Rancid @ The Myth 7/28

An evening in the suburbs with Rancid:











I suppose you would say this was the most hardcore punk show I have ever seen. The circle pit was huge and a little scary. The myth was huge and more than a little scary. Rancid was awesome, even if the only songs I really knew were "Ruby Soho" and "Time Bomb". These guys have been around for a long time and save for a new drummer in '06, its the same lineup as when they started in 1991. Impressive. It was a packed house with lots or long long time fans, and there was a pretty solid crowd for openers MXPX.

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings @ MN State Fair 8/22

Sharon Jones got soul. Ms. Jones got so much soul, in fact, that people often compare her to James Brown. Could there be a more a more flattering compliment to someone who was born in the same town as the Godfather of Soul and grew up imitating his moves? No, there could not be a more flattering, or apt for that matter, comparison.

After the Dap Kings, the dynamite eight piece backing band that Amy Winehouse stole for a tour and a record, warmed up the crowd with about a half hour of groove inducing instrumentals, Sharon Jones was introduced as the star of the show. She immediately had the audience at the Minnesota State Fair's Leinie Lodge on board, saying she had a blast at the night before's free performance, also at the fair.

After summoning a few young women from the crowd to be her backup dancers for a song or two, Ms. Jones dismissed them and brought on a stream of young men who were thrilled to be onstage with her. Being a former Riker's Island prison guard, Sharon was easily able to escort an uninvited young man off stage until he was properly requested onstage.

A portion of the show was a James Brown tribute, with a medley of his songs and some mighty fancy footwork:




Here's a shot from the encore:




The MN State Fair is a fantastic place to see free, outdoor music, especially when it's this spectacular an act. Nothing beats relaxing with some great music after a day of pronto pups and bacon on a stick and various other things on a stick. Next weekend, the Fair brings us the brilliant Trampled by Turtles and the always hard rockin, hard drinkin White Iron Band. Both bands are playing free shows both nights.

The Jones Gang @ Trocaderos 8/13

Don't ask me how it's even possible, but I think this may have been the first time I have ever seen The Jones Gang. The fantastic first set started with a funky "Shakedown Street" followed by a sick "Walkaround" jam then back to "Shakedown" before transitioning into "Samson and Delilah".


Second set included "Crazy Fingers", "Good Lovin" and "Wharf Rat", and "Casey Jones", all classics.

Stu Allen, who is an amazing guitarist and sounds a lot like Jerry, has the most impressive of credentials, a full time gig with Melvin Seals and the Jerry Garcia Band. The rest of the band was great as well, with two drummers and an outstanding female backup singer. Chris Castino of the Big Wu sat in for a few songs during second set.

It was a great night of music and I would absolutely recommend The Jones Gang to any Grateful Dead fan.

Charlie Parr @ Pizza Luce Block Party 8/9

Charlie Parr kicks ass. That's just the way it is. His music is original and nostalgic and modern and vintage all at once. The covers he does of traditional folk/blues numbers by the likes of Robert Johnson are like insightful re-tellings of old tales of life in America. He is a rare and genuine dude. This sunny Saturday afternoon, Charlie Parr was playing a modest sized super hip block party hosted the good folks at Pizza Luce.
Although there were several other bands playing this afternoon and evening, Charlie stands out for the sheer simplicity of his presentation-a bearded middle aged guy with an old looking (but totally bad ass) guitar sits on a folding chair and sings songs about drinkin'. That's happening today, but that guy would have been appreciated by music fans at any point in this nation's history, I'm sure of it.

Today Charlie was accompanied by a young man with a washboard who occasionally played the strings of Charlie's guitar with little mallets as Charlie played. Superb.





The pizza was delicious and the beer was Summit0 always delicious. There were several other interesting acts throughout the day, including The Hawaii Show, a band composed of four inflatable guitarists, a young woman playing fake keyboards, a pretend drummer and a creative dude singing/lip synching the pre recorded show.

God Johnson Unzipped @ Trocaderos 8/2

Although it had only been a week since I last heard God Johnson play a crowded Saloon Stage as the final band of the 10,000 Lakes Festival, it felt like longer. Since the end of the Wednesday night rock show a mere month and a half ago, GJ has been playing fewer shows in order to concentrate on throwing down these occasional outlandish productions to feature some kind of theme, like Unzipped. The idea was to cover the entire "Sticky Fingers" record and do it in an extravagant and entertaining way. They succeeded in that. Like God Johnson's recreation of Talking Heads' "Stop Making Sense" a few months ago, tonight's lineup was a bit different than the standard God Johnson and included a spot on lead singer.


"Squirms II" opened the first set, and the band sounded terrific. The epic "Wrath" followed, and the simply worded yet triumphant "Size of the Fish" was next. A funky as ever "Electric Shoes" and an enthusiastic Talking Heads number towards the end of the set met an enthusiastic response, and soon we were all looking forward to the spectacle of the "Sticky Fingers" set.

Rochester artist Chuck Hues, who beautified the 10K grounds even more this year and designed the kick ass t-shirts was in charge of decorating Troc's for the event. A great big banner reading "UNZIPPED" hung behind the band, speckled with Rolling Stones icons.



















GJ burst out of the gate just around midnight with a smokin "Brown Sugar" that really set the place off. That opening riff never sounded better. A fantastic pace was set, and the place was putty in the hands of the Mick Jagger sounding lead singer, Steve Davern. Davern, an old bandmate of Jason Fladager at Winona State University pre Big Wu, masterfully captured the cocky sway and vocal stylings of one of Rock and Roll's most prominent and feminine front men. As the music began, hundreds of balloons dropped from the ceiling and bounced around for most of the song. The set featured Kevin Sinclair of GJ on saxophone, and a couple other dudes with horns as well.


"Can't You Hear Me Knocking" was another highlight of dirty Stones rock, and as its studio version is seven minutes-plus long, this was the place during the set for extended improvisation, which the "Unzipped" band took full advantage of.

"You Gotta Move" was appropriately twangy and bluesy, and the horns on "Bitch" were dynamite. Of course everyone sang along a bit during "Dead Flowers" and before we knew it, they had flown through the 50 minute or so record. We still had another rockin' set of GJ to go.


God Johnson's next rock spectacular will be October 25, when they take on Led Zeppelin IV, complete with "Stairway to Heaven".