Homegrown Blog 2008

So you gotta follow this link to see Chris Monroe’s great Homegrown cartoons:

Perfect Duluth Day

but that’s okay. All is forgiven, as long as the drawings exist and can be seen. We are indeed all in this together . . . .
[montage of 60s music . . . ]

The apron fashion show was over when I got the Red Star for the Tangier 57 gig on Saturday, but Thurston Howell V was still wearing a fetching apple-print number. The Professor had enjoyed his–"makes you feel like a Mason!"–but soon the domestic loinclothes were forgotten in the swirling myths of this band’s backstory, backbeat, and horn backing.

The Red Star was packed with hip educators and their fans. We were grateful for the 57′s venturing above and beyond the call of Homegrown duty–they did not one hour, not two hours, but three hours of wild improvisation and keyboard tweaking. Plus the final two CDs of the trilogy promised last winter are out and available, we could take some Tangier home.

After the last Sun-Ra-reminiscent longheld chord finished resounding, we crossed the hall to the Brewhouse, where Ryan Van Slooten sang singer/songwriter things that may have been good, at half the volume. Upstairs I could actually begin to hear the music, rather than being distracted by the vibration of the small bones in my skull, but even there the volume was way high. Not sure why ballad-style music needs to rearrange viscera to be genuine, but hey . . .

Then on to the Twins for the Very People, happy for the dry air, and happy for all the crowds flowing up and down the streets, the trolley zipping merrily along, the city being a city.

And the Very People were a gas, a timewarp band whose funk matched the funky Twins, a timewarp bar if there ever was one (though the electronic dartboards struck a false note–25 years ago those darts would have been pointy). The danceable beat the People laid down was just starting to be used, the brick house just starting to be built, when they quit and made room for the next band. They’d be a most excellent act to spend the whole evening sweating to.

That’s one of the great things about HG: you find out what to listen to the rest of the year. It’s an incentive, people, to keep going out.

To put it bluntly… I’m running outta time… and just want to type this up so that I can shower and go have my ears blasted by some grand ole local talent!! So here you go… quick impressions and a few quotes from today’s Friday Night Band versus Saturday Night Band kick ball extravaganza held at Chester Bowl. For the second time in as many years, Friday has made Saturday their… um… maids of honor. I don’t remember the score… does anybody? Let’s just say that it was Friday 7, Saturday 6, ok? Noteable scores… Lefty scored the games first, noteworthy since he turned 35 TODAY!!

Kris Monroe was retelling the time when she and Starfire drove the "Starfire Van" to Target to purchase the ball… Starfire mentions "Maybe I better get two?", so he does… Arriving to the park, he throws out the ball… from nowhere, Dierckens dog "Stella" pounces and immediately punctures the first ball!! "STELLLLL-LLLLA!!!!!!"

Chad Lyons (Bo Bandit) of Accleratii whips his PBR into the infield, "I’ll recycle that later…". He walks to the pitchers mound and flicks his cig… "Hey!! Would one of you hippies take this cig butt home for me?"

I ask Burley which team Lefty was playing for… "He’s w those Friday mo-fo’s… He sucks!" Trash talk. It’s all about the trash talk people…

"Look at those Zubaz that guys rockin’!! He’s like a shitty Dusty Olson!!" – Jason Cork

Looking at the mass of humanity on the field for the Friday team, Cork says "There’s so many people on the field that literally, the ball cannot touch the ground". It was true. There was something like 113 rockers on the Friday team.

Looking up at the sun, Donny Ness… "It’s a Homegrown miracle". When I started writing it down, he was quick to point out that it’s been said before, and he wasn’t the first to claim it. However, my undies were still wet. I was glad to see the sun. Rich Mattson? He showed up in Duck boots.

Mid-game. Chad Lyons was in trouble on the mound. Heiko comes out, and calls upon the veteran Lefty to replace… "No No, I’ve got a strong arm!!" Lyons pleads. Heiko leaves him in for the remainder of the game.

Walking off the field towards the first base line… they’ve got dogs, brats and chips… I heard a fan mention "Strangely, I think that Saturday has the momentum"…

As Saturday take the field, someone taunts "Say hello to your demise!!" Little did he realize that Friday would humiliate them for the second year in a row…

On the subject of game conduct…it was claimed that the game began to get out of control after a key ruling by umpire Rick Boo… "Interference is ok", he proclaims, regarding the legalilty of blocking the baserunner as they traverse the bases…

After the stunning defeat of the Saturday team, winning pitcher Chad Lyons runs to the right field puddle, and begins lapping like a dog. Really. Mindy (The Keep Aways) grabs her throw-away camera and rushes to take a photo. She slips and slips and slips and sploosh… into the mud scum queen!! Not quite in the puddle… but still a full wet plop. Looking Mind in the eyes as I grab her by the ankles… "I’m sorry… I’m sorry… " I tell her. She begs "No No…". As I drag her directly through the puddle… I tell her that I have no choice. I have to do this. Yes. When she grabbed my PBR and poured it all down my back… well. It was deserved. And then we laughed and laughed.

I brought my step ladder to the game, in order to get some good "sky-cam" shots… Lyons was on top of the ladder at the end of the game… yammering on about something blah blah blah. Cork would have none of it. Ran over and pushed him off the ladder. It was funny. But he broke my ladder. Bummer. Later, when I was carrying the injured ladder off to the car… I was taunted "We want a batter… not a broken ladder!!" Good stuff

Paul Lundren, the losing manager of the Saturday team… "In a game like this, there is no winner, only a degree of loser…" and then went on to complain about the out of order batters in the last few innings by the Friday team… "Major cheater heads".

Now. Go listen to the music. Peace.

Homegrown Friday – May 02, 2008

Mandatory Team Practice	Smokin’ Brad Nelson

It’s homegrown. It’s Friday. Where does it start? The same place that it always starts, of course… the "Mandatory Team" Practice… The annual Duluth running trails versus Duluth Homegrown… This year… cold driving rain greeted the four of us… only Jason Cork, Chris Godsey, Brad Nelson and I were able to muster the courage (stupidity??) to take on the challenge… Due to an in-flight schedule change, rather than run round and round on the trails, we headed straight down to the "Bitter Spills" gig at the Fetus. It’s really too bad that the gig was so poorly attended… Rich and the alt-country sound down…

The Undesireables	Seething Crowd – The Undesireables

After an intimate dinner over at Smokin’ Brad Nelson’s joint, we headed out. Even though we had better intentions… the first act of the night was the punk set of "The Undesireables" at Teatro Zuccone. To say that the crowd was enthusiastic would… um… understate?

Southwire @ Carmody’s	Ben Larson of Southwire

I’ll have to admit that I have come way way late to Southwire… I missed their debut at last years Homegrown, and don’t any valid excuse for missing them since then… I have always loved music in the style and beat of Jerree Small. As for the Crew (Crew Jones)… well… we all know… they’re brilliant. What happens if you blend the hip-hop with the folk? Holy shit people… let’s just say that it has been a WASTED year for me… Why did it take me this long to hear them for the first time??? If you ever ever have the chance… GET THERE!! You need to hear this group LIVE!! Even though the sound always SUX at Carmody’s (sorry Eddie and Rick… love you guys… hate the set up… If you’re not directly in front of the speaker, you can’t hear, and if you’re directly in front of the speaker, it’s just too damn loud), I was totally blown away by the sound. Blown. Away. Now if Jerree could only arrive on time…

Wormsley Common Gang	Wormsley Common Gang

Wormsley Common Gang? Another crowd pleasing fist pumping punk show at the Zuccone… Loud. Cool. Pleasing.

The Batteries	Ride the Homegrown Trolley!!

After… we walked it over to "The Batteries" at Luce’. I love the Batteries…Whenever I get the chance to listen, it always seems to remind of Lloyd Cole?  I like Lloyd Cole. But when it was to go, where was that trolley? Don’t they know that it’s raining? It’s not like we needed the trolley… but stress fractures (not mine) and walking and standing… well… if you have a trolley… ride the trolley… so we did. Back to Zuccone for "The Keep Aways"…

 
The Keep Aways play Zuccone

We’ve already established that the punkers and Zuccone were totally kickin’ it for Friday night… but if you show up with boots like these… the message is clear… get your dance on, or someones gettin’ their ass kicked. Did you pick up their new cd at the show? Get down to the Fetus and pick it up!!

Acceleratti	Naughty America? I go to the NorShore to read the articles… I mean… to listen to the MUSIC!!

Why does it seem completely and totally appropriate that there are strippers upstairs and "Acceleratti" downstairs at the NorShore/Orpheum? Daisy Duke would be proud… I’m running out of time… I want to put up a few noteable quotes from the kickball… and still get out for more music… what else? Ol’ Yeller was stellar at the Quinlan’s… got to Luce’ early… ordered a wrangler pizza… took a break… dug the Giljunko… loved the fan who said "That is the coolest thing I have ever done… Dude!! I got to sing on stage with Giljunko!!" And finally… partied with the hippies during the fullhouse Turtles show…

Coolest funniest quote of the night? When a young man (junior high, early senior high) came up to Donny Ness during the all-ages show… "My mom voted for you!!". He was very happy. Proud. Donny and I laughed. We agreed.

Ahh Friday… A night to remember… but wait… Saturday? NO RAIN!!!!!

{ Do you need to see BIGGER pictures?? }

With the rain pouring down outside, the funky hangout was welcoming. The Encounter is a club for kids. They have an indoor skateboard park and a coffee bar as well as a stage. The sound was pretty good, especially compared to the somewhat makeshift systems at some of the venues. The Enncounter is run by religious people but they don’t seem narrowminded; the clientele are various and interesting, with lots of kinds of hair and dramatic clothing. And the wall grafitti’s pretty good.

I caught La Foret and String Cinema there, and was impressed. These are young bands, but both have musicians who’ve played instruments for years and who are obviously musically sophisticated about a broad range of sound.

So both bands are very young (players range from 16 to 24) and have great skills. But they couldnt be more different. La Forets East-High-School students derive from Eno by way of Low with a touch of less-depressed Joy Division; their slow, resonant arpeggios and unison thirds and fourths provide a good setting for bandleader Dan Rosens lyrics. Jonathan Halquist’s on keyboards for the band, although he plays classical violin very well indeed (Joan, his mother, plays with the Symphony; I remember seeing him play his Suzuki pieces as a toddler). Guthrie Cunningham was on drums, and Ned Netzel was sitting in on bass; their usual bass guy, Jon Anderson, is out of town.

Dan and Guthrie of La Foret

Jonathan Halquist

Their set was well received–the floor was full, and people paid close attention to this subtle music. Instrumentation opens up for lyrics, and then will close like the Red Sea over them, awash in texture.

String Cinema, who played next, used to be the Melodramatics, which describes them well. With virtuoso electrified viola in the talented hands of Alex Galle-From, a really excellent keyboard player in Ranelle Johnson, and good bass and drums to back lead singer Sean Henderson and lead guitar Joseph Anderson, their musicality is impressive.

All the chops arent quite adding up to a sound yet, but its just around the corner–if they can figure out which way to turn.

Sean with String Cinema

Their ironic passion is appealing, but its self-contradiction is tricky. Their hearts are on their sleeves, these guys, but it’s possible the hearts are plastic. The passion in the music is real; these are real musicians. But the irony of the pop postures erodes this impression, although it’s fun in its own right. It’ll be interesting to see what they do next.

Thursday night at Burrito Union the Homegrown edition of Starfire Lounge kicked off, as it has for several years now, with a one-song performance from the Lake Superior Cacophonic Choir.  As usual, the singing was out of tune and the song (Henry Phillips’ "On the Shoulders of Freaks") was completely tasteless.  In other words, it ruled.

"We rock it for the Lord"… Horse & Rider, running as a three piece punk band layed down music and witticisms in equal doses… "This last song got us rated number five on a radio station in California"… claiming that they didn’t have any new material, and that they hadn’t played together since last years Homegrown… They were tight and well received… "Man Heat’s up next… They play naked"…

Just inside the door… there was no mistaking where we were… hip-hop hip-hop "How you doin’ sweaty ni**er?"… From the mouths of babes… Again… the room was full. Rather than hips moving to the indie/alt sounds… they were bumping grinding and fist pumping to Kritical Kontacts poetry and well timed vocals… I laughed each time I heard one of the emcees say "This is our last song" or "We’ve got time for one more" or "This is my favorite song off our new cd!" They didn’t need to tease… noone was leaving… they would stay as long as they jammed…

I took the advice of my pal Karin Kraemer ("It’s just a bridge; get over it") and hung out at the Red Mug Thursday night. ‘Twas packed, with a visual art show upstairs and down, and three acoustic acts playing that evening. I meant to stay for just the 7:00 show, (Andy) Gable & Galynn (White), then go to the Thirsty Pagan for [whatever it was that I missed at the Thirsty Pagan], but the Red Mug’s atmosphere was so delightful that there was no reason not to see all the SSWG’s* on the schedule. The sound mix was never quite right, but who cares.

I’ve been getting over that bridge a lot lately. I’m in a superb show at the Shack dinner theatre right now, but our performances keep getting canceled due to lackluster ticket sales. They tell us it’s because of the economy and because of being in Superior. Apparently the economy is fat and happy on Hammond and on Broadway, but crappy on Belknap. Go figure. Must be like rural cell phone coverage or something. But the point is, Superior is cool and there’s fun stuff to do and it’s like 10 minutes away. The Red Mug crowd was at least 80% Minnesotan, and they were not only putting money into the Wisconnie economy, but were that mix of people that people like us are talking about: our very own Creative Class, performing the Warhol Economy density experiments like rats in a maze. Everyone knows someone who knows someone. And we like art and culture.

I had an involuntary night off from making art, so I took my density elsewhere. Burning question: why does wine served in a real glass taste better than wine served in a clear plastic cup?

*singer songwriter w/ guitar

Tucked into the corner at the Red Mug in Superior, the sounds of acoustic Homegrown provided a needed reprieve from the wind Thursday night.

Three acts took the stage, and I only caught part of the last, but Jessica Dee proved reason enough to drag myself out of my cozy apartment.

What I might love nearly most about acoustic performances — besides the soft power of someone standing in front of you with nothing but their voice and a guitar –is the immediate intimacy created between the artist and the audience.

One of Jessica’s lyrics seemed to say it rather well. "The light grows dim and the world it swallows them whole."

I’ll admit I felt swallowed for the near hour I sat watching her, though anyone with the ability to be that vulnerable in front of strangers almost always has me captured. She seemed shy in between songs, but when she sang her voice was full and beautiful… and I liked her lyrics.

Two come to mind. "There was no music but they danced, they danced, they danced anyway." and "I want to ride naked through Times Square like a cowboy" (or something like that)… i mean really who doesn’t, right??