and garage, plus all sorts of jams. ROCKNFNROLL!

Random Old Records Podcast #9 is out now!

Yessir, the Ninth edition of the Random Old Records Podcast is now available, so why not check it out? This episode is dedicated to the memory of Sky "Sunlight" Saxon, Drake Levin, and Bobby Ubangi. Fire it up and check out 60 minutes and 25 big tracks of classic and new garage rock, punk, psych, and rock n' roll from the likes of The Seeds, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Thee Crucials, Thee Shams, The Bloody Hollies, Teengenerate, The Rip-Offs, Bobby Ubangi, The Fall-Outs, The Chymes, and loads more!

Most importantly, you can now SUBSCRIBE to the Random Old Records Podcast and have the new episodes downloaded right to your iTunes when they come out! Just click the iTunes icon on the right side of the page and you'll never miss out! Also, you can go to http://rorpodcast.mevio.com and download directly or STREAM right from your web browser. If you're not into progress, you can still grab the podcast from this link: http://www.mediafire.com/?ickdtozzdam Be a pal, check it out, and tell your friends!

Death, Death, and More Death

A famous, reclusive, and possibly insane musician died about two weeks ago. Perhaps you've heard about it. In fact, you've probably blogged, tweeted, and posted bulletins about it as well, possibly right at this moment. There's absolutely nothing I can or want to say about that fellow's death, so I'm not going to try to puke up words about his relevancy or iconic status because literally thousands already have, and honestly I don't care.

Instead, I'm gonna talk about some non-famous, semi-reclusive, and possibly insane musicians who also died in the past two weeks, none of whom I read about in the local newspapers, mostly because column inches were dominated by the previously mentioned guy and auto dealer going-out-of-business sales ads. Oh, and Farrah Fawcett, can't forget her.

Sky Saxon, lead singer of garage rock heroes The Seeds died the same day as the King Of Pop and the Queen of 70s Pinups, so in essence, no one cared, save for this writer and the greybeards at oldies radio who think they're edgy for slipping "Pushin' Too Hard" in between "Green Tambourine" and "Midnight Confessions." Too bad. The Seeds crafted some of the best proto-punk singles of the '60s, and Saxon carried on as a real freak and hippie after all his peers started touring state fairs and cashing in. Here's a classic clip from American Bandstand.

It's fitting that Drake Levin, original guitarist from Paul Revere & The Raiders, passed away on Independence Day. The Raiders could possibly be the greatest American band of all time, and I'm not just talking about those dopey Revolutionary War costumes that became their calling card. While most of the US fell to the British Invasion, grew their hair, and eventually dismissed the 3 minute pop song as a kiddy medium, the Raiders soldiered (eh, sorry) through the '60s ripping off one tough All American r&b tune after another. Mark Lindsay's swagger-laden growl and Levin's Wailers/Sonics frat-rock guitar riffs were a deadly combination. Just listen to their Greatest Hits album; its almost too much to handle. Too bad Revere broke off with the original band and has spent the last 35+ years in Branson and on cruise ships playing watered-down, jokey retreads with a new band of "Raiders". Oh well, the originals are still out there, so why not indulge?

In zine/podcast news, my hard drive died completely and I lost some music, in addition to the original podcast intro track and a few articles I'd written for the upcoming print zine. For some reason, I'm not suicidal like I always thought such a thing would make me. A perfect opportunity to start over and do better stuff, I think. Luckily, the majority of my music and such was backed up, so its not hopeless.

The new podcast will be loaded with Raiders, Seeds, and a bunch of random old records! Download the older ones from the old blogs below. All 8 of the links are still valid, so check 'em out!