Dumbek's Random Stuff

NEW YORK - Hilly Kristal, whose dank Bowery rock club CBGB served as the birthplace of the punk rock movement and a launching pad for bands like the Ramones, Blondie and the Talking Heads, has died. He was 75.

Kristal, who lost a bitter fight last year to stop the club's eviction from its home of 33 years, died Tuesday at Cabrini Hospital after a battle with lung cancer, his son Mark Dana Kristal said Wednesday.

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I saw Pat Benatar twice this week. She was great, but she needs to mix it up a bit. I think she played the same setlist every time I've seen her recently. She still sounds terrific though. She can still belt it out with the best of 'em. Neil is still looking fine. I was late to the Baltimore show. Apparently the 9:00 time listed on the website referred to the main act - not the opener. By the time I got there she was into the second song. Oh well...

R.E.M. is releasing what could potentially be the most boring live CD/DVD ever. After saying for years that they didn't like live records and they didn't want to do one unless it was something special, they're releasing a random show from the Around The Sun Tour. Only 3 IRS-era songs and too many from their most boring record to date. As for the DVD, I'm sure it'll be fine, but 11 of these songs were included on the last live DVD. The only interesting thing in this package is the inclusion of Mike Mills singing "Rockville". I'll buy it. I'm a lemming like that. I'm sure it's actually quite good - just a disappointing selection. It's almost like they're trying too hard to stay in the public eye. There are better ways to do this than by putting out mediocre product. Maybe I'm just bitter about missing those Dublin shows.

Update: You can view "Bad Day" from the DVD here. I wasn't even halfway through it before I started getting a headache and had to stop it. I hope the whole thing isn't shot like this.


Dinger and I went to see a bunch of local frontmen doing the unplugged/singer-songwriter thing the other night. It turned out to be one best shows I've seen in a while. It was Marty of WSC, Mick and Kevin (mmmm...) from The Dance Party and Stephen from Middle Distance Runner. They each played a 3-song set, then made way for the next guy. They repeated that 3 different times. That was a great way to run things. You never had the opportunity to get bored. They also sat in with each other a bit, which is always fun to see. One of the ladies from Exit Clov sat-in with Marty. Marty sat in with The Dance Party guys. A couple guys from MDR joined Steven for a couple songs. It was just a good, low-key, fun night. I hope they keep doing things like this.

I got Van Halen tickets. They cost way too much, but I figure there's a good chance they're going to implode before they get here anyway. I'll give 50/50 odds that it gets canceled and I get my money back. Over $40 in service charges on 2 tickets. Ouch.

Speaking of canceled...well...postponed really...It looks like Morrissey is making a return to Baltimore to make up for his canceled show. God forbid the folks at The Ram's Head actually give anyone information. They haven't said a word since the night the original show was canceled. Nothing about a postponement, refunds, etc. Just "No show tonight. See ya." I'm assuming the old tickets are still valid. Oh yeah - The show is on Halloween. Spoooky.

Are we on the topic of canceled shows? Good - because the mother-f--cking Cure "postponed" their upcoming show too. Don't worry. They'll be back. Most likely in April/May. Wow - I don't think I've ever bought tickets nearly a year in advance before. Thanks Robert!

Tomorrow I'll probably be at the show for aging punks at the Velvet Lounge. And I mean that in a good way. Ottley, Rustbuckit and New Standard are playing. Promises to be a fun night.

Local band Cedars is breaking up. That really sucks. They were definitely one of the better bands in town. Farewell show coming soon.

Very busy, but not much going on. Typical for me.

I think my first gay crush may have been Neil Geraldo - Pat Benatar's guitar player/husband. He was incredibly good looking, had a habit of wearing sleeveless shirts, great hair and had arms I still wish I had. All that and a guitar player too. Swoon.

He's still handsome - just with more of a tattooed Anderson Cooper look.

Neil and that rock-chick wife of his are playing in the area twice this week. Tonight in bumfuck, Virginia. Tuesday in Balmer, hon.

Check him out in this video. Yum.

It looks like they've applied new filtering rules at work. Blogger/Blogspot is now completely blocked. I don't really blame them. I'm kind of surprised they allowed it in the first place. Still - kind of a drag that I can't even get to my own blog from work. hrmph.

On the bright side, I don't have to be as concerned about being completely work-safe anymore.

So fuckitty-fuck-fuck to you.

So Van Halen has "an announcement of monumental proportions", planned for this Monday, 8/13.

It looks like a reunion, minus Michael Anthony, but with Eddie's son, Wolfgang, on bass. It's probably as close as I'll ever get to the real thing.

I just hope they include DC at the beginning of the tour, so we can see them before they implode.

There's a very cool benefit for John Stabb tonight over at the Velvet Lounge. Dave Smalley (ex-Dag Nasty), Pup Tent, Lorelei and some others are gonna be there. You should go too, even though I can't make it. :-(

I never hung out at dc space. I remember going to a poetry reading there once. I think I saw 9353 there, but I'm not even sure about that. Being a kid from the far-reaching dc-burbs, I rarely ventured into the city for bands I wasn't familiar with. If they weren't big enough to play the old 9:30 Club, word-of-mouth rarely reached the depths of southern Maryland and I missed them.

Based on what I saw Sunday, I missed a hell of a lot. The music was great. The non-musical acts were interesting. The crowd was fun. You couldn't walk 5 feet without running into someone from an old band. It made me realize how much great stuff I missed back then, but it also reminded me how much I was lucky to see.

Before I completely forget, here are some scattered thoughts about the dc space reunion show.

Heavy Metal Picnic is no Heavy Metal Parking Lot, but it's hilarious in its own disturbing way.


The magician did the old "think of a playing card and I'll guess what it is" trick. In my head I chose the 7-of-diamonds. The girl on stage chose the 7-of-diamonds. My friend leans over to me and says "Holy Sh-t. That's the card I picked!" The magician, of course, had the 7-of-diamonds in his hand. Yikes.

I love The Beatnik Flies. I love Mark Noone. Seeing them play together was a blast. So much fun. The Beatnik Flies still play every now and then. I need to make more of an effort to catch them. One BF song. Two Slickees songs. I wish we could have heard more from both.


I don't care who you are. I don't care how good you think your band is. You never, EVER want to follow Chuck Brown. The man can do more in 10 minutes than most folks could hope for in a lifetime. A-may-zing. Everybody in this town loves Chuck. Everybody.

Rustbuckit is turning into a hot little band. Where's that record, Boyd?

Tiny Desk Unit was interesting. They're a trio, but one member is out on the west coast. They played a new song "Toast and Chalk" with the guitarist coming in via the internet and with videos of him playing behind the other two. There seemed to be a few technical difficulties, but they pulled it off. Sometimes the beauty of experimentation is that things don't always go perfectly. You can see their whole performance here. They also have a new cd out. It looks like you can download the whole thing. I haven't heard it all yet, but so far I'm digging it.

Esmirelda has quite the potty-mouth. She's a hoot though.

There was...ummm...a guy in a trash bag, slowly breaking free, wearing nothing but a thong, who eventually escaped, got dressed and left. All-righty then.



9353 was fantastic. Easily one of my favorite old DC bands. There's nothing else like them. It sounds like they may be back. I hope so. The crowd ate them up. You could tell they were the band most folks were waiting for. So good. So creepy. So perfect.

Ottley was next and was really impressive. Any time I can see Martha belt out "Put A Bullet Through The Jukebox" I'm all over it. They're playing with Rustbuckit at Velvet Lounge later this month. Don't miss it.

I think I have a small crush on Jenny Toomey. Me and everyone else.


A fantastic night. I wish I could have seen everything that happened before I got there (it ran from 4pm-almost 2am), but there's no way I could have survived that. Considering the number of acts I can't really complain about them running about an hour late. It was worth being tired most of the week.

There are a few more craptastic pictures on my flickr page. They all suck though. drunk+tired+camera rarely yields good results.