JeffNolan - 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
MAY 6 2009
Cursive/Man Man @ the Magic Stick
My girlfriend met Jamie (aka Critter Cat... I guess) of Man Man about eleven years ago on AOL instant messenger, and he has evidently been looking forward to the day that they would meet ever since. Hurray for technology, using our combined internetting skills we were able to set up just such a meeting at Man Man's show on Wednesday. We walked in as Man Man was beginning their set of crazy stage antics, dancing to bird calls, forcing non-instruments into making music, and general unorthodox everything. Heavy rhythms set by a maniacal drummer and matched by a churning piano and a slew of bizarre noises.
We sipped vodka tonics and sat near the rear of the dance floor as I was less interested in seeing Man Man for a third or fourth time and more interested in meeting them. I could feel the floor shaking from the frantic dancing happening in front of the stage, a fairly rare occurrence at the Magic Stick. The madness on stage was on par with the handful of other times I had seen them, including such antics as pouring a bottle of water into a wooden bowl held next to a microphone, a muffler somehow miked and used as a snare, and running back and forth to a table piled with eclectic instruments.
Man Man's set ended and my girlfriend wandered around to the back of the stage to chat it up, I was distracted by fellow Motorcityblogger and photographer Amy Palomar and also by a former roommate who was quite upset about a rumor that I had started about myself. After about thirty minutes standing around the new pavilion thing that was built off of the dance floor I wandered to the backstage. In the tiny blue room behind the stage I found my girlfriend seated between two completely smashed girls, one who claimed to be from some southern state I don't like and another who had a tattoo of a child's drawing on her leg. The room was littered in half drank bottles of whiskey, about fifty beer bottles, two or three coolers filled with fresh brews, and an odor of various smoked substances. Critter Cat was desperately trying to mack on my lady friend, but also trying to give me some good info to blog about.
WEDNESDAY
MAY 6 2009
Cursive/Man Man @ the Magic Stick
My girlfriend met Jamie (aka Critter Cat... I guess) of Man Man about eleven years ago on AOL instant messenger, and he has evidently been looking forward to the day that they would meet ever since. Hurray for technology, using our combined internetting skills we were able to set up just such a meeting at Man Man's show on Wednesday. We walked in as Man Man was beginning their set of crazy stage antics, dancing to bird calls, forcing non-instruments into making music, and general unorthodox everything. Heavy rhythms set by a maniacal drummer and matched by a churning piano and a slew of bizarre noises.
We sipped vodka tonics and sat near the rear of the dance floor as I was less interested in seeing Man Man for a third or fourth time and more interested in meeting them. I could feel the floor shaking from the frantic dancing happening in front of the stage, a fairly rare occurrence at the Magic Stick. The madness on stage was on par with the handful of other times I had seen them, including such antics as pouring a bottle of water into a wooden bowl held next to a microphone, a muffler somehow miked and used as a snare, and running back and forth to a table piled with eclectic instruments.
Man Man's set ended and my girlfriend wandered around to the back of the stage to chat it up, I was distracted by fellow Motorcityblogger and photographer Amy Palomar and also by a former roommate who was quite upset about a rumor that I had started about myself. After about thirty minutes standing around the new pavilion thing that was built off of the dance floor I wandered to the backstage. In the tiny blue room behind the stage I found my girlfriend seated between two completely smashed girls, one who claimed to be from some southern state I don't like and another who had a tattoo of a child's drawing on her leg. The room was littered in half drank bottles of whiskey, about fifty beer bottles, two or three coolers filled with fresh brews, and an odor of various smoked substances. Critter Cat was desperately trying to mack on my lady friend, but also trying to give me some good info to blog about.
(All I got was that they were making enough money to pay the rent and that he also likes Giorgio Moroder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Moroder )
I missed Cursive's show for the most part, but the southern bell wandered onto the stage toward the end and was quickly pulled off by the singer of Man Man.
Afterwards we hung around the Garden Bowl bar for a few minutes while the bands packed up their equipment where we met a trio of double dude-bros who were very excited for the show they had witnessed. One is in a band that I promised to mention called Ten Ton Diesel Head (myspace.com/tentondieselhead) who has a new album coming out soon, their first in nearly six years.
I missed Cursive's show for the most part, but the southern bell wandered onto the stage toward the end and was quickly pulled off by the singer of Man Man.
Afterwards we hung around the Garden Bowl bar for a few minutes while the bands packed up their equipment where we met a trio of double dude-bros who were very excited for the show they had witnessed. One is in a band that I promised to mention called Ten Ton Diesel Head (myspace.com/tentondieselhead) who has a new album coming out soon, their first in nearly six years.
THURSDAY
MAY 7 2009
The Kills @ the Magic Stick
Johnny Retro from everyone's favorite band the Jesus Chainsaw Massacre invited me to attend the Kills and go out for some drinks afterwards. I didn't go.
SATURDAY
MAY 9 2009
Rock & Rummage @ the Belmont
We here at Motorcityblog had a booth at the latest installment of Rock & Rummage, and thanks to everyone who attended and supported the local vendors of avant-guarde swag and doo-dads. We had a free raffle where we gave away tickets to Gogol Bordello, Prodigy, and Blue October to name a few. We also had some swag of our own including some rad T's designed by yours truly, buttons, pins, and a load of stickers. A brief conversation with Casey, the mind behind the madness, reveled that he has done this over 400 times in about 5 years!
It was a fun night of tiny green beers
Everlasting Gobstoppers, and general Rocking and Rummaging.
Andy Shauf
Darker Days
*** out of 5
www.myspace.com/andyshauf
The newest offering from Canadian artist Andy Shauf is a soft and reflective album of mellow folk music. Most tracks feature a quietly picked accoustic guitar, Andy's warm honey voice and maybe a tamborine to keep the beat. There is a definite similarity to the freak-folk-artist-turned-Christian-Jesus-touting singer/songwriter M. Ward. Twangy suburban folk music with floating, flourishing guitars and oooohs and aaaaahs chirping occasionally in the background. It is not necessarily a sad album, but I don't think that it could rightfully be called a happy album by any means. Darker Days treads a fine line between up and down, it could maybe be described as capturing the same vibe as Harold & Maude. The album gives off a vague reminiscence to sitting in the sun or falling asleep in a field or waking up a hour before your alarm goes off.
"The Nolan Factor IS DETROIT"
Check out more MCB-VIDEOs here
Andy Shauf
Darker Days
*** out of 5
www.myspace.com/andyshauf
The newest offering from Canadian artist Andy Shauf is a soft and reflective album of mellow folk music. Most tracks feature a quietly picked accoustic guitar, Andy's warm honey voice and maybe a tamborine to keep the beat. There is a definite similarity to the freak-folk-artist-turned-Christian-Jesus-touting singer/songwriter M. Ward. Twangy suburban folk music with floating, flourishing guitars and oooohs and aaaaahs chirping occasionally in the background. It is not necessarily a sad album, but I don't think that it could rightfully be called a happy album by any means. Darker Days treads a fine line between up and down, it could maybe be described as capturing the same vibe as Harold & Maude. The album gives off a vague reminiscence to sitting in the sun or falling asleep in a field or waking up a hour before your alarm goes off.
"The Nolan Factor IS DETROIT"
Check out more MCB-VIDEOs here