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.”
Lo-Fi Saint Louis, St. Louis’ first internationally recognized and award-wining video podcast, will make its debut of a new seasonal episode format on Monday, March 3, 2008, and will celebrate with an event at the Mad Art Gallery on Saturday, March 8. The event will feature video screenings, live performances by two great St. Louis-area indie rock bands, the Helium Tapes and the 75s, and other surprises. Doors will open at 8:00 p.m. and admission will be $6.00.
Lo-Fi Saint Louis has been on hiatus since mid-January in order to allow for a revamping of the website and to give its creator, Bill Streeter, a long-needed break.
“I’ve been producing two videos a week for Lo-Fi for the past year and I really needed a little break to rethink some things and to recharge my creative batteries. I also wanted to do some other projects that I just didn’t have time for if I was producing so much for Lo-Fi,” Streeter said.
The podcast will now be produced on a seasonal schedule, similar to that of a television program, with separate schedules for the spring and fall seasons. Each season will consist of two videos per week for ten weeks each.
Some of the other projects Streeter will be taking on with his new spare time are the recently launched Lo-Fi Sessions and a sketch comedy video series with comedian Bill Chott that will begin production in May.
Hey folks, I’m now taking writing/blogging volunteers for this website. Looking for people to write occasional garage/punk/rock’n'roll record/show reviews, post about concerts & other events, submit interesting and appropriate videos, audio files, etc. in an effort to turn this blog into more of a local music & entertainment resource (or “webzine,” if you will). If you’re interested please send a message via the contact page or reply below. Thanks!
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!
Greg “Frog” Kessler and I have started what we’re calling the Saint Louis Flyer Project, in which we’re trying to collect as many “vintage” St. Louis-area punk/wave/hardcore and underground/alternative rock flyers from the mid-1970s through the mid-’90s as we can for a new Flickr group. We’re only really interested in actual scans of authentic, old-school paper flyers, no Web flyers made with Photoshop or Illustrator. We just feel there are probably a lot of these things stashed away in boxes in people’s attics or basements these days, and it’d be great to get them out, dust them off and let them live again now on the Web. So please contribute to our collection if you have anything worth sharing (and if you don’t have a scanner and aren’t afraid to let one of us borrow your collection for a week or two, please get in touch and we’ll gladly scan them for you). Thanks!
At Lemmons on Friday February 1st. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… The Modern Primitives are like Missouri’s own undiscovered version of the Black Lips (only younger).
I wasn’t able to make it out to the Nevermores/Thee Fine Lines show at the Underground at the Red Sea last Friday night, but I did ask John of the Nevermores about the show and he was nice enough to write a little review, which is posted here. I’ve read of other not-so-nice reports of how bands are treated at the Underground before (this topic came up once before on the GaragePunk Forums message board), but this really takes the cake. To actually tell a band they’re “headlining” and then to flat-out STIFF them, after forcing them to follow another band that wasn’t originally scheduled to even play (and not only plays way too long, but is so BAD that they run everyone out of the club)? Come on! How or why do places like the Underground think this is somehow cool or acceptable? What makes this bozo think ANY band will want to play this shithole once word spreads that they’re stiffing bands (not to mention fucking with lineups)? I’m sorry but this sort of thing is just unacceptable, and you may not read it anywhere else in St. Louis, but FUCK the Underground. Don’t play the damned place. I don’t care HOW desperate you are for shows, that sorta shit doesn’t help anyone, especially yourselves if you’re trying to actually make a few bucks to cover gas money (in the very least). There are plenty of decent venues in St. Louis that you can play these days… Lemmons, the Way Out, the Bluebird, Off Broadway, 2 Cents Plain (admittedly still wet behind the ears but learning), and more. But if you care about integrity don’t play the Underground. Thank you.
GARAGE NEWS FLASH: The legendary 1966 Iowa garage band GONN, inductees into the Iowa Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, featured on the “Nuggets” box set with their first record “Blackout of Gretely” and on the Sundazed “Loudest Band in Town” Beat Rocket LP, to name a few, are reuniting for a show at OFF BROADWAY in St. Louis on Saturday, January 5th, 2008. This will be the band’s first live show since their appearance at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland back in 2005. GONN 2008 still features ALL ORIGINAL MEMBERS: Gerry Gabel, Craig Moore, Rex Garrett, Larry LaMaster, Dave Johnson. The group members are driving & flying in from all over the US to do this one-night show. Also appearing are The Nevermores and The Vultures, two of the St. Louis area’s best current generation of garage/punk/rock’n'roll bands. Tickets are only $10 and will be limited due to club capacity. As of this posting it is not known if advance tickets will be available or at the door only. More details can be found soon at www.myspace.com/gonn66, or at www.offbroadwaystl.com. You may also write to youngernow@ameritech.net with any specific questions. SPREAD THE WORD!
Check out Craig Moore from Gonn appearing live on stage with both The Nevermores and The Geargrinders at the recent Show-Me Blowout garage fest in St. Louis at Bill Streeter’s Lo-Fi Saint Louis video blog: Craig Moore with The Geargrinders on “Blackout of Gretely” Craig Moore with The Nevermores on “Doin’ Me In”
Thanks,
kopper
The insanity just never ends here at TIRC Exitprises! The company made an official statement this past Monday during a press conference called by company CEGO (Chief Executive Goof-Off) Harvey Floorbanger that they would be “GIVING AWAY FOR FREE” downloadable copies of its latest release on its struggling “TIRC Records” subsidiary. Dissatisoul from local St. Louis “garage-punk” (ahem) HEAVYWEIGHTS Left Arm is being released on the company website for a “recommended” “donation” of anywhere from three to five bucks. But who do they think they’re kiddin’? Any thrifty Beatle Bob out there in consumer la-la land knows that music is just out there (everywhere) for THE TAKING, so why not just put down that hoagie, grab it, and run like a jackal? And indeed, you CAN! Actually, there’s no need to even RUN (nor try to stealthily sneak it inside your favorite smoking jacket). No siree, Bob. No shame, a-tall! Just go to the online store and, with trusty mouse in hand, click the LEFT ARM CD cover and download away!! I mean, LOOK AROUND… No one’s going to see you do it from the privacy of your PC there. It’s just like downloading kiddie porn!! Now, any of you out there from more distinguished, cultured upbringings who may encounter feelings of guilt after doing so MAY, if you so desire, of course, return to the scene of the crime and pay a few bucks for it, but that’s only if you feel REAL GUILTY. Because obviously if there’s no guilt, there’s no CRIME! Oh yes there’s Trouble, right here in River City… That starts with “T” and that rhymes with “C” and that stands for CRAZY!!
By the way, hard copies of the CD are for sale at the band’s website for six bucks postage paid, for you weirdos who insist on having something to hold in your hands and look at and then sell to the local used record store when you run outta cigarette money in a few months.
Tommy Smelfiger
Minister of Propaganda
TIRC Exitprises
Well, I’m happy to say that the Show-Me Blowout seemed to be a nice success. The bands were all fantastic and there were really very few complaints or problems, especially on Saturday night when some of the timing issues were corrected from the previous night. Unfortunately, the attendance for the two nights combined didn’t even reach 200 people, with the second night falling far short of expectations. This despite good press both in print and online and plenty of promotion. Still, a fun show, and Craig Moore really ripped it up on stage with The Nevermores and The Geargrinders on their covers of two classic ’60s garage punkers, “Doin’ Me In” and “Blackout of Gretely,” respectively. The Saturday afternoon BBQ Bash at Apop Records also went off without a hitch, and all four bands were great there as well. Lots of people enjoyed a keg of Schlafly Winter ESB (they were already out of the Oktoberfest), damned fine burgers and some of the largest, juiciest hot dogs the world has ever seen, all prepared perfectly on the grill by Bill Streeter of Lo-Fi Saint Louis. Were you there? Then please post your thoughts on how the whole thing shook down on the TIRC-STL google group.
That said, because of the lackluster turnout, I have a huge overstock of Blowout T-shirts available that I’m “blowing out” for just $8 plus postage. This basically means I’m making just over a buck on each shirt. Hopefully I’ll sell enough of these to break even, but somehow I doubt it. Oh, and I don’t care if you were there or not. I’ll sell a T-shirt to anybody, anywhere, anytime. Just send your money in via PayPal using the button below (and don’t forget to indicate your shirt size and include your snailmail address). Thanks!
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!!!
Tonight at Off Broadway: The return of '60s garage rockers GONN! w/the Nevermores, 75s & Mad Titans. 8pm, 18+ $10. http://tinyurl.com/4l242r3 weeks ago
Tonight at the Underground/Red Sea: The Estranged & The Red Dons (both from Portland, OR) w/TBA. Old-school punk rock! 8:30pm, $7. All ages! 2008-06-17
