Dumbek's Random Stuff

This cracks me up every time I see it. It's slow, so give it a minute or two to load. It's kind of hard to hear though. Turn your speakers up.

TicketMaster Word of the Day:


chi�tin �� (ktn) KEY �

NOUN:

A tough, protective, semitransparent substance, primarily a nitrogen-containing polysaccharide, forming the principal component of arthropod exoskeletons and the cell walls of certain fungi.

---

ETYMOLOGY:
French chitine : New Latin chitn, mollusk (from Greek khitn, chiton; see chiton ) + -ine ²

OTHER FORMS:
chitin�ous (Adjective)

It takes a lot to get me into Virginia. I don't go unless I have a very good reason. But I'll be there on Friday, when The Fleshtones hit Iota. If you're looking for the best party in town, look no further. If it's anything like last time, the band will eventually end up playing atop the bar, dancing in the crowd and running around the club, all while cranking out great tunes that are guaranteed to keep you dancing, clapping and singing along all night.

The Fleshtones play this great mix of Nuggets-style garage rock combined with a twinge of punk attitude. They've got this great retro-sound without feeling like some lame 60's throwback.

Don't believe me? Let's see what everyone else has to say about them:

Trouser Press:
...singer Peter Zaremba, guitarist Keith Streng and drummer Bill Milhizer — have never stopped channeling the spirit of every great rock'n'roll party band that ever stepped to it, from the Coasters to the Kingsmen, the Raiders to the Kinks. Decades down the pike, they're still going strong, making great entrances and stylish exits and pouring it all out in uplifting sets of smart and sassy uptight bliss in between.

Hexbreaker! is outstanding, an exuberant collection of memorable numbers made even better by brilliant playing and spot-on production by Richard Mazda. "Right Side of a Good Thing," with its hysterical falsetto chorus; "New Scene," a pulsing fuzz-guitar punk raveup; and the shingaling title tune all roll with soul and frolic in the sounds of the '60s without ever losing a grip on the band's own identity. An ultimate '80s garage- rock classic. [Sadly, Hexbreaker was never released on CD - D.]


Popmatters:
...the NYC foursome played as though they were at a raucous house party with their best friends, hauling mics and instruments out onto the dance floor, jumping on tables, and generally having a great time....each time the Fleshtones breeze through town rock 'n' roll is fun again.

Redeye:
There are some of us who have seen the future and we know that it’s a firebrand of piss and vinegar called rock n’ roll...Quirky vocals and snotty R&B singing back up the ass-shaking groove created by the buzzsaw guitars, throttle-bottom bass and crunchy drums...[The Fleshtones,] after 25 years, refuse to make anything less then down-and-dirty super-rock fun.


It's hard to find a review that doesn't mention the words "fun" or "party".

So get your ass down to Iota on Friday. You can thank me later.

Right Side Of A Good Thing
God Damn It
Hitsburg USA

So very tempting...

=============================
Tonight at The Warehouse Next Door:

BRANDON BUTLER goes electric with full band featuring:

Brendan Canty (Fugazi)
Amy Domingues (Garland of Hours)
Jonah Y. (Metal Smith Bass Beard)
=============================

Backroads presents the best in alternative country, blues, bluegrass, and folk rock at Staccato Music Hall and Lounge in lively Adams Morgan. All queer and queer-friendly folk are welcome.

From Last.fm:

Track Stats

1 people have listened to Everybody's Dancin' by The Beatnik Flies.
Of all 1 people that have listened to songs by The Beatnik Flies, this represents 100%.


Apparently, I need to spread a little Beatnik love.

The Beatnik Flies

I can't find much info about the band online, but they were part of the early/mid-80's DC scene. Not quite new wave. Not quite punk. Not quite 60's garage. Sometimes a little surfy. They were one of those "they almost made it" bands. Their 2 albums were picked up by New Rose, but I don't think much happened.

You want some DC cred? Well, their first record - From Parts Unknown was originally released on Dacoit - Kim Kane's label. Produced by Mark Noone. As for their second LP, Behind These Walls (everyone say it with me now...) - Recorded at Inner Ear Studios and Engineered by Don Zientara. And come-on - It doesn't get any more DC than name-checking The Slickee Boys in one of your songs.

Believe it or not, you can still pick up their compilation PsychoMetalPop - The Lost Cause of the Beatnik Flies. You might be able to pick one up at Vinyl & Lead, but I'd send an email to Kim and ask if they have any. The CD says it's released on Dacoit, so Kim should know about it. If you're local, you can probably pick it up at Joe's. Every time I go there I see a new copy with a different cover. I wouldn't be surprised if these are pretty much made-to-order. You should go to Joe's anyway. Vinyl still rules there.

They were recently in that "Little Steven's Battle of the Bands" thing and did quite well, I believe. Their website says they're releasing a new record in 2005. To be honest, I'll believe that when I see it.

Listen. Rock.

Everybody's Dancin'
Music Revolution
TV Star

Last week...

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Just read the DCist review. It's pretty much spot-on. Basically - Don't Believe The Hype.

We Are Scientists - Rocked. Best band of the weekend. I wish they had more of their music for sale. I picked up the Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt single. That's all they had. Amazon shows everything else listed as a pricey import. I hope they get a domestic deal soon.

Ambulance, Ltd. - Really, really OK. Not great. Not bad. Just OK. They're playing new material, which is a mixed blessing. You can only listen to their one album so many times. The new material is good. Sounds like more of the same though. We'll see how it turns out on the new record, whenever that comes out. Lots of new material is welcome, but it also brings things down a notch. The chatty Saturday night crowd seemed to lose interest whenever they played something they didn't know. I don't have anything bad to say about the show, but I wasn't exactly overwhelmed either. I think Ambulance may be one of those bands that puts out terrific records, but isn't the greatest live act. Personally, I think We Are Scientists blew them away.

But maybe I was just anxious for the show to get over so I could run down to Blowoff at 9:30. Since Bob and Rich have been on tour for a couple months, we've been Blowoff-less recently. I was expecting it to be packed, based on all the blog-pimping it was getting. But it was just pleasantly crowded. Plenty of people, but also plenty of room to mingle, dance, walk across the room loaded-up with shots for everyone - whatever you wanted to do. I love Blowoff on nights like that. It's like you're in someone's basement for a regular party. Thanks to Bob and Rich for hosting yet another great party. And welcome home.

The BF has been out of town on his semi-annual NASCAR retreat with his college buds. His boy Jeff won (a rarity these days), so he's pretty excited. I'll be glad when he's home. I don't sleep whell when he's gone.

DCFC tonight. Social D cancelled their Philly shows this weekend. I'm hoping their DC show goes on as planned.

Ambulance Ltd. tonight at The Cat. I was just checking out the opening band We Are Scientists. Not bad. Dance-rocky-garagey stuff. Yeah Yeah - Them and everyone else. I need to make it a point to get there early. I predict I leave with at least one CD/EP by them.

Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt
The Great Escape

More importantly - Blowoff returns tonight. Sounds like it's gonna be packed.

Thanks to rmarth1983 over that the FF bbs for sharing.

Foo Fighters @ 9:30 Club 10/16/05

Best of You
Everlong
Born On The Bayou

I go to TicketBastard just about every day to look up something or other and I get presented with those annoying "prove you can type" verification words. They're usually either ridiculously simple - like "puppy" - or something fairly cryptic. I've decided to start looking them up and see what they mean.

Today's TicketMaster word:

salsify

NOUN:
pl. sal�si�fies In both senses also called oyster plant , vegetable oyster .

1. A European plant (Tragopogon porrifolius) having grasslike leaves, purple flower heads, and an edible taproot.
2. The root of this plant, eaten as a vegetable.

ETYMOLOGY:
French salsifis, from obsolete Italian (erba) salsifica


mmmm....edible taproot.

(Update: I changed the Black Cat link to a better URL)

I spent most of last week on the phone. Not with friends. Not with family. I had one phone in each hand, repeatedly hitting redial for 3-4 hours every night, trying to get through to DC101 for Foo Fighters tickets. I probably heard those damn tones over 500 times. For all my efforts, I got through exactly one time. The entire conversation consisted of "you'recallernumberfour(click)". However, due to the generosity of a friend, I managed to get in. I'm not sure how they did it. I don't really care. We got in.

Tickets at 8:00. Doors at 10:00. Show at 11:00. I got there just before 8:00, expecting the line to be hundreds of people long. Nope. Maybe 150 or less. I got in line right at the corner of 8th and V. Not bad. Since the show was 100% will-call and we couldn't go inside for hours (there was an early show happening), they had a rolling ticket window. The line was stationary but the window was on wheels and rolled down the line. The ticket owner showed ID and they gave you a ticket stub and a wristband. The "+1" got the same. Your "+1" isn't here yet? bzzzt. They lose. No ticket for them. You can't hold it for them. You both have to track down the ticket window later. That probably meant losing your place in line.

So we waited a while for the ticket window. It finally shows up. Lo and behold, we're not on the list. Crap. I'd been trying to not get too excited about this, knowing the potential for something to go wrong. It wasn't looking good. But it turned out we were actually on some other guest-list rather than the main list. The guest list doesn't come out until 9:30. More waiting. Getting a little stressed.

9:30 comes. The ticket window is long gone. My friend goes to find out what the deal is. My friend comes back and says "come over here". I wasn't terribly anxious to leave our spot in the line, seeing that the line is probably 800 people long by now. But I followed. It seems they started a separate line for guest-list folks. We just moved from 150th in line to about #8. Sweeeeet. However, we're not inside yet. They finally start letting people in. We get up to the guest list table. Lo and behold, we're not on the list. Stress increasing, as I'm now watching other people walk inside. We get pulled out of line and brought the the regular ticket window. A short conversation and it's all worked out. Here's your ticket. Go get your wristband. 5 minutes later we were inside. Whew. Now I'm getting excited.

Despite everything that happened, we were still probably among the first 100 people inside. We had time to hit the bathroom, grab a beer and secure our position. As of Friday morning I didn't even think I would be able to get inside. But here we are - dead center, maybe 5 people back from the rail for what may be the biggest show of the year. Ho-ly Crap.



The show was nothing short of amazing. They played just about anything I could want and then some. They pulled out a few things they said they hadn't played in years. Lots of hits (of course) and a couple of covers - including an aborted "Message In A Bottle". One of the bigger highlights was Dave jumping offstage and onto the bar on the right side of the club during "Stacked Actors". He hung out there for a while (playing the whole time) and even did a shot of Jagermeister. I'm pretty sure he even left a tip. Even rock-star-Seth made an appearance, playing drums during "Born On The Bayou." They played for nearly 2.5 hours. Yowza.



Here's the setlist:

Last Song
This is a Call
Best of You
My Hero
Learn to Fly
For All the Cows
Times Like These
Have it All
Stacked Actors
DOA
Breakout
Generator
Gas Chamber (Angry Samoans)
The One
I'll Stick Around
Message In the Bottle (The Police)
Cold Day in the Sun
Low
Hey Johnny Park
Monkey Wrench
Everlong

Aurora
In Your Honor
Born on the Bayou (Seth Hurwitz on Drums)
All My Life



Despite being so close, it was hard to take decent pictures. I was being jostled around constantly, even during the slower songs. It's been a long time since I've been up front during a fairly rowdy show. At first it was annoying, but then I realized I was just being a cranky old man and lightened up a little. Those crazy kids are just having fun. Been there. Done that. It's good to know I can still hold my own down there though. Plus, I took solace knowing that these brats wouldn't last 30 seconds in the MDC/UK Subs/Black Flag pits of my glory days. heh heh. Amateurs ;-).

So everything worked out perfectly. An amazing night. Thanks to my friend for getting me in. All-in-all, I'll say it was my 2nd favorite Foo show ever. Even most of the big-time Foo fans agree that the Black Cat 2000 show was the best Foo show of all-time. Hard to argue with that. I'll put this up as a close second though.


Clap Your Hands Say Yeah tonight.
Ambulance Ltd. Saturday.
Death Cab Sunday.

Long story short: I got into the Foo Fighters show at 9:30 last night.

Did. Not. Suck.

Details and a few pix later.

Shut out.

Crap.

11/25 - Bob Mould at The Ram's Head in Annapolis.

I think it just went on sale yesterday. Get your tickets ASAP.


My brain is starting to melt after listening to so much DC101. Ugh.

The good news: The Foo Fighters are playing a surprise gig at the 9:30 Club on 10/16.

The bad news: The only way to get tickets is to win them from DC101.

CRAP!!!!

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:?p[;'/opl;hgjbnuhjuhjkmghjbnoipuyiou987i[']
uyoipkl;oipkl;hjkb,mn plpk;.oikl,oik,m uijmn uhjn j

[above text created by repeatedly banging my head on my keyboard]

From REMHQ:

The band put together an impromptu performance tonight in Athens at R.E.M guitar tech Dewitt Burton's wedding reception. Roughly three-hundred people packed into a tiny arcade room at the bowling alley where the reception was held as Peter, Michael, Mike, and Bill Berry ripped through a scorching seven-song set that included "Sitting Still," "Rockville," "Wolves, Lower," "Begin the Begin," "The One I Love," "Permanent Vacation," and "Radio Free Europe." It was the first time the original lineup has performed together since a concert in Raleigh, North Carolina, during the In Time tour in 2003. Michael Stipe toasted the bride and groom, Jackie and Dewitt, on several occasions throughout the set as the reception guests yelled request upon request at the band--"Begin the Begin" was requested by the bride. Asked what he thought about the set and the evening, Mike Mills commented that "It was awesome to look behind me and see Bill on drums."

A good time was had by all, with chillbumps, phone cameras, cold beer and throat lumps all co-mingling!

Kingpins Set List, October 8th, Athens, GA:

Sitting Still
Rockville (Mike Mills on vocals)
Wolves, Lower
Begin the Begin
The One I Love
Permanent Vacation
Radio Free Europe

Photo here.

Undefeated!

Fight On State

Unbeaten Nittany Lions White Out Buckeyes 17-10

Friday morning started early. Despite the fact the we were out way later than we wanted to be, Bob had us up by 8:00am. He's definitely a pro at this going-out-late-but-getting-to-work-on-time thing. That was fine by us though. We were on the road home before 9:00am. A fairly uneventful drive home until the sky opened up and we got hit with a monsoon-like downpour. Luckily, we were almost home by that point. Thank God, because driving 25mph on I-95 in near white-out conditions gets old really fast. We were home a little after 11:30 - just in time to catch the Showcase Showdown.

Friday night started with a trip to Titan for happy hour. We've never done that before. Being out in the 'burbs, it's hard to get downtown early enough to make happy hour worthwhile. We may have to make more of an effort though. It was a blast. Pretty crowded, despite the rain. We managed to finally meet these guys, hung out with a freshly shaven chrisafer for the first time in a couple weeks and ran into copperred, who we haven't seen in a while. Drinks were dirt cheap. Always a plus. Fun was had by all. Downstairs for dinner at the no-longer-Mary's-but-we-still-use-their-logo-on-everything Dakota Cowgirl. Then it was off to 9:30 for round two of Mr. Mould.

As predicted, I wasn't 5 feet in the door when I started running into people I knew. I love it when that happens. One thing's for sure - those gay bloggers love them some Bob. Let's see, throughout the night we were hanging with him, him, them, him, one of them, him, him and a few of my other regular concert buds. I usually end up going to shows by myself or with the BF. Being surrounded by this many cool folks was definitely a treat.

Working our way through the crowd, we literally bumped into Bob, himself, heading in the opposite direction. He handed us a couple of those plastic bracelet things and told us to come downstairs after the show for a little after-party. Most excellent.

The show was being recorded for a DVD to be released in the coming months. I'm not sure if it was the fact that it was being recorded, the fact that Bob was in front of his hometown crowd, the fact that it was Friday night, or whatever, but this show was in-f-cking-credible. As good as I thought Philly was, the 9:30 gig blew the doors off of that show. Damn. They were just on fire. Bob was jumping around like a madman, giving more than his all on every song - both old and new. I'm pretty sure it was the same setlist (only with "Man On The Moon" this time) but a completely different show. Talk about kicking it up a notch. Holy cow. The surprise encore at the end was a cover of "Stepping Stone", featuring (I'm 99% sure) 9:30's own Seth Hurwitz on drums. It was kind of funny watching Brendan watch from the balcony above the stage. "Stepping Stone" is one of those songs that has a bit of a history in the DC scene. Quite an appropriate choice, now that Bob is a local.

The after-party was fun. I think all of the above were there, plus some of the regular Blowoff and music-types. It was nice to be able to actually hang out and talk to all of these folks. It's hard to do that while the band's playing (not that I like to talk much during a show anyway). It made for yet another very late night though. I think we caught the last Metro home. Whew.

Thanks to Bob for 2 killer shows. Hope it's not another 7 years before you do it again.

Next up: hmmm...I don't think I have the energy for McCartney tonight. That means Foo Fighters on Monday. Debating getting there early enough for Weezer. Not really into 'em, but the kids love 'em. We'll see.

And there's still 3 days of the long-weekend left!

I can't believe I've had such a fun-filled, jam-packed weekend and it's still early Saturday afternoon.

It started with a fairly uneventful drive to Philly, then meeting up with our friend Bob for a bit of happy hour bar-hopping. After drinking our dinner, we headed over to The Troc for the Mould show. It was pretty full, but it didn't seem very crowded at all. We positioned ourselves about 10 feet from the stage and waited for the show to start. After about 4-5 songs the people in front of us left and we found ourselves one person back from the rail, directly in front of Bob. Perfect. The band tore through the standard setlist (minus "Man On The Moon") and they sounded fantastic. The new songs sounded great live and definitely held their own against the classic material. The Husker Du stuff just blew me away. I've been waiting for that for 20 years. Yowza. That part of the show itself was worth the drive to Philly. Wow. Bob's got a nice, tight, rockin' band behind him. They did not disappoint at all. By the time it was done, I was already looking forward to Friday's show back home.

Ran into a DC friend after the show and hung out for a while. Eventually the band came out and we chatted with them for a while. Bob seemed pretty anxious to get back to DC and sleep in his own bed. Can't say that I blame him. That's gotta be a great feeling after being on the road. I briefly talked to Brendan about the Burn To Shine series. He said Portland is being edited and they expect it to be out in 5-6 months. Next up may be Reykjavik (!) and Louisville. Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum. It was nice to finally meet Brendan. Having grown up around the DC music scene, it was pretty cool to meet someone who was a vital part of its history.

Since we drank our dinner earlier, it was time for some food. Off to get a late night breakfast. The BF and I were ready to call it a night - made a bit sleepy by the food we had just scarfed down. Bob insisted that we head to The Bike Stop. That was our original plan, but we were ready to bail on it. No such luck. Bob was determined. Off we went. We should have trusted our instincts. It completely sucked. There were maybe 5 other people there. They were showing these weird Japanese wrestling videos. Slightly homo-erotic, but mostly just pretty violent. In the two matches we saw, one guy was basically beaten unconscious, the other one appeared to have a guy breaking his leg, falling completely limp on the mat. It definitely ain't your daddy's wrestling. Yikes. We've been to The Bike Stop a few times in the past. It's always been fun. I guess this was just an off night.

Not a bad start to the weekend. A trip to Philly, a fantastic show, some bar hopping with an old friend and a rather odd leather bar/japanese wrestling experience. We also learned where to find free hard-candy in Philly, should that need ever arise unexpectedly. And that was only Thursday.

I love going to work when I know I'm going to leave early. Especially when I'm leaving to go to a show. All my co-workers have to stay an toil away, while I get to go do my favorite thing in the world.

I get to leave at lunchtime today to head to Philly to see Bob Mould at The Troc. I haven't heard a bad thing about this tour yet. All reports imply that it's nothing short of amazing. Very excited. The WedRock songs were such a tease. I can't wait for a full set.

As if that isn't enough fun for a Thursday, we get to hang out in Philly with our other friend Bob, who is easily one of the most entertaining people I know. It's impossible to not have fun when he's around. We'll probably start off at Woody's, then dinner, the show, then The Bike Stop. Unless (our friend) Bob has other plans. That's usually our schedule when we head into Philly on a weeknight.

Coming back to DC Friday afternoon. We're going to try to head to Titan for Happy Hour (WOOF), then dinner and yet another Bob show. This one at the 9:30 Club. This should be a rockin' time, if for no other reason that it's Bob's hometown crowd. I expect to run into tons of friends there. Gay friends, indie friends, blogger friends...everyone's excited about this one.

I say after the 9:30 show we have an impromptu Blowoff. Everyone just run downstairs, take your shirts off and start dancing. That should freak a few people out - lol.

Not enough Bob, you say? According to Pollstar he's playing at The Ram's Head over Thanksgiving weekend and again in Philly in early December (aka "my birthday weekend"). Sweeeeet. No word on tickets, but I assume they'll go on sale shortly after this weekend's shows are over.

Go buy Bob's record. It kicks ass.

At their last 2 shows Q And Not U were selling some EPs containing remixes of the track "Wonderful People". The disc contains 3 mixes:

People Wonder (President Remix)
Wonderful People (Manhunter Remix)
Wonderful People (Ova Looven Remix)

The disc itself looks self-pressed, so I imagine there's a limited number of them. It doesn't appear to be a Dischord release, but it looks like they're distributing it. Get one while you can.

The final 2 shows were terrific. The first night ended with half of the crowd dancing on the stage. Great band. Sorry I didn't get into them sooner.

For the ultimate piece of Q And Not U memorabilia, you can buy their van. (check the 9/16 entry)

Can someone please lend ^H^H^H^H give me $450 so I can go see the Stones tonight? Thanks.

Went to NC this weekend for a commitment ceremony for a couple of our friends. Beautiful ceremony on a boat down in Carolina Beach, NC. Tons o' fun. Kudos to the local paper for for including their announcement (even though I'm told it took a bit of ...umm...persuading). It's really beautiful down there. Not over-developed like everything around here. Still very quaint and charming.

Who knew my lesbian friend had a hottie for a son?

Taking another long weekend this weekend. Heading to see Bob Mould in Philly on Thursday, so I'm skipping out around noon. Bob again on Friday. All reports say he's really tearing things up. Don't miss it. Holiday on Monday. Bonus.

I'll probably go see Paul Mc on Saturday, assuming I can track down one of the cheap tickets. I don't wanna die having Ringo being the only Beatle I ever got to see in concert.

Let's go Lions. Penn State still tied for 1st in the Big Ten. Undefeated no less. AP ranks them at #16. Feels like old times.