Come up for air
 This
rain is depressing, but it couldn't staunch the flow of Rock
this weekend! That sounded kind of gross, I'm sorry. Asterisk
was a hoot as usual, but ever since that place got well-known
every show is incredibly crowded. There were claims that the
main performance room was air-conditioned, but I couldn't tell
because I was too busy rubbing sweat out of my eyes. But sometimes
it's nice to get a little overheated. There were so many bands
they used part of the gallery space as a 'second stage' so bands
wouldn't have any down time between sets. Some highlights include
the Athletic Automatons, guys in basketball  uniforms
playing psychedelic improv with a slide guitar and a huge ride
cymbal. Also amusing was the Grand-Buffet style white rap duo,
whose name escapes me now. All their playback music was handled
by a laptop using the rudimentary sound program that comes with
Windows. And of course USAISAMONSTER
was amazing, they have some new stuff which they said was inspired
by Bulgarian folk music. Which is weird because we recently
bought some Bulgarian folk music, but it has yet to sink in.
 I'd
never seen Japanther
live before, and it was quite a sight. I still say that kids
today don't mosh properly, but I am willing to admit that
time has clouded my memory on the subject. Anyway it's rare
enough to see people in New York dancing at a rock show anyway,
let alone bopping around like it was still 1991. The weirdest
thing to me is that Japanther is not a guitar-heavy band;
I can't imagine getting up the moshing spirit without a strong
guitar presence but I guess I'm an old fogey.
 Saturday
was our own show at Pianos,
which exists on the opposite end of the spectrum from a place
like Asterisk. Instead of being an independent, underground
scene, Pianos is definitely a money-making venture catering
to a more-upscale clientele. They try to pass themselves off
as a tony LES club, but the drink prices belie the rustic/rusty
decor. But the band room is still okay by me. It's a good
size, not much place for people to sit (forcing them to stand
like they're supposed to at a rock show), and the sound is
really good. Zack actually knew the sound guy, having worked
with him a few weeks prior at Volume. He set us up nicely,
and at one point Buzz actually had to request his monitor
volume to be lowered. Some more pix here.
Lots of good people showed up, too. We were fearing the worst
because so few folks on the mailing list had told us they
were coming. But people did come, and I can't stress enough
how much we appreciate that. It makes me wanna line everybody
up and give you all inappropriately-long hugs.
After the set there was a lot of confusion as the rain struck
up in earnest. Nobody wanted to hang around the club so a
lot of us went to The
Magician, possibly named so because it is always magically
empty when you are in the East Village and need a place for
a big group of people. But we knew we'd have to go back to
check out the rest of the show, as well as see if any money
was made for the night.  We
did manage to hit Sam's
cart and got some much-needed grub (one of the best reasons
to play Pianos is its proximity to his cart). Finally Buzz
got our dough and we split for the night.
Sunday was a lazy day. I didn't get into gear until later
when I went to see Dynasty
at Trash.
They've become a really entertaining band for only having
2 people and no drummer. Their music sounds like what might
have happened if James Chance and Pat Benatar had formed a
band in 1982 and took a time machine to 2004. What's not to
love?
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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He
was cute when he got here, but now he's Frankenstein's Cat.
Toby got beat up by his brother last week and the wound turned
into an abscess so now he gets to walk around with half a shoelace
sticking out of his neck. They shaved him as well so he looks
like a beige rat. Also he has ear mites but that's pretty common
(I know in the picture he looks like he has no right ear but
it's just the angle). He needs medicine twice a day for while,
but I will not be here to apply it. In a couple hours I'm off
to California for way longer than I'd like. Don't get me wrong,
it'll be a fun trip (once the excruciating long plane ride is
over), but I do not have much of a wanderlust these days; I'd
rather just hang around Brooklyn. I guess that's the definition
of a rut.
