Surly Girl Saloon/Goody Boy Parking Lot, June 5 2008
Surly Girl (myspace), (Official Website)
Columbus Music Co-op (Myspace)
Here Comes Your Weekend Parking Lot Blowout is an annual concert/mini-festival sponsored by the Betty’s-family restaraunt group, Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer and the Columbus Music Co-op. It is Free Admission, goes from 3 – Midnight, and had 11 bands play this year.
A great idea, run by great people.
I did have a problem with the concert as the sound up front was pretty terrible. The vocals were coming out of speakers positioned about 10 feet in front of the stage, which means they were behind all the people in front of the stage. What this means in layman’s terms is that if you wanted to actually be able to see a band play, you weren’t able to hear the vocals.
Here is this years line up, from first to last (with nifty descriptions and links!):
The Kyle Sowashes (link) (another link): too early for me.
Bush League All-Stars (link): I’ve wanted to see ’em for a while, but didn’t get there in time.
Vegetative State (link): They were finishing their last song as I was walking up. I wish I could have seen them, as I like their sense of humor and flashy ways. They describe their sound as “Shitt Christian homocore.”
Church of the Red Museum (link): I’ll be honest, they weren’t as impressive as I had been led to believe. With the exception of the girl with the horn and violin, they were all very trendy and d-baggy. Sorry Tom Butler, but you seem cooler on the radio. Musically, I think there is simply too much going on. They’re trying to go in every direction at once. Also, something else that bothered me is that everyone; guitars, bass, horn, violin, drums, electric piano, all played on the same beat. Hmm… maybe I didn’t phrase that properly. Every instrument played a note at the same time as every other instrument. There was very little overlapping sound. It might seem like a minor point, but it makes the music sound choppy. Perhaps that was the intention, but I didn’t care for it.
Lara Yazvac: Didn’t see her as I went to the Surly Girl for some shade and a place to sit. Ms. Yazvac is the singer for the Tough and Lovely. It would have been interesting to see what she did on her own without the rest of the band. You can listen to the Tough and Lovely here, as Lara doesn’t seem to have her own web site.
Brainbow (link) (another link): What hasn’t already been said about Brainbow by better critics than I? They were incredible, which is pretty neat-o for an instrumental band that looks like Vikings who have been on vacation too long. They sounded great, they held the crowd in the palm of their hands. I really wish I saw them play with Blueprint.
Fly Union (link): This was one of the worst rap groups I’ve ever seen or heard. Unimaginative, derivative, unoriginal, boring. At one point their DJ simply slid in an M.I.A. CD and hit play. I swear to god I am not making that up. The organizers would have been better off resurrecting the Columbus Mob’s carcass and putting them on stage. Columbus Alive should be seriously questioning why they put these guys on their “Bands to Watch” list.
Great Plains: Ron House’s newest (actually, oldest) endeavor. Great Plains was House’s band before the Slave Apartments, back in the ’80s. Before watching (and enjoying) Great Plains play, I hadn’t noticed just how much an influence Keith Morris (of Black Flag) had on old Ron. Which is both odd and sad on my part, as I’ve seen Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments more than a couple times and love early Black Flag. Meh, shit happens I suppose. Anyway, for looking like he’s 100 years old, the Old Man still has more fire in his left pinky finger than most front men have in their entire bodies.
El Jesus de Magico (link): El Jesus de Magico… I’m not sure what to say. Darlings of the Columbus music press and Donewaiting.com, El Jesus de Magico sounds ridiculously good. Although the singing tends to sound like someone yelling unintelligible gibberish. All the members of the band are fun to watch; interestingly enough, the singer/frontman is probably the least fun to watch. Although I did like how he timed his thrashing with the cymbals. Also, i KNOW I’ve seen the young lady who plays bass somewhere else. Is she in another band?
Times New Viking (link): Ok, I suck. This is one of those bands whom I’ve been meaning to see for years and just never got around to it. Now they are blowing up and this was their last show in Columbus before going on tour all over the place. Fuck. Oh, and of course I missed seeing them again this time.
Deadsea (link) (another link): I vow, right here right now, that I will see both Times New Viking and Deadsea before I die. And as a side-vow I pledge to be sober enough to remember seeing them!
