少年ナイフ a.k.a. Shonen Knife played 7th Street Entry last Friday. It was the most fun show I've seen in a long long while.

7th Street Entry is a very good place to see Shonen Knife. It's a fairly small club with a low close stage. Unless you flew to Japan or something, you couldn't do better for seeing them.

The Blind Shake

The Blind Shake were great. They are a local band. They are, simply, a great high-energy live band. I'd definitely go see them again. They addressed this issue after coming onstage and before starting up: "We're from here."…

Screaming Females played to a (what the fuck?) one-third full house at the Triple Rock on a Friday night.

First band The Pinch played enjoyable surf punk. They've obviously been in other bands before, but this was their first perfomance as this band. The frontwoman played driving traditional rhythm on a Danelectro. Her blue dress and brown cowboy boots gave the impression that their surfing beach is actually out on the prairie somewhere. The keyboard player does Exene-style discordant singing.

A fuzzed-up distortion-pedal psych-rock revival is in full swing now. The (relatively) cleaner Dick Dale or Link Wray tone is…

Mon 3 Oct – Wild Flag, yellowfever

Wild Flag does not want to just take their old devoted fan bases down from the shelf, dust them off, crank the wind-up knobs in their backs, and set them to jumping about and singing along and such.

I took myself down from the shelf, dusted myself off, cranked the wind-up knob in my back, and set to jumping about and singing along and such. Guy next to me, front row center, was doing the same.

The singing along took me by surprise. The album had been out for, what, three weeks? "You…

I think it's about a theological question, and illness as metaphor, and politics.

It's got a pretty good spikey Go4 dance thing going, until it starts thinking about it and gets the blues, and then it makes fun of itself. Then it kind of wobbles its way back to a bit of redemption. Like I said, it's about politics.

At SendSpace (60 MB).

1. Poster Children - This Town Needs A Fire.
2. The Thermals - A Pillar of Salt.
3. Magnapop - Emergency.
4. The Soviettes - (Do) The Stagger.
5. Gang of Four - Natural's Not In It.…

Take a simple guitar riff. Slow it down. Fuzz it up. Repeat it. Repeat it lots. Make it all dreamy and swirly.

Whatever else you might say about it: it's a great rock 'n roll sound. The sound is nearly defining of a certain style of grunge-influenced alterna/indie rock.

Put in some imagery. Insects biting you. Electric towers. Purple flowers. Candles being blown out. Blood. Vomiting. What have you.

Make it metaphor. Make it metaphor for intimacy, isolation, love, loss. Death. All your big issues.

I'd have to single out Lucinda for the metaphor prize. Especially the use I'm…

Getting There

I ordered a subcompact, the rental car company gave me a Monster Truck. Not exactly my preferred parking in Boston vehicle.

http://ingrid.washingtonwatchdog.org/img/x/2006-08-19/monster-truck.jpg

The Show Time

Show not doors at 6:30, which caught me by surprise. Also a bit harsh on the opening band, who probably hadn't yet got their coffee and breakfast.

The Riverboat Gamblers

A straight ahead rock 'n roll band. Enjoyed them.

All the teeshirts are black, all the guitars are black. This is not, like, "design". It's just what they got.

http://ingrid.washingtonwatchdog.org/img/x/2006-08-19/rbg.jpg

He (left) wants to be your Joey Ramone. He also wants to jump…

After the show, a big group from the messageboard waited together for the band to come out.

I had a 5:15 a.m. flight home. I kept moving back how long I could wait considering travel conditions. Corin came outside at maybe 3:05.

I just stepped up said I've got a taxi to the airport I had to catch. She said "awww". I said I planned to sleep for days when I got home, she said me too. I said it has all been just an awesome experience, and she said thanks. Then I said a quick goodbye to the messageboard…

The Line

After the first show, I went to bed at 3:30. Got up at 5:15. Walked over a river bridge and across town. Enjoyed the "Welcome Red Hot Chili Peppers fans" sign outside the Holiday Inn.

It was always exciting, that make the last turn to the club, see if anyone is already there moment. Sharon and Todd beat me by 10 minutes, and another group first at 5:30. Props to them.

Met Patrick from Maine I sent PDX tickets to, he was about three people below me in line. Had a beer with him not much before the…

Getting There

Thursday was a bad day for travel.

Tim made it from Manchester, but with stress and delays. I finally arrived at my hotel around 3:00 a.m.

The Line

Our group first on line, Sharon and crew second.

Andy flying from San Francisco, Korina and Nadya after a 14-hour drive from San Francisco, Tim flying from the U.K., all showed up at around the same time maybe 6:15 a.m. I was the slacker, a failed hotel wakeup call at 5:00, got there maybe 8:00, plus Celeste at around 8:30.

http://ingrid.washingtonwatchdog.org/img/sk/2006-08-11/pdx-line-830.jpg
Photo: Celeste. Todd, Tim, Andy at 8:30 a.m.

The…

This was the best and greatest Sleater-Kinney show I have seen. Therefore the best show by anyone anyplace ever. I'm not expecting it to ever be bettered.

Front Corin-side especially was just madly moving.

New York was always the most important and most meaningful of the shows for me anyways, more so than Portland. It was kind of what I was expecting, except more.

A mostly Woods show, but Turn It On/One More Hour second encore, it's what I would have asked for.

Here is Shomi, the woman with the awesome sk tattoo on her arm, sitting on the lemon…