Entries from February 2009 ↓

As I posted here last month, I’d been down for a couple of weeks with the rockin’ pneumonia and the boogie-woogie flu. It sucked. Probably the worst couple of weeks of my life, in fact. I don’t remember EVER being that sick before, including having the mumps when I was a kid. I had this constant, terrible cough associated with the pneumonia, which would keep me awake at night and was just so bad that at times I’d cough so hard that I thought my insides were going to come out. NOT good. And the worst part about it was once I’d start coughing it was hard to stop, even with the aid of cough medicine. Well, the cough continued until about the 23rd or 24th of the month, and my Doxycycline prescription ran out on the 25th. Not long after I’d started coughing, I started feeling pain in my chest, right along my rib cage on my left side. The pain would subside only when I wasn’t coughing or moving. But each cough, sneeze, twist or turn in bed would hurt, sometimes pretty badly (especially during hard coughs or sneezes). Well, a week and a half after I’d pretty much gotten completely over the pneumonia, the pain was still there, so I went to see my doc yesterday and it turns out I have something called costochondritis. It’s basically an inflammation of the cartilage that connects your ribs with your sternum. It causes sharp pain in the costosternal joint — where your ribs and breastbone are joined by rubbery cartilage. Pain caused by costochondritis may mimic that of a heart attack or other heart conditions, and seeing as how I have Mitral Valve Prolapse, I figured it was a good idea to get this pain checked out just to make sure it wasn’t anything serious. I figured it had something to do with my ribs and muscles due to all the coughing I’d done, so I was somewhat relieved to hear that this would go away in a few weeks, and the doc put me on a prescription of naproxen to help alleviate the inflammation and pain. So I’m hoping to be over this soon. Wish me luck!

Once again, Jason Kohner has resurrected his old Columbia, MO, garage-rock band The Argonauts. I say “once again” because I believe he attempted to do this a year or so ago but then nothing ever really materialized from it. Nonetheless, it appears they are indeed “back from the grave” and will be playing their first show in twelve years(!) with TIRC favorites The Nevermores at the Ten Mile House (9420 Gravois in Affton) on Saturday, February 7. This band dates back quite a long time. In fact, they predate such long-time St. Louis rockers, The Cripplers (and include two members of that band). Here’s a bio from the band’s Myspace page:

The Argonauts are a 60’s style garage punk band in St. Louis, Missouri. Although all members are from St. Louis, the band originally formed in Columbia, Missouri back in the mid 90’s. The Argonauts consist of Jason Kohner (lead vocals, guitar), Nate Reeves (lead guitar), Tim Hopmeier (bass, vocals), and Dave Devine (drums). Kohner and Reeves, fresh out of The Fabulous Hustlers (a garage combo including Steve Mace and Steve Rager of The Untamed Youth), were old friends with Hopmeier (then with The Neanderthals) and hooked up with Devine (formerly with Erector Set). The rest is history. Opening for acts such as Southern Culture On The Skids and Rocket From The Crypt, The Argonauts quickly became one of Columbia’s most popular garage bands of the 1990s. For a brief stint Dave Devine left the group and was replaced by Chris Raymond on drums before they finally disbanded. Devine and Hopmeier would go on to form The Cripplers, which Raymond would later join on guitar. However, all the members eventually moved back to St. Louis and are now back together playing some ferocious garage rock and love songs for bastards. Maximum Garage R&R!!!

Jason & The Argonauts in the early days.

Listen to the blistering covers of some of your garage-rock favorites on their Myspace page. Trust me, you won’t want to miss this show.

Oh yeah, and John Ebert made a flyer, too. Pass it on…

Flyer by John Ebert.