How was your White Stripes weekend?

Photo by Jennie Mork

I was "staying local" Friday and Saturday nights, as they sometimes say in the music journalism biz, so I did not catch either White Stripes show.

But I have heard several reports, and one worthy of passing along comes from the impossibly titled local blog If I Were A 16 Year Old Girl With The Ability To Predict The Future And A Habit of Falling For Rock Stars.

Here's her review of Friday's and Saturday's show. She also includes a link to a great set of photos by Jennie Mork.

Today's top search term: "maplewood myth"

Today's top referrer to howwatheshow.com is Google.com with the search phrase "maplewood myth." (We're currently the #3 link for that phrase after Ticketmaster and 93x.)

Speaking of Myth, looks like Billy Idol has been booked for a show at the new Maplewood nightclub September 18th. Doors are at 6PM for an 8PM, 18+ show. There's no opener currently scheduled, still worth it, in my opinion, for 25 quid.

Tickets go on sale through Ticketmaster Saturday morning at 10AM, though I doubt this show will be a quick sellout -- if it sells out at all. Reports from Idol's SXSW performances earlier this year were mixed to favorable, and his new CD Devil's Playground, which I reviewed in this post in April, had more than one pleasant moment.

I'd go. But that's the same night as Sufjan Stevens in the First Avenue Main Room with The Sights next door in the Entry, two shows I hope would sellout.

Live from the Hex - Come on down, get some swag, and join the MMA

Rayne at the 89.3 Desk

It's still early, and there's plenty of time to join us down at the Hex.

Rayne is on hand from 2005 MMA sponsors 89.3 The Current with swag, including 89.3 coasters with music word games on the back, stickers and magnets.

And Marisa Collins from Sound Unseen is here tonight helping out the MMA distributing and accepting ballots. (Yes, you can sign up for membership right here at the bar tonight. $25 is good for a one year membership. See the MMA website for membership benefits.)

DJ Jake Rudh began spinning tunes early. After running through nearly all of the Olympic, er The Hopefuls CD, he took a little break with a little "Orgasm Addict" by The Buzzcocks and "Song From Under the Floorboards" by Magazine before hitting the Mark Mallman ("Still Wasted.") The music is great, as always. Now playing: "Senses Working Overtime" by XTC.

The 1976 Michael Anderson film, Logan's Run (one of my favorites) is currently being projected on the new Hexagon video screen, though Kate Galloway promised she would be bringing last year's Sound Unseen local video compilation to show later. And speak of the devil...

Photos will show up on the photo blog as they are uploaded.

Transmission salutes those about to rock... and hip-hop....and bluegrass, etc. at an MMA pre-awards show party

MMA nominee DJ Jake Rudh and Transmission honor the 2005 Minnesota Music Academy nominees tonight at the Hexagon Bar as they host a listening party spinning nominated tracks.

HowWasTheShow (an MMA nominee for the third straight year) will be on hand to do live photo blogging, and we know from experience that MMA affairs are some of the most illustrious drinking events of the year, so be sure to dose up on vitamin B12 before heading down to the club.

It all takes place tonight starting at 9:30 p.m. tonight at the Hexagon Bar (2600 27th Avenue South.)

TRANSMISSION also celebrates the release of BRMC's latest release "Howl" and will Jake will have CD's and posters as well as the usual swag to give away.

The 2005 MMA Awards will take place Wednesday, September 21st, at First Avenue. And remember, your 2005 MMA ballot is due by Saturday, August 27th. Download it here.

Picked to Clicked 2005

The City Pages 2005 "Picked to Click" votes were due today. I had an easy time with my first four votes, and a hell of a time deciding on the fifth.

Here's what I ended up with:

Picked to Click 2005

1. Chris Koza
   
2. Fort Wilson Riot
   
3. Fitzgerald
   
4. JoAnna James
5. Chariots

The toughest part was deciding what is "new." For example, I would have have liked to vote for The Deaths, but I was thinking their CD came out too soon to count (it was out before 2004's Picked to Click came out.) I see Scholtes might vote for them, and they are likely to still do well without my vote. (See Pete's likely picks and his handy summary of past winners going all the back back to '91.)

I also wanted to vote for Ouija Radio, despite the fact that they've been around for years. During the past 12 months I have seen them get better and better with nearly every show and more than ever this might be the year something really big happens for them.

It seemed like a bit of a trend this past year, that bands who had been around a while did tremendous new things that brought them back to the forefront of the scene. I spent a lot of time seeing shows by old bands with great new CDs (Vicious Vicious, Ashtray Hearts, etc.)

There's a big tendency to overthink this one, I think. I look forward to seeing the results of the poll.

Dan Israel now Dad Israel - Israel becomes first time father and plays gig same day

You probably gathered as much from David Rachac's review of his show at the Fitzgerald Theatre on Friday that Dan Israel and his wife Lisa are now the proud parents of a brand spankin' new baby boy.

I once called Dan Israel "the energizer bunny of the Twin Cities music scene," but I'm not exactly sure what to call him after he kept his commitment to open for Iris DeMent little more than 12 hours after his first child, Isaac David Israel was born.

Click the link for Dan's personal (well, as personal as it can be when you post it to the front of your web page with a tag of BIG NEWS!) account of the big day. With photos by Steve Cohen!

Dan, from all of us at HowWasTheShow, Mazel Tov!

TCMusicWiki! Twin Cities self-service Music calendar Launched

Are all your gigs listed on the TCMusicWiki! Concert Calendar? If not, don't get mad, don't email the site admin asking to have them added, just visit the calendar and do it yourself.

Adding an event isn't as easy as taking candy from a baby, but it also isn't rocket science (I managed to figure out the formatting and add a few events in a matter of minutes.) Instructions and formatting guidelines are provided.

The calendar was launched by Oren Goldberg of KFAI's Local Sound Department (which can be heard Fridays from 7:30 - 9:00 PM at 90.3 FM in Minneapolis and 106.7 FM in St. Paul.) OGpresents.com also includes information on how to get radio play on LSD.

The Big-Ticket's preliminary report on Gogol Bordello's Fine Line performance

Mr. Gilbert has filed a preliminary report from the Gogol Bordello show at the Sunday night at the Fine Line. Take a look at it here along with a great photo of the "much sweaty debauchery" and a temporary share of an MP3 of "Think Locally, F**k Globaly."

HowWasTheShow attended the April 28th, 2005 Gogol Bordello show, but did not attend last night's show due to a parental visit. Fortunately, The Big Ticket promises a full report soon, so keep your eye out at http://the-big-ticket.blogspot.com.

Pizza Luce Block Party Remembered

Christy Hunt of Ouija Radio leaps from her guitar amp at the Pizza Luce block party. Photo by David de Young

The crowd continued to grow as the afternoon progressed at the Pizza Luce Block Party, and lines for the more 6 portapotties continued to do the same until the waits were sometimes a half hour or more. Some attendees discussed toilet line strategies, i.e. don't just pick the shortest line, pick the line with the most guys in it because it tends to move nearly twice as fast. (Ultimately I found a scooter ride down to The Country Bar was actually the quickest way to relieve oneself legally.)

Ouija Radio wowed the crowd, getting even the little people (and by that I mean the toddlers in attendance) to dance. And I was lucky to capture an action shot of Christy Hunt leaping from her amp onto the stage, more gracefully than you would think possible for someone wearing white, high-heeled boots.

We spent the rest of our time divided between the stage and hanging out by the PBR tent drinking tall boys with Rex Sorgatz from MnSpeak.com and Melissa Maerz, former City Pages Music editor, now an associate editor at Spin Magazine, who was in town for the weekend. I also had the chance to meet Chuck Klosterman for the first time and chat a bit with him while standing in one of those long-ass portapotty lines.

I spoke briefly with Sean Tillman (aka Har Mar Superstar), who as I'd mentioned previously ("My Report From London - Bombed but not beaten") had performed a gig in London the night before the tube and bus bombings on July 7th. Apparently, at the same time I was trying (and failing miserably) to get into the city that morning, Tillman was finding it much easier to get out via cab to the airport to fly back to L.A. And though security was tighter, as might have been expected, he didn't face too much additional hassle due to the terrorist attacks.


Har Mar Superstar checks the ID of a lucky just-turned-18-year-old before granting her a snog.

Har Mar Superstar, of course, headlined the Luce block party this year, and his ever-growing popularity was obvious from the nearly un-navigable crowd toward the front of the stage by the time he went on just after 9 PM.

"What's up Eden Prairie?," Har Mar asked the crowd, tacking on shouts out to Chaska and Blue Earth as well. And of course Owatonna. "Owatonna. That's where I'm from," he boasted, adding smugly, "And look at me now."

Early in his set, a young fan clambered onto the stage and was about to start dancing when the beat abruptly ended. Har Mar quipped about the guy's bad timing, saying, "That was a waste of a stage invasion, man."

Har Mar's top notch set included favorities such as "Body Request," "DUI," "Power Lunch," "Cut Me Up" (the song he wrote with Karen O), and "EZ Pass." His voice was almost angelic on some of the sweeter, R&B numbers he performed. (Kudos to the Block Party crew for the overall good job on sound.)

To round out his Minnesota visit, Har Mar plans a 3 day tubing adventure (and adventure is probably an understatement) down the Cannon River. All are invited. For details see his website.

See more Har Mar photos as well as pictures of Die Electric! in the full set of HowWasTheShow Pizza Luce Block Party photos here.

Pizza Luce Block Party underway

The Hundred Flowers at the Pizza Luce Block Party today.

Music at the Pizza Luce Block Party got underway at noon today with Tony Paul, World Beat Music, tough for many music fans who closed down the pubs Friday night. But this weekend's schedule isn't busy just for the fans.

Mike Gunther, who performed just last night at the Nomad World Pub, was on stage at the corner of Lyndale and 32nd Street at 2 PM, followed up by The Hundred Flowers, who have not performed a gig in town since frontman Mark Landry moved to California some months back.

I rolled up on the Vespa to the strains of "Cocaine Nights," and the band certainly didn't seem the slightest bit rusty. The two guitar attack of Landry and Ryan Smith of the Melismatics (and sometimes 3 guitars when keyboard player Ben Bachman also picked up an axe) reminded me immediately just how good this band was when they appeared to disappear at the peak of their game. The current lineup is rounded out by bassist Kat Hixon and the ubiquitous Peter Anderson on drums.

At the time of writing Hundred Flowers website is AWOL, but I hope that this re-union show will be one of many to come.

Yet to play this afternoon are Traditional Methods, Melismatics, Ouija Radio, Midnight Evils and Har Mar Superstar. Get your tired buns down there. It's free!

See the photo gallery as it unfolds at http://www.flickr.com/photos/howwastheshow. Or submit your own photos by email to blood08bill@photos.flickr.com.

Live from the Nomad - The Hangups

The Hangups sound really good in this room tonight, warm and downright ethereal. Kudos to Tony Orsen, the soundman, for bringing out the best in all the bands tonight.

Live from the Nomad

We're live from the Nomad thanks to their free, high-speed wireless internet access. Mike Gunther has just finished playing. See photo above.

The Hangups are up next.

Earlier we were at the Entry for Melodious Owl (read the full review of that show here), First Avenue for the North vs. South warmup show and the Fine Line briefly for the DUNation 4th Anniversary Party. It's been a busy night. See photo below and full set at http://www.flickr.com/photos/howwastheshow

Melodious Owl releases debut CD and Har Mar Superstar debuts shaved head

Melodious Owl

Tonight

Melodious Owl celebrates the release of their Mark Mallman-produced debut full-length CD with two shows (5 PM All ages and 10PM drunk show) at the 7th Street Entry. (HowWasTheShow will be attending the early show and we should have pictures posted to the Photo Blog tonight. For this show, any any other you attend tonight you are welcome to submit your photos via camera photo or by any other means to blood08bill@photos.flickr.com. Just be sure to include the photo title in the subject line and a credit or brief description in the body of the email.)

Over in the First Avenue Main Room, The SPMC-sponsored North Vs. South bootcamp is having a Pre "battle" show to rally the Northern team and give the locals here a sampler of the Twin Cities local musical warriors. The show is from 6-10 pm and admission is $5. The festival takes place August 18-20 in Lawrence, Kansas. For more info on visit North v South II.

Participating bands include the Gleam, Ol' Yeller, New Vintage, John Ewing, Kruddler, Mike Nicoli, Mammy Nuns, Martin Devaney, Ben Hayter and the X-Rays, Rank Strangers, and the Magnolias. (HowWasTheShow plans to blog live from this event. Watch this space!)

As previously mentioned, DUNation.com's 4th Anniversary show takes place tonight at the Fine Line.

Also tonight, Jesse Lukes and Sam Keenan will provide an emotionally charged night of piano-based music at The Varsity Theatre.

Friends With Benefits CD Release Party #1 takes place at The Nomad World Pub featuring The Hang Ups, Mike Gunther and His Restless Souls, The Autumn Leaves and Romantica. More info on the Minor 7 Studios website.

Last but not least, Auto Body Experience celebrates a new CD release at the 3M Auditorium at the Minnesota History Center. 7:30 PM music time (345 Kellogg Blvd W. in St. Paul.) $10

Saturday


Har Mar Superstar at The Frying Pan NYC on 7/18/05 - Photo by Mark the Cobrasnake

The Pizza Luce Block Party will give you something to do instead of working on the yard and give you a chance to see if Har Mar's hair has started growing back yet. (See photo above and click here for the full set in his web gallery of the free show he played at The Frying Pan in NYC on July 18th sporting his new "look ma, no hair" look, and read a report on the gig here from our friends at Brooklyn Vegan.)

From 12:00 to 3:00 family friendly activities include face painting, sidewalk chalk, dunk tank, and moon walk.

The musical lineup, also kicking off at noon includes: Tony Paul, Rass Kwame & Ananse Mike Gunther & His Restless Souls, 100 Flowers, Traditional Methods, Melismatics, Heiruspecs, Die Electric!, Lili's Burlesque Revue, Ouija Radio, Midnight Evils, and will be headlined by Har Mar Superstar.

See the Pizza Luce website for band times. The event will take place rain or shine.

Friends With Benefits CD Release Party #2 takes place at The Triple Rock Social Club featuring The Deaths, Heavy Sleeper, The Idle Hands and Deep Pool .

Also Saturday night, Ben Weaver, Mike Gunther & his Restless Souls and Martin Devaney play the Turf Club and The Fifth Annual Brass Band Summit featuring Brass Messengers, Jack Brass Band and New Birth play The Cabooze.

Other news: Beck kicks off his US Tour in the Twin Cities on Monday, September 19th with a show at Roy Wilkins Auditorium at St. Paul Rivercentre. Tickets go onsale at 11 a.m. Saturday morning at tickemaster.com.

Magic Numbers sensitive about their weight

The Magic Numbers

In my own brief review of the Magic Numbers performance at the Oxegen Festival in Ireland last month, I expressed my thorough enjoyment of the band, tossing off parenthetically that "there ought to be more portly folk in rock and roll."

The Magic Numbers, known as one of the nicest bands playing the rock scene today, say they are used to comments about their weight, but when Richard Bacon introduced them recently on Britain's Top of The Pops (TOTP) by saying "What do you get when you put two brothers and two sisters in a band? A big fat melting pot of talent," it was a bit much for the band, and they walked out of the studio without performing.

XFM has the full story here.

Local media grows up: Industry and Rift mags turn 1, and DUNation.com turns 4!

Thursday night, Industry Magazine celebrates its one year anniversary with a party at Solera. The 21+ event opens at 8PM with a fashion show at 9PM. Tickets are $7 in advance, $10 at the door. Solera is located at 900 Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis. More details on Industry Magazine's Website.

Musical offerings: From 8PM to 2AM - a sampling of local Indie rock, hip-hop, and electronicka will be hosted by NEW MC and INDIGO and DJ BOOKA B.

Third Floor @ Solera:

The Royal We
Poorly Gorgous
Brice
Stereotype Click
Maria Isa
Mel Gibson and the Pants
Susandra
Kill the Vultures
Indigo

Rooftop @ Solera:

Alex Jarvis
Timmay
Misnomer
Bryan Gerrard
Daniel Paul
E-Tones

Also, from 9pm to midnight strike a pose, solo or with your friends in Industry's special photo booth. Favorites will appear in the October/November issue.



After a slight delay, Rift Magazine recently passed it's 1 year mark when it released Issue #6 of it's magazine at the end of July. The current issue includes articles about Voltage: Fashion Amplified and Old Time Music by HowWasTheShow/Rift/Seward Profile reporter Cyn Collins. Also inside are reviews of CD's by Mark Mallman, Mach Fox and The Deaths.

Rift is also nominated for a Minnesota Music Academy Award this year.




In 2005, HowWasTheShow turned 4 (or thereabouts), but we aren't the only music website turning 4 this year.

Help DUNation.com celebrate 4 years of promoting Twin Cities Hip Hop with a 4th Anniversary Show Friday, August 12th at The Fine Line Music Cafe. Doors are at 8PM for this 21+ event. Tickets are just $7. More info at http://www.dunation.com.

Who's Playing:

Kill the Vultures
Leroy Smokes
Musab
Knonam
DJ King Otto
Jimmy2Times
Cheap Cologne

HowWasTheShow? Ask mnstories.com

If you didn't make it down to Loring Park last night for The Walker Art Center's Music & Movies, Chuck Olson's daily video blog, Minnesota Stories (mnstories.com) has a report. Last night's festivities included musical guests Thunder In The Valley and the 1956 Nicholas Ray film Bigger Than Life as the cinematic feature.

We rocked the Humpty!

Sculpture by Kimber Fiebiger.

Click here or on the photo above for pictures from Joan of Art Gallery's Saturday night party.

Rock The Humpty! at the Joan of Art Gallery with live music tonight

Joan of Art Gallery, Minneapolis

If you've been crawling all over the Uptown Art Fair all day Saturday and still haven't gotten your fill by the time it closes at 7:30, never fear.

For one of the best bets in town later tonight, stop by the Joan of Art Gallery for a fundraiser to help expland their gallery for classroom space, community, outreach, yoga, and art classes.

The event takes place at Joan of Art (3020 East Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis) starting at 7 P.M. A donation of $7 is suggested. (Get directions.)

James Gould plays will play piano from 7-9 P.M.

Featured Artists include Kathryn Stemwedel, Tresse Neubauer and Kimber Fiebiger.

Bands starting at 9 P.M. include Our Danielles, The Early Effect, Delisle, Kopacz (solo), and Aviette.

HowWasTheShow will be on hand to run the P.A. and of course provide reports.

For more info see http://www.mentalcontagion.com/kopacz

Elliott Smith Tribute - live

Adam from Friends Like These has nearly broken our hearts, finishing off with "Harvest Moon" by Neil Young. And it's 5 minutes to 2.

John Solomon takes the stage with 5 minutes to spare. After quieting down the help who are reminding us relentlessly that the bar closes in 5 minutes he breaks into song. And it's beautiful. But we're running low on time and must post....."I'm in love with the world through the eyes of a girl who's still around the morning after."

Elliott Smith Tribute - We're live at the Hex

Jeaneen Gauthier has one more song, then Friends Like These or "Friends Like Those" as she called just called them them jokingly, are up next.

It's difficult to type as the band including Janey Winterbauer and Jacque Wait has just broken into Elliott Smith's "Sunshine." But that's the price you have to pay for live coverage.

Watch the photostream as it happens at http://www.flickr.com/photos/howwastheshow/

Earlier in the evening Vince Caro and his band wowed us.

HowWasTheShow Nominated for Minnesota Music Academy Award

The ballot for the 2005 Minnesota Music Academy Awards (The organization's 25th Annual!) was released yesterday, and HowWasTheShow is honored to have been nominated in the Music Media category for the 3rd straight year. Other 2005 nominees include the City Pages, Rift Magazine, Pulse Twin Cities and misplacedmusic.org.

Download your ballet here.

To vote, simply join the MMA for a yearly membership fee of $25. Download the membership form here.)

Ballots must be post-marked by August 27th.

For more information, visit www.minnesotamusicacademy.org.

Live from the Turf Club, it's Cynnnnn Collinnnnnzzz

Sam Keenan of Misplaced Music Radio says "hi" as part of Cyn Collins live blog from the Turf Club last night. (Click the photo of the link below for Cyn's full report.)

Cyn Collins blazes new trails in Twin Cities live music coverage with live photo and text blogging from the Turf Club. Check out her episodic report from last night's show here.

Cyn Collins files her final Mallman report

Read Cyn Collins' report on the Mallman finale here.

Cyn noted in an email to me the other day that she's caught the "live blogging" bug and may blog live from Rock Show Wednesday at the Turf Club (a show which will be broadcast live on misplacedmusic.org and will feature High on Stress, Martin Devaney, Jake Hyer, and XO XO Judy).

HowWasTheShow will keep the live photo gallery line that we used for the Mallman 7 Day Party open with changed emails for different events. Plans are in the works to help facilitate uploads for folks who don't have camera phones or aren't in the habit of lugging wireless-enabled laptops to the clubs.