Saturday, February 24, 2007

Dude! Priestess and Mastodon at Cat's Cradle


The best pics I got all night were of Mastodon, but my videos are of Priestess. That's just the way it turned out.

Jess and I went to the Cradle mainly to check out Priestess, a great hard-rock band from Montreal. I really hesitate to call them metal, though they can be very heavy. In a lot of ways, they remind me of a very heavy Cheap Trick. I also hear a lot of Deep Purple in their music, and one of their songs, "Blood", even reminds me of The Strokes. We got there a little late (just after 9 pm), and they were already playing "Lay Down," which is one of my favorite songs. I'm a bit peeved over that because the tickets clearly stated that doors would open at 8, and the show would begin at 9. But another band played before Priestess, and unless they managed to play their set, the club switch out the stage set up, and Priestess play two songs all in the space of about 15 minutes, then that clearly wasn't correct.


Mastodon was the headliner, and I can say they are the most appropriately named band in the world. Like their namesake, they are frightfully heavy. Big, stomping, loud, mean and ugly. They are also rather monotonous, and so, after about an hour of hearing what sounded like the same big, stomping, loud, mean and ugly riff over and over again, we took off.

I coined the phrase "dude rock" to describe them, which prompted a discussion in the car about what "dude rock" is, and which bands are and aren't "dude rock." (on a side note, Jess also coined the phrase "gnome beard" to describe the long, pointed facial hair lots of dudes at the show were sporting.) We decided that in order for a band to be dude rock, there can't be anyone cute in the band, and there must be nothing sexy about the music. I thought that Queens of the Stone Age are dude rock, but since Jess thinks Josh Homme is hot, she didn't quite agree. But I think stoner rock -- like prog rock -- could be considered a sub-genre of dude rock. She thought that Pink Floyd was the ultimate dude rock band, but since I think David Gilmour (back in the day) is hot, we disagreed again. However, we both agreed that Rush is dude rock.

Here are some other bands and our opinions on whether or not they're dude rock:

Led Zeppelin -- not dude rock
Slayer -- dude rock
Rolling Stones -- not dude rock
Motorhead -- DUDE ROCK (this prompted a new discussion of whether or not either of us would sleep with Lemmy for $1 million. I won't tell you our answers, but Jess did ask if part of the proceeds could go to cut off Lemmy's facial moles.)
all hair metal -- not dude rock, though I know plenty of dudes who love them some Cinderella
all hardcore -- totally dude rock



Anyway, check out the videos of Priestess.

(videos removed)

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Let Billy Sugarfix turn your poetry into song

Billy can explain this better than me. The only thing I can say is that some of our old Chew Toy lyrics would definitely win this contest! THE SURREAL O'RAMA SONG POEM BIZARRE LYRICS CONTEST Readers submit strange song lyrics, winners have their words set to music and recorded free of charge. February 23, 2007. Anyone and everyone is invited to submit their weirdest words, in any form that could possibly be considered song lyrics to the SURREAL O'RAMA SONG POEM BIZARRE LYRICS CONTEST. An all-star panel of judges (Including Jad Fair of the seminal pre-punk band Half Japanese) will then review the song poems, and five winners will have their words set to music and recorded ( at no charge) by Billy Sugarfix and Brian Risk,( the same team that wrote and produced the It's Carrboro rap sensation). Each winning song will be posted on the Surreal O'Rama blog, where readers will vote on an overall favorite. Lyrics may be submitted any time before March 10. The judges will then have a review period, and the first winning song will be posted on March 20, 2007. Other winning songs will be posted twice a week until April 10, at which time readers may cast votes for their favorite song. The overall winner will be announced on April 21. The premise of this contest is to re-create the song poem or "song sharking" phenomenon of the 1970s in which magazine advertisements called for poets to send in their words so that they could be considered as material for potential hit song lyrics. Any submission would be given a similar response stating that the lyrics were acceptable, and that a recording could be made for a fee. Many people saw through this thinly veiled scam and siezed the opportunity to write down and submit the strangest things they could come up with. The results were often hilarious and downright surreal. http://www.songpoemmusic.com/what_is.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_poem The Surreal O'Rama ( http://billysugarfix.blogspot.com ) is the blog of Billy Sugarfix (known primarily for his work with the band Evil Wiener). It originally was a showcase for his eccentric fiction but has expanded to include a plethora of other dreamlike treats. Unusual videos, links to various web oddities, and essentially anything that is colorful and strange may find a home at the Surreal O'Rama. The following is a list of the judges who will help select the winning songs. Jad Fair http://jadfair.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_Japanese Whether you're talking Punk Rock, New Wave, Indie Rock, or Alternative, Jad Fair either invented it, helped define it, or pioneered it. Most famous for his work with the band Half Japanese, Jad Fair is a brilliant songwriter, poet, and artist. Seth Falkner http://www.urbancoffee.net/ Seth, and his cohort Dave, host the extremely popular Urban Coffee Podcast. Their witty insights on politics, technology, and music have kept them consistently in the top ten at Podcast Alley. Franklin Bruno http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Bruno Franklin Bruno is a critically acclaimed songwriter who has worked with the likes of Beck, Guided by Voices, and the Mountain Goats. In addition, he also writes music criticism for The Village Voice, Time Out New York, and Salon.com. David Gutowski http://blog.largeheartedboy.com/ David is the creator of the music/literature weblog Large Hearted Boy. The blog is a pop culture powerhouse that features daily music downloads and links to articles on all facets of independent music and quality literature. About the music writing team: Billy Sugarfix is the guitarist/songwriter for the band Evil Wiener, a band that has spawned three critically acclaimed cds and also inspired a tribute album (I Can't Get that Evil Wiener Song out of my Head, currently selling used for 40 dollars on Amazon.com). He also runs the custom song website customserenade.com ( http://www.customserenade.com ). Approximately one year ago, he and his house mate Brain Risk wrote and recorded a rap song about their home, Carrboro, NC. Simply titled "It's Carrboro" the song was a local sensation receiving praise from thousands of Carrboro residents present and past. -- http://billysugarfix.blogspot.com -- http://billysugarfix.blogspot.com

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

If I didn't have to work that weekend I would go to this ...



Since techno is the national anthem of Germany, it only makes sense that Monty's latest party is called "Berlin." Tschüß!

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Bad news

Is all I can say about this. Let's hope Steve, Paul and Ben are able to re-open in a new location.

Kings Barcade: The Clock is Ticking

Sunday, February 04, 2007

The Nein, Annuals and Tiger Bear Wolf at Kings

Last night I finally got the chance to see three bands I've heard great things about, and I'm happy to say they all lived up to expectations. Greensboro's Tiger Bear Wolf, Raleigh's buzzband Annuals and The Nein from Chapel Hill all played the second night of the WKNC benefit at Kings. Tiger Bear Wolf is bluesy, intelligent Southern rock, kind of in the same vein as All Night (also from Greensboro). They were probably my favorite band of the evening. Check out their video (below).

Tiger Bear Wolf from Mann's World on Vimeo.

Annuals have been all over the place lately, and they deserve every bit of praise they've gotten. It's amazing to see a band so young be so good and so driven about what they're doing. I think they're destined for massive fame and a very quick rise to the top. I just hope they can keep their heads on straight when their world changes overnight. Here are two clips. Please note that Annuals have a LOT of stuff on stage and the show was packed, so it was difficult to get a clear shot of any of them.

Annuals from Mann's World on Vimeo.

Annuals from Mann's World on Vimeo.

The final band was The Nein, which includes Finn Cohen and Robert Biggers from one of my favorite local bands, The White Octave, and Chuck Johnson from a variety of bands/projects including Spatula. According to their Myspace, Dale Flattum (Steel Pole Bathtub, and the artist behind the "Tooth" paintings)is also in the band, but unless I'm just totally blind, he wasn't on stage with them last night (and, no, I didn't drink any Sparks last night). They were angular and noisy with some Gang of Four elements. My friend Karen said they reminded her of 999, with whom I'm not that familiar. Maybe they called themselves The Nein in homage to 999 (and, yes, I know that "nein" actually means "no"). Regardless, I got two videos -- one only a partial video -- of them. They also happened to be the only band of whom I got some fairly good pictures. See all the photos here.

The Nein from Mann's World on Vimeo.

Another one by The Nein from Mann's World on Vimeo.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

The show of the week

Assuming we're not all snowed in, will be Wee Willie, Little Cash Friday at The Hideaway. I don't think there's anything I can say about this show that hasn't been said by the man himself: What do you get when you take a Virginia Redneck boy that likes Rock N Roll and Country, dress him up, send him to school mix a little booze and weed in there and watch him only grow to be 4 ft 6 inches tall ,,,,,,,,,The only known Little Persons tribute to Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash. Standing only 4 ft 6 inches and dressed to the "T" this Willie Nelson impersonator known as "WEE WILLIE" will serve your party or special event needs 100%. Apparently it's one guy doing both, and he also used to be in Midget KISS. I'm really looking forward to this show because I haven't been to the Hideaway to see live music (but I have eaten some delicious ribs there).Saturday's must-see show won't be quite as surreal. Annuals (I've been corrected -- there's no "the") and Greensboro's Tiger Bear Wolf are among those performing for night two of WKNC's Double-Barrel benefit at Kings. Night one features Old Ceremony, Mountain Goats and The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers, but I don't think that can top a midget dressed as Johnny Cash.