en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 60 http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal The Last.fm journal for IMTrick. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal/2007/06/16/230km_the_queers%2C_the_methadones%2C_the_manges_%40_bottom_of_the_hill Sat, 16 Jun 2007 01:57:59 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal/2007/06/16/230km_the_queers%2C_the_methadones%2C_the_manges_%40_bottom_of_the_hill Thu 14 Jun – The Queers, The Methadones, The Manges

Yesterday morning I got a shout from creativelybored to enjoy my "blast from the past," referring to the Queers gig I'd be going to at the Bottom of the Hill here in San Francisco last night. I appreciated the sentiment, but a blast from the past? Didn't I just buy Munki Brain a few months ago? It couldn't have been that long ago; they still don't have a link for it here.

I just let the implication that I'd become old and nostalgic settle into the back of my aging skull. I'd been looking forward to this gig for too long to worry that I just might be a dinosaur.

I'd never been to a gig at the Bottom of the Hill before, and I was pleasantly surprised that, even though I arrived almost right at 9:00 when the show was slated to start, I got a parking spot right across the street from the front door. I'd heard that parking on the street was easy to find, but if you've spent any time in San Francisco you know that "easy parking" here would be anything that doesn't require at least an hour's worth of driving in circles, a GPS, and a half-ton of quarters.

I was met shortly thereafter by Xander, who I feel the need to mention looks nothing like his LiveJournal avatar picture. Well, he looks a little like the parts that aren't squished. Anyway, he's a smart guy, friendly, has a ton of good stories about parts of the world I probably couldn't find on a map, and he doesn't scream as you almost blow through a red light at 1:00 am, which makes him pretty cool in my book. If you can ever talk him into hanging out with you, do it.



First up just after Xander's arrival and a trip to the bar was Italy's The Manges. I will confess that I was slightly disappointed. I've liked these guys for quite a while (in large part because I love a punk band with a funny accent; cf. my Nicotine fetish). I can't completely blame them -- they were the first band up, and the sound was not right. It was muddy and trebly and just generally bad. However, they had a lot of energy, and their guitarist is a gorgeous, tattooed, olive-skinned hunk of a guy, so I managed to keep from being annoyed by the bad soundboard work by studying the way his triceps moved as he changed chords.

After that was a short trip to the patio area for a smoke, another run to the bar, and by the time we got back The Methadones were starting. While they weren't bad, they did have sort of a generic modern punk-pop thing going, a bit like what you'd get if you threw Good Charlotte, Van Halen, and The Cure in a blender. While most of it was pretty "eh," I thought a couple songs were brilliant. Not many, but I did come away with a slightly higher opinion of the Methadones than I had going in.

Next up (after another patio run): The Queers. My little blast from the past. Well, Mr. Bored, you were right. The set was pulled almost entirely from their old staples, from the opener, No Tit, all the way to See Ya Later Fuckface at the end of the encore. The only song from the new album was Duke Kahanamoku, which they apparently played for the first time live. It was a long set, and included literally almost every song in their Top 50 tracks here.

They sounded great, and other than a few minor mishaps like a blown amp and a random stage-crasher singing really bad backup vocals on a cover of Sheena Is a Punk Rocker before diving back into the crowd, they were pretty consistently good all the way through. It would also like to point out to my dear friend Peter that, although these guys have been around in one form or another since around the time I graduated high school, old guys can still rock. Hard and at great length, I'd like to add.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal/2007/06/15/230ep_several_queers%2C_and_room_for_more Fri, 15 Jun 2007 00:17:09 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal/2007/06/15/230ep_several_queers%2C_and_room_for_more The Queers, The Methadones and The Manges at The Bottom of the Hill, a gig I've been looking forward to for a long time (as if my recent charts didn't make that blatantly obvious). It's pretty rare, outside one of those gigantic mega-festivals, that I find more than one band I like playing the same place, so this is a mini-wet dream for me since I'm a fan of all three.

I've been trying pretty hard for the last couple days to pawn off the two spare tickets I've still got, so if you're within earshot, somewhere in the general vacinity of San Francisco, and want to kill a few hours at the Bottom of the Hill with Xander and me, speak up (PM's here work, or if you have a better way to reach me already, feel free to use it) before 9:00pm tonight and I can make sure I've got one put aside for you.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal/2007/04/22/230ct_review%3A_pansy_division_at_caf%C3%A9_du_nord Sun, 22 Apr 2007 17:41:20 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal/2007/04/22/230ct_review%3A_pansy_division_at_caf%C3%A9_du_nord Sat 21 Apr – Avengers, Pansy Division

As you know (because I haven’t been able to shut up about it for a month), I went to see Pansy Division last night at Café du Nord in San Francisco, where they were playing with the Southern girls and the Avengers.

I had expected last night’s rain to screw up my travel time, but traffic was light and I got there a bit early, just before the Southern girls went onstage. As Kris and I were wandering around checking out the place (and the people — more on that later), I spotted a guy who looked familiar. I had Kris follow me to the table where T-shirts and CDs were were being sold and pointed at the cover of The Essential Pansy Division. “See that guy there in the pool?” I glanced over at the familiar-looking guy to my right. “Does he look like that guy over there to you?”

We both agreed he did, and that he must be Jon Ginoli, so at that point I had to go over and say hello. Preparing to look like a total idiot, I walked up to him and somewhat timidly asked, “Jon, right?”

He looked at me. “Yeah. You’re Trick, right?”

Thank you, Jon. That right there pretty much made my night. I had left a short “have a good gig” note on the band's MySpace page yesterday afternoon, and I guess he recognized me from it. The irony that Jon recognized me from one comment at MySpace when I had to go look at an album cover and get someone else’s confirmation before saying hello does not escape me.

I pretty much gushed nervously over him and the band for a few minutes, then forced myself to walk away before I said something stupid. He’s a really friendly guy, but I had to get away before I offered to wash his car, become his personal roadie, or bear his children.

The opening band, the Southern girls, was… well, interesting. They were a bunch of large, hairy guys, in dresses and really bad wigs, with a thing for Cheap Trick. ‘nuf said there, probably.

P.D. came on shortly thereafter, and opened their set with “Who Treats You Right,” then tore through a cross-section of their catalog hitting songs like “Dick of Death,” “Cocksucker Club,” “Fem in a Black Leather Jacket,” and “James Bondage,” among others, and some new songs they recorded last week. Most of the band then went offstage while Jon did a solo rendition of “Curvature.”

The second half of the set kicked off with Chris Freeman (who, incidentally, was looking fabulous after changing into a little strapless sequined number) switching to drums on “Luv, Luv, Luv.” The set continued with “Bunnies,” “No Protection,” “I’m Gonna Be A Slut,” and “He Whipped My Ass in Tennis (Then I Fucked His Ass in Bed),” and they closed with "Alpine Skiing." I’m sure there were other songs in the set list as well, but I’ll be damned if I can remember what they were. I was there to have a good time, not memorize set lists. Sue me.

Maybe the biggest surprise of the night: Kris liked them (or at least didn’t hate them). He was very clear about that not meaning I should ever drag him to a gig with me again, but he was smiling and laughing most of the night. Once we stepped back a bit from the four-man mosh pit that erupted in front of the stage, he really seemed to be having a good time.

As a bit of a compromise, I had agreed with Kris that if he’d go with me, we could skip the Avengers and head home after Pansy Division was done playing, so we left as soon as they closed their set. I didn’t mind… I was there for the Pansies.

All in all, the gig was everything I had hoped for. The band’s playing was pretty tight, even though they haven’t played a live gig locally in over a year, and have yet another new token hetero (Joel Reader, lead guitar) in the line-up. I had a great time, Kris didn’t hate it, and Jon Ginoli knew who I was. What more could I possibly want?]]> http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal/2007/03/14/23071_the_gig_i_cannot_miss Wed, 14 Mar 2007 05:05:35 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal/2007/03/14/23071_the_gig_i_cannot_miss Pansy Division/Avengers gig at Cafe du Nord on April 21st, and I'm so happy about it I might wet myself.

I had a chance to go to one of Pansy Division's gigs a little over a year ago, and something came up. Little did I know the chance wouldn't some again for a very long time, and I've been kicking myself ever since.

I'm not missing this one. Nope. No way.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal/2007/02/10/2305d_the_queers_-_munki_brain Sat, 10 Feb 2007 22:49:54 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal/2007/02/10/2305d_the_queers_-_munki_brain The Queers. They’ve been cranking out their unique brand of pop-punk for over two and a half decades now, and their latest release, Munki Brain, proves that they’re still just as good as ever.

Most of Munki Brain’s 13 tracks are short, clocking it at an average of around 2 1/2 minutes each. The short song durations are one sign of the Queers’ heavy Ramones influence, which really stands out in tracks like the break-up song I Don’t Get It and the smirking houston, we have a problem.

A heavy surf influence really comes through on this release as well. With backing vocals that bring to mind Jan & Dean, and guitar work reminiscent of The Ventures, Duke Kahanamoku extolls the virtues of a Hawaiian surfer, and Brian Wilson is a tribute to the The Beach Boys songwriter in more than just name.

While the Queers have never been a band to make much in the way of political statements, they’ve never been afraid to say (in many cases, repeatedly) “fuck you.” So, while the anti-George W. Bush tirade Monkey In A Suit may be surprising for its subject matter, its sarcastic, sample-laden sentiment is pure Queers.

Among the rest of the tracks, there isn’t a dud in the bunch, making Munki Brain a must-have album if you’re already a Queers fan. It’s possibly some of their strongest work ever, which also makes it a great starting point for new listeners.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal/2007/01/24/2302o_i%27m_getting_happy Wed, 24 Jan 2007 01:40:09 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal/2007/01/24/2302o_i%27m_getting_happy Bowling for Soup again tomorrow at Slim's here in San Francisco. I've been looking forward to it... well, since I saw them last summer.

Go ahead and laugh if you want. I realize BFS tilts a bit toward the pop end of the punk-pop scale, and that it may not do wonders for my rocker cred to listen to music so relentlessly happy that the band's own guitarist once described it as being "like being licked by seven puppies," but I love these guys. They're funny, they're out of shape, and they always look like they're having a really good time on stage. It's like watching a band full of your drinking buddies, except that these guys can actually play the instruments. Even drunk, I suspect.

I've loved them since the first time I heard Almost from A Hangover You Don't Deserve while radio station-surfing on my way over the Bay Bridge a couple years ago. After hearing that one track, I stopped at Best Buy on my way home and bought the CD, along with Drunk Enough to Dance -- the first new CDs I'd bought in a very long time. I credit BFS for reigniting the love of music I'd somehow lost track of in the years before I heard them, and for showing that there was some pretty damned music that I wasn't hearing on the classic rock stations.

So, yeah, they're not angry, they're not dangerous, and they smile a lot. I'm fine with that. Everyone should be licked by a puppy once in a while.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal/2007/01/05/23004_51_rockin%27_queers. Fri, 5 Jan 2007 04:16:35 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal/2007/01/05/23004_51_rockin%27_queers. Queer Rockers group, partly just to see who's joined lately, and partly because, on the whole, we're a damn fine-looking group of avatars. I've secretly got a crush on about half the members, and probably wouldn't put up too much of a fight against a night of passion with the other half if I had a couple of beers first.

On my fly-bay today, I noticed something different -- there's more than one page of us. 51 members, to be exact, as of this writing. I love that.

When I started the group a few months back, I was feeling a little like an outcast. I'm a punk-rockin'-homo in a house full of dance music queens. Most of the time I've got to listen to my stuff through headphones to keep a screaming hissy fit from erupting in the living room.

It's a lonely musical existence, but I feel better knowing there are at least 50 other people in the world who won't look at me like I'm a freak when I listen to Ramones, The Queers or The Vandals.

I'm proud to be a member of a group full of fags that has the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The White Stripes, and Oasis on their current Top Artists list. You guys rock.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal/2006/12/23/22zxm_rockin%27_around_the_christmas_tree Sat, 23 Dec 2006 19:04:26 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal/2006/12/23/22zxm_rockin%27_around_the_christmas_tree
Here's a quick run-down of the ones getting the most spins this year:

Christmas Eve and Other Stories

I still think the first of Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Christmas trilogy is the best, though their other two Christmas CD's (The Lost Christmas Eve and The Christmas Attic) get their fair share of turntable time.

Oi To The World

As you may be able to tell from my charts, I'm a big fan of The Vandals. There's something I really love about the way they can come off as intelligent and mindlessly juvenile at the same time. This one's also great for the shock value, with such yuletide gems as Hang Myself From the Tree, Christmas Time for My Penis, and My First X-mas (As A Woman) being perfect for getting the in-laws to spit out their egg nog.

Punk Rock Xmas and A Santa Cause: It's a Punk Rock Christmas

These two compilations, released about eight years apart, keep me festive far better than anything from Johnny Mathis or Perry Como ever could. I highly recommend liberal doses of Homo Christmas, I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus, Fuck Christmas and Here Comes Santa's Pussy if you enjoy watching your sister-in-law trip over coffee tables as she runs across the room to cover your niece's ears.

Punk Rock Xmas

Not to be confused with the aforementioned Punk Rock Xmas compilation album, this one's all Nicotine, which means all kinds of energetic punky j-rock goodness. This one, like a lot of Nicotine's cover albums, isn't just fun for how they wail on the guitars and pound the drums, but for how they butcher the English language. I'm not sure how P.C. it is that I get so much enjoyment out of hearing Christmas favorites sung with an absurdly thick accent, but if it was good enough for the Chinese restaurant scene in A Christmas Story, it's good enough for me. None of my Christmases since 2003 would have been complete without hearing their renditions of ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU and XMAS TIME WITH YOU.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal/2006/12/22/22zti_i_feel_great%21 Fri, 22 Dec 2006 06:27:26 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal/2006/12/22/22zti_i_feel_great%21 course I'll be going to work tomorrow! I've never felt better.

Anyone want a couple The Vandals tickets for Friday night? I don't think I'm going to make it.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal/2006/12/17/22zrj_katie_rocks_%28and_so_do_the_gimmes%29 Sun, 17 Dec 2006 00:29:03 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/IMTrick/journal/2006/12/17/22zrj_katie_rocks_%28and_so_do_the_gimmes%29 Me First and the Gimme Gimmes gig was last night at Slim's, and I had a blast.

If you ever get a chance to take Katie out on a Friday night, I highly recommend it. She had me laughing for most of the night, she looks good shakin' the read hair when the music gets good, she hails a cab far better than I, and she wasn't kidding when she said she'd buy beer. However, if you do ever get her out somewhere, I do have one warning: "You don't mess with the ta-tas." I'm not sure I want to go into the circumstances that prompted her to tell me that.

The opener was a literally painful set by a band named The Charm School Dropouts -- though I have to give a small grudging bit of respect to a band who can manage to cover both a song by Turbonegro (Good Head) and a song by Lynyrd Skynyrd (Freebird) in a roughly six-song set.

What the Charm School Dropouts lacked, though, the Gimmes more than made up for. While they did play a decent amount of stuff from the new album, Love Their Country, the set covered a range of songs from every album in their catalog. The only real disappointment was that they never played Mandy, which was a bit of a bummer for Katie.

Still, I can't complain about the set. Any time I get to see a bunch of tough-looking young punks viciously slam-dancing to Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Danny's Song and Tomorrow, I'm going to call it a good time.

Speaking of young punks... maybe I don't get out as often I used to, or maybe it's something in the water out here in San Francisco, but I'd swear they've gotten better-looking than I remember them. Out of respect for my date for the evening, among other factors, I restrained myself from drooling on any of them the entire night, but it took a constant exertion of self control to pull it off.

Oh, and I'm glad to say I survived a brief brush with the pit. It wasn't an intentional thing, and it was only a brief moment on the periphery, but I made it through without breaking a hip. Hooray for me.]]>