Well, this should be interesting! It’s not every day a traveling marching band rolls (marches?) through town. Mucca Pazza was conceived by composer Mark Messing and the band has been performing in and around the Chicago area, in bars, parks, parades and theaters for over three years. The lineup includes St. Louis expatriate Jeff Thomas, aka Jeffrey Positive, of The Honkeys, on guitar. The following is from their press kit:
30 people in a band? No problem. At every rehearsal, BBQ, and party, everyone loves one another like one big family. Until a gig comes along, and then… The trombones rumble with team saxophone, who fight for stage space with the clarinet and the fiddle, who don’t notice because they are busy vying for the attentions of the accordions, who could care less because the drum corps are a bunch of bullies, who are constantly melting at the sight of the glockenspiel, who has an eye for the cymbals, who keeps falling over the sousaphone, who is busy avoiding flying pom poms, who are chasing after the trombones, who are rumbling… Mucca Pazza are marching misfits. They play everything from Gainesbourg to Le Tigre, Bar-Kays to Ali Hassan Kuban and lotsa original compositions (including one commissioned by a queen from a distant planet - long story). One would think that only in Dr. Seuss’ imagination could a marching band perform in 10 canoes going down the Chicago River, but Mucca Pazza was there! They play everywhere: from punk venues to orchestral halls, from public parks to private extravaganzas, from diva palaces to dive bars, from TV shows (did you see them on Conan O’Brien?) to Lollapalooza. Your town is next! Watch out!
Featuring: Mucca Pazza (Chicago, IL), Ether Project, Super Fun Yeah Yeah Rocketship, & TBA
Doors: 8:00PM
Cover: $10.00 21+/$13.00 minors
Videos for your pleasure:
Mucca Pazza in NYC
Mucca Pazza at LollapaloozaFrom the Chicago Reader:
“The band’s raucous and giddy live shows are so unabashedly dorky that by the end every member of the 30-strong lineup winds up coming off cooler than you’ll ever be.”
From The Chicago Sun-Times: “Sometimes a group of musicians comes up with an idea that is so unique, so whimsically charming, so dynamically charged that all you can do is stand back and watch in wonder. Such is the case with Mucca Pazza.”
From the Chicago Daily Herald:
“Mark this name down on your must-see music list, folks; they’re exploding faster than marshmallow Peeps in the microwave.”
Here’s Fear doing a promo spot for K-SHE 95 circa 1984/’85. Joe Stumble posted this on his Last Days of Man on Earth Blog the other day, and I couldn’t resist posting it here for ya, too. Enjoy!
The Show-Me Blowout starts tonight! In case ya missed it, here’s the local press it received this week:
Jason Toon wrote a great piece on it for “B-Sides” in this week’s RFT: Show Me the Garage Rock!
Matt Fernandes wrote about it on the Rock Candy blog on Wednesday: Get dirty this weekend at the Show-Me Blowout!
And, as previously noted, Thomas Crone in the 52nd City blog: Show-Me Blowout @ Off Broadway; Q/A with Kopper
Now here’s a little somethin’ somethin’ to help get ya in the mood… BOOM!!
More info? Check out the Show-Me Blowout on THE CIRCUIT.
Doors at 7pm, show at 8:00 (or shortly thereafter). See ya tonight! And tomorrow!! And tomorrow night!!!
Got a new camera last week, so I took it to the show Friday night at Lemmons and shot some video. Here’s a good one by The Vickroids. You should be aware that this was the first time Dennis Williams (Ded Bugs/Trip Daddys) had played with Mark Vickroid. They hadn’t even practiced before this show. Not bad!
I don’t think I even knew who Pete Parisi was until my wife and I moved back to St. Louis in early 1994 after spending a few years in Lawrence, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri. Since we found an apartment on the south side of the City, and got a cable TV subscription, we soon stumbled upon World Wide Magazine and quickly became hooked. This odd but extremely wonderful program helped inspire a new perspective on our old hometown, and we have Pete Parisi to thank for that. So I was a bit surprised to see that there is still no entry for Pete over on the St. Louis Wiki. What kinda crap is that? Someone needs to add him there, pronto! Then maybe once that’s done he can get his own star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame! YEAH!! Go, Diabetoboy, go!!
TIRC - We just want you to sign the petition.Well, hey… we can dream, can’t we?
Here’s a repost from the archives of Lo-Fi Saint Louis. The Cripplers will be playing the soon-to-be-announced Show-Me Blowout festival at Off Broadway in October. More info to come… In the meantime, here’s a funny homemade video they made several years ago. Enjoy!
The YouTube entry for this said it was from 1988, but I know that’s wrong. How? Because I was there, and I happened to be there with the future Mrs. Kopp, my lovely wife, Gina. Now, Gina and I didn’t even meet until January of ‘89, and this video was shot at their first show in St. Louis, at the ill-fated Bernard Pub (at its original location on Lafayette) in June of that same year. It’s crazy… we both totally remember that kid kissing Ian on the cheek and everything like it was yesterday. A timeless classic from Fugazi… enjoy!
Here’s another video of The Nevermores shot by Bill Streeter of Lo-Fi Saint Louis of “Make it Happen” at their first show ever (opening for The Gentleman Callers & Mondo Topless at Lemmons in South St. Louis):
