Friendsandwieners’s Weblog

10/23/09 @ Monster House, Columbus OH

Imperial Can

Gerd Dembowski

The Golden Tuxedo (puppet show)

The Sidekicks

Me and Austin’s 25th Birthday. A show was appropriate so we could drown out people asking us if we felt old. Some people said things like OH MY GOD, I can’t believe you guys are 25! I am not the type of person to say I’m old. I am not old. It’s just not for me. How can I feel old living in a club house having a punk show to honor the day my Mom so bravely brought me (us) into the world? Yeah I am questioning every part and meaning of my existence but that’s not stopping me from the living the dream. Low rent and music and my friends. My dreams. My Dad gave me the birthday present of admiring me and Austin’s lifestyle, saying he respected us for making time for the things we love and making ends meet on our own terms. I am thankful to him for his support and I am continually inspired by him.

I got stuffed with cake and beer. I saw Gerd, an author/activist/musician from Berlin, tell a story and sing accapella songs. I saw a deranged little puppet show. I saw my friends play some fast, youthful punk. I sang along with The Sidekicks so hard that it almost all came up. Good friends gathered. Austin and I felt honored. The house was a mess of dead leaves and crumbs and cans. We had to do a rush clean up for the family coming over to eat the next afternoon. I’m lucky I slept at all. I have Olivia to thank for nurturing me and my too-many-sweets tummy ache so I could sleep. THANKS FRIENDS! Here’s to a quarter century!

10/17/09 @ Monster House, Columbus OH

Dave House (From the UK)

Slingshot Dakota (TOM & CARLY!)

* 4 songs of Sista Sekunden (Sweden) @ LOD

Slugging Percentage

TacoCat

Pharamones  (Oh yes. Plug in that Casio)

 The show had a big Saturday night turnout. Taco Cat from Seattle is a more punk GO-GO’s singing about UTI’s and how much they hate bike hipsters. Every song is fast and bouncy. WE DANCED. 

We had a guest who was incredibly fucked up. She was really drunk and going on about how great Paxil (an anti-depressant) was. I think she was high too.

“Where’s my best betch?” she kept saying.

“Who likes to talk to strangers?? MeeeEEEE.”

It was actually a little sad. She wanted her keys to leave. Me and others were telling her she couldn’t drive and we were trying to figure out how we could get her home. I said she could stay but I don’t know if she heard me and I don’t know if I meant it. A friend came and got her, relieving us from responsibility. Bad things can happen to people who get wrecked beyond coherency. To have people who returned for her makes me feel like she has some decent friends.

When you live with too many people you can always count on having someone to start a band with, often times, a band that is kind of a joke taken too far. Ryan and Andy started Baseball themed sludge swingers, Slugging Percentage. They played their first show ever @ Monster House field. Stevie Sidekicks sang the National Anthem with vigorous pride and Pat Pheramone threw the first pitch. Strike! Pat also screen printed them official uniforms. Seriously. Thank god they took a 7th inning stretch, circle pitting around the base path is exhausting.

10/16/09 @ a church, Zainesville OH

Zang

Horrible Creeps

Kyle Jones

Marbles for Eyes

Letters To The Moon

Joke hardcore band

Levi Funk and the Blame

Zanesville was once our state’s capital. Now it lies about 55 miles away from our current capital and my home in Columbus. I once heard someone say that kids from Zanesville think Columbus is the bright lights and big city so they move here. I would say that’s not entirely true and they figure out it’s not soon enough anyway. Zanesville is famous for a bridge that crosses the Muskingum River in the shape of a Y. It is the only bridge of it’s kind. Remarkable right?  I’d say it is a rural city with a lot of churches and God people and a few folks who love driving in the mud and some parents getting all fanatical over a high school football rivalry. That sounds like a lot of Ohio places actually. It is a refurbished courthouse type of place. Homemade ice cream, antique hunting place. I don’t mean anything bad by it. I’ve met some fine people from there.

My old roomie Dylan grew up there. My friend and poem editor (thanks!) Alison grew up there. They were and are high school sweeties. Dylan always called it Insanesville. He was part of a metally grind scene there in the early oughts. A Legion hall or fire hall would be rented and all the bands from the area would rage. Everyone would come out. I went to two such shows. One that was canceled by some biker dicks at a Legion hall and moved to a parents basement. We had to follow a train of cars on dark back roads to find the show. A now defunct Columbus band, Young Zeus, that predated Tin Armor, pulled into the wrong driveway and had a guy with a shotgun walk out to see just what they were doing.

The second show was at a packed fire hall and way too many bands played. A horrible breakdown, techy-metal band started their set with, “C’mon you pussys! Let’s see what you got!” I knew those kids needed a little more exposure to the world.

Some kids there are currently starting to throw more shows again. This show took place in a church basement. I guess the guy with the PA who has been helping with the shows is trying to get all the kids into Christianity using shows as the spring board. I don’t agree with that. It doesn’t give many options for young kids to form an identity. It offers the ‘right way’ and the ‘wrong way’ and no discourse. I don’t trust the hidden agenda of “subculture missionaries.” I was happy to know at Dylan’s last show ever in Zanesville with his band Bohemian Grove, he went on a rant against religious structure and had his mic turned off. That was how his band’s final set ever ended.

This was Horrible Creeps (Columbus by way of Zanesville) first show ever. Fucking loud and aggressive and aggravated. Grungey hardcore, totally about to fall apart. I liked it.

A joke hardcore band played and offered Andy Gardner a mic. Before you knew it, he was belly-on-the-ground, scooting the mic along with his head, squirming all fish like and shouting like an animal. I guess he had felt sick all night until he did that. I was impressed.

Our first ever performance in Zanesville went well; though I felt like a footnote to some younger kids socializing. It is good to remember small town scenes; the triumphs and pitfalls. We were happy to be welcomed and have the chance to meet some Zanesvilians trying to make their town a little less boring.

@ Carabar

State Song (Cutsey tootsy acoustic pop from Dayton)

Saint Seneca (I bought Grace a beer; a nice one, for her Birthday)

10/15/09 @ Monster House, Columbus OH

Diamond Mines

Yoni Gordon and The Goods

Nervous Sex

Drums Like Machines

Sword Heaven

This show seriously benefited from cooperation between our house and Skylab. More people came out. There was more variety and spontaneity during the show. Something for all of the senses. I am all for the efforts of many coming together for a common good. In this case, a show.

Yoni Gordon and The Goods are from Boston. Comparable to the song writer punk of Ted Leo and The Pharmacists. It is poppy but with a definite edge to it. Yoni is a performer too. So much so that I had to shy away and not clap during a demanded clapping breakdown. It infringed upon the reserved image I wanted to keep for the night. I was surprised by their latest CD. It is full of hooks and solid songs that pep up a day.

Nervous Sex from Philly was awesome to watch. Manic keyboards fought for attention and wild percussion sent drum stick shavings into the air. It was noisy but with structure. They are a very good live act, recommended for anyone who loves to see people freak out while playing intense music.

This was my first time seeing locally and internationally known noise / performance art masters, Sword Heaven. It was frightening. The foundation of our house shook. The neighbors poked their heads out their door and said, “What’s going on?” I guess Max was outside and told them it was coming from a couple doors down. Sword Heaven is only a two piece but they make a thundering roar; full of throat violence, microphoned drums, and strange amplified metal on metal sounds. Maybe the loudest band that has played our house. It is music that would be an appropriate soundtrack for morphing into a rabid beast.

10/10/09 Ace of Cups, Cairo IL

Matt Tobey (solo acoustic, dreams that fill a coloring book, IN)

Paul Baribeau (solo acoustic, passion, charm, facial hair, ocean pop, IN)

Letters To The Moon (me and lisa, POP, OH)

Eric Ayotte (song writer, thoughtful, you like The Mountain Goats? IN)

Hunger Strike Riot (folk punx)

Spoke Pants of the Flowering Skillet ( Missouri , 3 part harmony, mountain music, gospel influenced by the devil)

Gerd Dembowski (German, noise maker, story teller, politics/love/life)

Gadabout Films (Humorous shorts presented by Eric)

Cairo is a city that lies in Illinois where the Mississippi and Ohio River meet. Cairo , pronounced “Kay-row,” is America ’s only city surrounded by levees. It could be wiped out by Mother Nature easily. Once a growing place thanks to commerce from the rivers, the population is now down around 3,000. It is dwindling and collapsing on itself. The rivers may not have broken over the walls in years but the people do more and more. We, as mighty Ohio explorers in foreign land, needed to tread the empty streets; poke our heads in abandoned buildings with mold in the air, and find a dead raccoon somewhere. A sign when you enter Cairo prohibits smuggling cigarettes from out of town to sell.

Our friend Chris, founder of Plan-it-X records, was hosting the grand opening of his not for profit community space and coffee shop called, “The Ace of Cups.” He moved to the dying town to escape corporate America and it’s slimy, engulfing tentacles. He wanted to go somewhere with no hope for much of anything to hopefully build something different: A real community with human cooperation and interaction making it strong, out of the shadow of the Wal-world and Starbucks. He bought a building for less than a college education and with the help of his partner Adrienne and his friend Zak, fixed up the three floor brick giant to suit their living and ‘business’ needs. Their work thus far is impressive and inspiring. A powerful storm ripped off part of the roof one night and they had no choice but to learn a bit about roofing to save their place from rain.

The city was un-real. A playground of dilapidated buildings with any business wind blown out of them. Houses sit and rot on some streets. A stray dog that Andy called “Buck” showed us around. He took us to the wide river’s bank as loaded freighters dragged by. A man down by the water yelled up to us.

“JOE JOE. Der youarr. JOE JOOOO. HE about fideen blocks from home.” His accent was thick and southern. He was hard to understand through the few teeth he had but we knew he was thrilled to find his old pup. He had to be around 70 himself. He took off his belt, leashed up Joe Joe, threw him in the pick up truck’s passenger side, and drove off.

We walked on. We snuck into an old fashioned theater called “The Gem” and victoriously took the stage.

When hunger rose up, we went to the only diner in town called the Nu Diner. We were the only people there except for some motor cyclers passing through. The waitress identified us all on our separate checks. “Lip ring.” “Grey sweat shirt.”

Before the show began, we drove passed Cairo ’s 2 Mansions to a playground to mess around. Andy fell off of a teeter-totter as if he planned it. It was balletic except for the massive thud his body made slamming the ground. I just about pissed my pants.

Cairo is a place where there are so few people that you simply say exactly what people are and people know who you mean. The nuns. The gay couple. The artist. The missionaries. A man stopped us on our walk back to The Ace of Cups after exploring.

“I just have to ask. What is going on today? I’ve seen a lot of young folks walking around.”

We filled him in. He said he felt sorry for our friend making a business. He told us the city has just died out and that it was a sad shame to see the state of decay. You could see some memories hidden from us in his eyes. I could see him reconstructing a place he used to know as brighter. He was 96 and sharper than most of my friends.

“Well, I got the little lady in the car (93) and we are headed home. We were at the fried chicken dinner at the church.”

He invited us to the dinner. We declined with plans already made. One thing Cairo does have is a lot of churches, but not even religion could fix a city where you can down a bottle of liquor right outside of the store.

The grand opening was a success of sorts. Friends from out of town made up most of the gathering. Support is one of friendships biggest trophy’s. Some people from a wedding in town gave business. The gay couple came. Some city people interested and confused came in. Music livened the night and so did the potluck. It felt ceremonious.

Chris is twisting our arms to move in. There is something exciting about it in a mad way; pay money to own something- work for yourself and the city- build something up. But I get lonely. I need people around. Friends, aquintances, enemies, family, cats. And places to put my money somewhere. Things to buy and stuff in plastic. Americans enjoy the company of plastic. It wraps us up. The hum of Columbus keeps me for now.

10/8/09 in a garage, Dayton OH

SOK!

New Creases

Drunken Boat

Rad Company

I was granted a free ride to this show as New Creases official roadie and band manager. I know I can move equipment with the best of them, but managing; I can hardly manage myself sometimes. Maryn was on duty with me too and we made sure people danced while New Creases played. It was a tough task but we pulled through.

The show took place in a garage just outside of Dayton . Three out of the four bands did different Jawbreaker covers. Drunken Boat was standing on the couches in the back of the garage jumping around and swinging pillows. They swatted a fluorescent light fixture right off the ceiling, sending it crashing to the ground. Part of it hit me in the head but I was fine enough to laugh. They were good guests and swept it up.

Seeing Drunken Boat for the second night in a row made me feel like a fan boy. Buying all their records and a t-shirt and wearing Harris’ leather jacket to impersonate him solidified me as one. As promised, I stayed awake for the ride home riding shotgun, talking to Mickey as everyone else passed out. I ended up losing the records I bought in the New Creases van under mounds of shitty CDR demos or maybe Taco Bell wrappers. Or someone at 15^th House with a perpetually growing pop-punk record collection acquired them from me miraculously. I think I should quit music and go into the roadie business. I seem to have a pretty good time and I don’t miss any notes.

10/7/09 @ SKYLAB, Columbus OH

All Eyes Path

God Willing

Earth Crown

Drunken Boat

I booked this show downtown at Skylab. I made a pot of chili at home to bring along. I strapped my concoction to the back rack of Austin’s bike and when I tried to head out the door with the bike, it tipped off and spilled all over the carpet. I cleaned it up quickly and was so irritated that I stubbornly and dangerously rode all the way downtown holding the large pot of what remained on my lap while biking.

The show turned out to be a good one. It was a combined effort of Skylab regulars and Monster House regulars. It was a 2 noise band, 1 hip hop group, and 1 pop punk band show.

A long gone summer love showed up to the show and of course I was wearing this persons pants that I never returned. I was hoping she didn’t notice.  I drank beer rather quickly to try and stay calm. That is a funny tactic for remaining calm because I didn’t, I became more audibly nervous.  As Billy Bragg sang, “The past is always knocking incessantly…. I won’t be the first to say it’s over.” I survived after some fragments of regret for how it ended settled.

Drunken Boat is one of my favorite current punk bands. They live up to their name. I have seen them be a Drunken Boat riding high on the wave crests and a Drunken Boat awfully close to the rocks. They are real to me. Their songs are so passionate and memorable. They play songs soaked in life living. It’s desperate and urgently hopeful. They sing gritty punk songs that get stuck under your finger nails like a good summer adventure that involved climbing. Harris’ throat is strained and his blue veins show through his red face as he sings like he was drinking gravel. Samia sings with just as much throat rattle but with higher range. They are a brother band too with Harris’ little brother Seth on bass, performing vocal duties as well. They were more than a month in on a little more than a two month tour but you wouldn’t have guessed it. They are resilient and their music makes me feel the same way; like anything bad that could happen will just add to the power of the song.

Drunken Boat came to stay at Monster House. With limited overnight parking in our neighborhood, I rode with them to park on King Ave. , a few blocks away. We walked past the old Hunter house in our walk towards Monster. I met Harris at Hunter house in Summer 2004. He was on tour playing bass in Bent Outta Shape. Delay played the show. I didn’t even officially live in Columbus at that time. We we were waiting to move in down the street in early Fall. Bent used all of our equipment because most of theirs broke or they left it at previous shows. Donations were strongly encouraged because they had van tire issues too. When I pointed out the house to Harris, he fell behind for awhile as I walked on. I think he just stood and looked at the house, maybe appreciating a memory of the late Jamie Ewing. I remember him singing with his eyes closed in the living room while the few punk kids that stuck around Columbus for the summer, shuffled their feet to their corrupted youth anthems on a wooden floor covered in cat hair. I think about that day from time to time too. It had an impact on a few of us that has lasted.

10/1/09 @ Monster House, Columbus OH

Joe Cam

Wheels On Fire

Jail

October’s first show was slow and under attended. It happens. I felt so awkward during the first set of the nite that I forget to enjoy the Samosa I had bought from Champs Market. I just stuffed it down my throat to ease discomfort. The sound of the nite came from Milwaukee ’s Jail. They played like a Juke Box got kicked full of 50’s rock n’ roll and a few 60’s garage pop songs. You could twist to everyone song and appreciate the simple melodies that latched on to the dusty walls. I bought their tape. If you like The Reigning Sound or any of that throw back shake rattle and roll stuff, you should be pleased with Jail.

9/30/09 @ 15^th House, Columbus OH

Haywire Desire

The Read

Cruddy

Onion Flavored Rings

I felt like I was in high school walking to this show with my roommates. We were ready for our secret of punk rock as we walked past the college world. People passed us headed off to bars and parties and they had no idea where we were going. We were ready to have our feet stepped on while dust is kicked up off the basement floor. My enthusiasm for the show was unwavering. We were drinking whiskey and ginger ale in old pop bottles. It was a packed show of townies and out-of-towners.

Locals Haywire Desire began the show. They are a newer Columbus band. Britt Poison from Rag Rage sang and played the riffs. Chad played drums and Brian Deller of Griot zine fame played bass. They have a more classic punk sound with a major influence from Bay Area punk and Region Rock.

The Read’s uncompromising, never resting dance punk got everyone moving and in a loose mood.

Cruddy is a punk band from Austin , TX . They played choppy, straight ahead songs. I would say they had an influence from 80’s punk and definitely stuff like The Wipers. Catchy and full of attitude. Cheap and good like low end Milwaukee beer.

Columbus received Onion Flavored Rings with late night love. “More songs about girls and science!” yelled Drew from Cruddy. They gave us a full set of old songs and new. Getting to meet them all and hang out made the show all the better. Get their 2 latest 7”s. They have the hits.

9/29/09 @ Brown Town, Athens OH

Snarlas

Poppy Cock

Delay

Onion Flavored Rings

We all rushed home from work and then rushed to get into the car to get to Athens. We have no handle on ourselves when we rush. We get moody like babies that need naps. Brown Town shows start early. Jesse was going to drive and meet us. Then he called last minute and needed a ride. Already on the highway, we turned around and got him and somehow fit him in our beige station wagon (Blanch) along with all of our equipment and Amanda. We were late and frustrated with each other. We have communication issues like a long running marriage.

Things were fine though and when we arrived; late- We loaded in like a sports team. Brown Town is always welcoming with great vegan food and hugs so it was hard to stay sour. We missed Snarlas, formery known as Sister Shuffle and arrived during a collegey band from town called Poppy Cock. They were strange. They lost me with their bird-brained lyrics concerning women.

Seeing Onion Flavored Rings play was awesome. I respect and admire this Bay Area born band. They have some years on me. They give me hope because they have grown in punk and progressed in punk and still make music I would play to lift my energy in a day. I consume it like extra strong coffee to get me livened up.  Each band member has done something rad i.e wrote a book or zine. They have been in some other notable bands too… Funyans who used to play on the street just to shake things up. Crimpshrine, super influential on pop-punk. Horrible Odds, sorrowful nostalgia punk.

After the show, we stopped for fries at O Betty’s. I got garlic fries with enough Garlic to scare off a colony of vampires. I caught I ride home with Sam, Kaitlyn, Steve, Pat, R. Star and stunk up the van. We listened to Regina Spektor and sang loudly and carelessly.