Coursing through the Wires #8 -- Live!
Three live events in six weeks (and more record purchases than the past 2-3 years combined) ... I guess I'm getting back in the swing of the music scene.
Sticks and Stones (Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, 22 Apr 06)
I'm not quite sure how I missed Sticks and Stones back when they were ruling the roost in New Brunswick, considering that same period coincided with my heyday in the radio universe of central New Jersey (slightly to their south). As noted earlier, I certainly sat up and took notice once Pete transformed himself into "Jack Terricloth," frontman for the World/Inferno Friendship Society. Anyway, seems that Sticks and Stones started playing together a couple months back, after a decade apart. I was pleasantly surprised -- having forgotten that there was such a thing as "melodic hardcore" that didn't fall into the dreck of "emo." Excellent photos from the crowd, too (I'd share my own, but the Treo doesn't cut it in dim lighting), and previously unreleased music on the new sorta-official band site.
Adding to the overall scene and experience was the location. The last time I had been in this part of town, the Fastlane was still a viable (if sketchy) club where our radio station was somehow talked into sponsoring a night with Meat Beat Manifesto (a first-and-last experience for sure). I was flat-out astounded at what we saw in an effort to find Asbury Lanes, however -- block after block of total desolation. The building pictured to the right has been controversial in both its "life" and its death... it's due to be imploded on Sunday, April 30, as part of the nascent revitalization of the downtown area. At the same time, there are protests being organized protesting the exercise of eminent domain. [I don't really understand why anyone is complaining about abandoned and rundown buildings being replaced by some effort to restore a legitimate vacation spot (and perhaps bedroom community to NYC).]
Anyway, Asbury Lanes is the one business that still seems to be open on its block. They host "punk and bowl" nights and a variety of concerts, setting up the stage at the head of a couple lanes in the middle of the room. Many of the photos noted above came were taken while standing on a plywood box built over a ball-return. The decor is a heartfelt, non-ironic kind of kitsch that really only makes sense if you've spent time in blue-collar towns and cities in the northeast or Great Lakes region. And we topped it off the only way that makes sense -- a trip to the "mall of diners," Mastoris, and a meal in "The Mastor's Lounge." A vintage New Jersey night.
Wedding Present / Sally Crewe & The Sudden Moves (Black Cat, WDC, 5 Mar 06)
This was my first show in DC and in the upstairs Black Cat since August 2002 (Mary Timony / Tsunami / Erase Errata -- "Ladyfest") and it was a freaking school night. Some things haven't changed much in the 12-13 years I've been attending shows at the Black Cat (fawning fanboys at the mersh table, hornrimmed glasses everywhere), but others have (fewer stripey t-shirts, and my being in the older half of the crowd).
Sally Crewe has a nice stage presence. Her set reminded me of an unvarnished Go-Gos -- bouncy melodies, nothing too edgy, short songs (nothing over three minutes), prominent casiotone keyboard, etc. Enjoyable but not essential in the long run.
Ashamedly, I have to admit that I stopped paying attention to the Weddoes around Watusi -- it seemed like the palpable bitterness had been lost during the "Hit Parade" sequence and would be gone forever. Some ten years later, Mr. Gedge has definitely recovered enough bitterness to revisit the entire catalog, all the way back to the C-86 days (introducing "This Boy Can Wait" as being "older than our drummer").
The set opened with "Corduroy" and never looked back. Gedge's on-stage curmudgeon act has aged well -- still no encores (though somewhat more apologetic now than in the past) and no requests -- "in all the years we've been doing this, have we ever played a request? NO -- and yet you ask anyway..." The high-pitched, high-speed jangly bits on the really old songs seemed just beyond Gedge's dexterity on this night, but still carried the same joyous effect. The home stretch was absolutely tremendous -- "Brassneck," "Nobody's Twisting Your Arm," and "Heather." I danced like a demented Peanuts character and left feeling that the Weddoes are as vital today as they were nearly 15 years ago.
WPRB-FM (Princeton, NJ, 9 Mar 06)
For the first time anywhere since 1998 (and first time on 'PRB since 1996), I got to step back behind the board and offer up a real radio show. I started at 12:15AM and went for about three hours until I'd kinda burned out. Only a couple mixups working the new control board, and only one complete clunker of a song. I realize the show is weighted toward oldies and even "standards" of the canon, but I'd been jonesing to do a show for a while and had to work some bugs out of the system. Thanks to Kelsey for turning over the reins to a grumpy guy like me, and to Julia for calling in right at the end to remind me that there are always people listening. Without further ado (or any sense of modesty), here's the playlist... with a sincere wish that I won't go nearly a decade before doing this again.
BAND - SONG - RELEASE - LABEL; N: new; OE: old (but new to station)
Loop - Burning World - Prisma Uber Europa - n/a (a chance to go pull records from the new library)
Stranglers - Hanging Around - Peaches (Very Best Of) - EMI
fIREHOSE - Choose Any Memory - Ragin' Full On - SST
Caribou - Bloody Murder - Marinoaudio - Domino (N)
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Wedding Present - Brassneck - Bizarro - RCA
Wedding Present - Ringway to Seatac - Take Fountain - Manifesto
Wailers - I Idolize You - Live At The Castle - Etiquette
We Are Wolves - Vosotros, Monstrous - Non-Stop - Fat Possum (N)
Dead Moon - Dead Moon Night - Live in Portland 1993 - n/a
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Adorable - Homeboy - 12" - Creation
KidGusto - Comealong Dub - EP - n/a
Parts & Labor - Silent Tyrants - split 7" - Cardboard (N)
The Gravel Pit - Focusing on One Goal and Achieving It - My Companion (v/a) - Turn of the Century
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Hawkwind - Assault & Battery Pt. I - Warrior on the Edge of Time - Atco [mixed into...]
Vocokesh - Assault & Battery Pt. I - Still Standing in the Same Garden - Drag City
Magazine - The Light Pours out of Me - Real Life - Virgin
Diverse - Die Slow - Big Game 12" - Chocolate Industries (OE)
Sicbay - The Rise of Phantom White - Suspicious Icons - 54-40 or Fight (N)
The Coach & Four - In Transit - Unlimited Symmetry - Makeshift
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Terminals - Both Ends Burning - 7" - Siltbreeze
Buffalo Tom - Sunflower Suit - s/t - SST
Lyres - Help You Ann - On Fyre - Ace Of Hearts
The Reivers - Atlantic City - 12" - Rhino
Saint Etienne - Relocate - Tales from Turnpike House - Sanctuary
Saint Etienne - Let's Build a Zoo - Up the Wooden Hills - Sanctuary
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Scrawl - Green Beer - He's Drunk - Rough Trade
Toast - Gargamel - Stupid by the Grace of God (v/a) - Assorted Porkchops
Honor Role - Purgatory - The Pretty Song - Eskimo/No Core
The Electric Rubayyat - If I Were A Carpenter - Epitaph for a Legend (v/a) - International Artists
Slowly Minute - A Constellation and Shooting Stars - Tomorrow World - Bubble Core (N)
Hasil Adkins - You're Gonna Break My Heart - Peanut Butter Rock & Roll - Norton (OE)
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Iggy Pop - The Passenger - Lust For Life - RCA
Apsci - See That? - 12" - Quannum (OE)
The Clean - Point That Thing Somewhere Else - SuperAnthology - Merge
Railroad Jerk - Younger Than You - 7" - Matador
Steel Pulse - Nyahbinghi Voyage - Reggae Fever - Mango (requested !?)
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Haves & Thirds - Ladies Love Lo Pan - Single Carbon Based Life Form (v/a) - n/a (N)
Dentists - Ugly - Naked E.P. - Independent Project Records
Seaweed - Lovegut - 7" - Leopard Gecko
Ride - Chelsea Girl - Smile - Creation
Lappetites - Stop #394 Falkirk St. - Before The Libretto - Quecksilber (N)
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Fairport Convention - Meet on the Ledge - What We Did on Our Holidays - Hannibal
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