Jeff Nolan - one of MCB's longtime contributors will be dropping a few posts from time to time about music / art / state of the economy / women / food / car repair / laundry tips
"The Nolan Factor"
WEDNESDAY
APRIL 8 2009
Open Dance Floor Night @ LUNA
I'm not sure how I ever end up at Luna, but I do, this time with Carl Larson of Blasé Splee (blasesplee.com) and Marie Williams of Snaxx (myspace.com/snaxxdeluxe). As expected there was a crowd of drunks around the bar area ogling the fishnet clad bartenders and clamoring over the $2 drink specials. We each bough an arms full of drinks before the price went back up and wandered to the tables next to the dance floor to watch other drunks try to dance with one another.
I'm not sure how I ever end up at Luna, but I do, this time with Carl Larson of Blasé Splee (blasesplee.com) and Marie Williams of Snaxx (myspace.com/snaxxdeluxe). As expected there was a crowd of drunks around the bar area ogling the fishnet clad bartenders and clamoring over the $2 drink specials. We each bough an arms full of drinks before the price went back up and wandered to the tables next to the dance floor to watch other drunks try to dance with one another.
Bust!
Who would of thought that the allegedly “Best Dance Club in Detroit” (direct quote from both Channel 4 & Metrotimes- hard hitting reporting...) would ever have an empty dance floor? Not a single lonely soul embarrassing his or herself. Granted it was before 11, but come on. They still had those goddamn blinding strobes on though. The best part of the evening was that I saw a friend whose fake ID is apparently working.
GOOD FRIDAY
APRIL 10 2009
Mad Monster 'Burlesk' Show @ The Northern Lights Lounge
This was my first time in the Northern Lights Lounge. On the drive over I was slightly disturbed by the number of police driving all over the surface streets of Detroit, running red lights, making sudden U-turns, and driving the wrong way down one-way streets, as per usual.
GOOD FRIDAY
APRIL 10 2009
Mad Monster 'Burlesk' Show @ The Northern Lights Lounge
This was my first time in the Northern Lights Lounge. On the drive over I was slightly disturbed by the number of police driving all over the surface streets of Detroit, running red lights, making sudden U-turns, and driving the wrong way down one-way streets, as per usual.
The interior is dimly lit, full of square columns covered in mirrors, and decorated in signed Niagara prints (niagaradetroit.com). The show itself was a sordid affair. A punk rock DJ spinning anything from the Clash to the Sonics to a bunch of other bands with a the in front of their name was the backdrop to curvy women stripping with feathery boas and giant feathers, or maybe those were palm fronds.
A few drinks later I was engaged in a bizarre conversation with a dumpy middle-aged man who kept telling me he was a virgin (I think he meant a Virgo) who rambled on about strippers and leprechauns before calling the guitarist of the Jesus Chainsaw Massacre (my life has been revolving around this band ever since the Blowout) that his girlfriend was a munchkin. Unfortunately for my entertainment the situation "de-fused" itself when he opted to walk away rather than throw a drink or better.
Before leaving the freak show I encountered Vincent Troia,
A few drinks later I was engaged in a bizarre conversation with a dumpy middle-aged man who kept telling me he was a virgin (I think he meant a Virgo) who rambled on about strippers and leprechauns before calling the guitarist of the Jesus Chainsaw Massacre (my life has been revolving around this band ever since the Blowout) that his girlfriend was a munchkin. Unfortunately for my entertainment the situation "de-fused" itself when he opted to walk away rather than throw a drink or better.
Before leaving the freak show I encountered Vincent Troia,
the man behind the upcoming Detroit Art Battle
The 2008 Detroit Art Battle
(in which I participated)
was a spectacle on a grand scale.
The giant space in the fifth floor of the Russell Industrial Center had been numbered and partitioned off with spaces for each group of artists. Blank white walls were erected adjacent the green-grey crumbling brick walls of the facility, and a black dance floor had been placed in the center of the space with a DJ table at one end to keep everything moving.
Tables serving booze to keep everyone comfortably lubricated had lines that wrapped around the area. After three hours the room had been converted to an unbelievable degree: tents were erected on one end, walls entirely painted floor to ceiling, a fire blazed at one end, neon lights stretched out the windows and into the sky, a girl in a painted-on spacesuit was taped to a wall (my piece), and art debris of all kinds imaginable littered the 5th floor.
SATURDAY
APRIL 11 2009
Lucero @ the Magic Stick
I had no intention of going to this show at the beginning of my night, my intention was to hang around a house party in the Knowles/Harrison block in Royal Oak, a notorious party spot to the bored cops who regularly cruise through looking for intoxicated pedestrians and loud parties. The party proved to be a little -yawn- slow for my tastes, although I ran into an old friend who has since moved to NYC.
So- off to the Magic Stick to see a band I'd never heard of with some people I had never met. We arrived comfortably after midnight, so much so that the show was over. All that I got out of it was a few dirty looks from the kids leaving, a staring contest with a guy who looked like Anton Newcombe from the Brian Jonestown Massacre, and $2 bottle of water.
I had intended this week to review the new Dan Deacon album Bromst as well as some Medeski, Martin & Wood, but I'll get to it over the next week- maybe.
SATURDAY
APRIL 11 2009
Lucero @ the Magic Stick
I had no intention of going to this show at the beginning of my night, my intention was to hang around a house party in the Knowles/Harrison block in Royal Oak, a notorious party spot to the bored cops who regularly cruise through looking for intoxicated pedestrians and loud parties. The party proved to be a little -yawn- slow for my tastes, although I ran into an old friend who has since moved to NYC.
So- off to the Magic Stick to see a band I'd never heard of with some people I had never met. We arrived comfortably after midnight, so much so that the show was over. All that I got out of it was a few dirty looks from the kids leaving, a staring contest with a guy who looked like Anton Newcombe from the Brian Jonestown Massacre, and $2 bottle of water.
I had intended this week to review the new Dan Deacon album Bromst as well as some Medeski, Martin & Wood, but I'll get to it over the next week- maybe.
Keep those peeps peeled people! 
