ABC No Electro
Joe Piglet/The Cankickers/Bread & Roses/Erik Petersen//ABC No Rio//4/2/06
I almost didn't go to this and it was almost BBQ By The BQE. Boss Martians were playing Magnetic Fields and even tho they're okay, I still haven't been to Magnetic Fields, and the $8 included a BBQ. Then I saw the benefit for ABC and I wanted to go, the bands sound cool, but I'd already planned on going to Magnetic Fields. Yeah, but this is a benefit for ABC No Rio; that's important, I told myself. Then I saw that there's going to be a BBQ for the ABC show, and it's a dollar less. (I probably shouldn't've said that out loud.) And for a good cause. Hey, I'm poor not cheap.
Joe told us to sit down since he was going to be sitting down, passed around candles, and dimmed the lights. I freaked out for a sec with everyone shifting positions, passing open fires around, and then holding lit candles in a packed room. He said it was to distract us from his guitar playing, but that wasn't Joe's problem. I've only seen the Stockyard Stoics maybe 5X and the hardcore folksinging was quite a switch. I honestly didn't know what to make of the 1st 2 songs, but by the 3rd song, it all kicked in. Joe also passed around a tray of bits of veggie dogs to roast over the candles, and then Teddy Grahams, miniature marshmallows, and chocolate chips for s'mores and I worried that there'd be no need to raise funds to renevate the bldg because at the rate we were going, there wouldn't be any bldg. He closed with a song about hating aggressive skinheads at shows and had a guy come up to wear a bald cap to play the skinhead as well as drawing a mustache on him in order to play a cop busting up a fight. "The humor doesn't really come across when we're plugged in," he said at one point, but it does.
It turns out that the veggie burgers had corn in it, so I guess that's what I get for choosing to go to the benefit only because it was less money. The Cankickers are a folky, acoustic, olde tymey Americana trio complete with fiddle, harmonica, and banjo who also happened to kick some serious ass, if not cans. (Then again, maybe that's what they mean by Cankickers--except their sticker had beer cans on it.) I wished we weren't in a tiny packed room so we could all have a proper barnstorming and dance around. Their drummer was out of control, standing behind his kit and really laying into it and working up a total sweat.
After that we were all milling about, eating BBQ, I waited for them to fire up the apple kabobs, and I went back into the performance space to wait, pissed that I didn't have anything to read and what's taking everyone so long to do something. Then I hear music outside. Bread & Roses were playing in the backyard garden and it was a cool sight to behold, this 6-piece folkpunk band w/upright bass, fiddle, and mandolin outside in a city garden, creating and playing music in the midst of these buildings. It was packed outside and the weather was great, but the chills I got were from this band and the vibe. They're called an anarchist band in Wikipedia, but they're more anarchronists. They're from Boston, and I can only hope that if RebelMart ever has a gig with them there, it's near the Chinatown bus station so I can go. And that it's on a weekend. Because that would be one worthy of a trip like that.
I have to admit that I had no idea who this Erik Petersen guy was until he set up his merch. I suppose I could've done a search on him like I did for The Cankickers and Bread & Roses (or maybe I'm just out of touch), but I figured that if he's on a bill like this, there's a good chance he's probably worthy. If Dan Bern and Ani DiFranco had a son, it would be Erik Petersen. With a guitar way too pristine for his music and a Dickies guitar strap (red stars, of course), his 1st song was about getting rid of Under God and moving on to the liberty part. The next one was Boycott Me! The whole room was singing every word and I couldn't help but laugh because this was like seeing Dan Bern 10 years ago--and I just saw Scott do this the other day, and do it better. "Hi, I'm Erik Petersen and I call what I do Mischief Brew."
Now, I know that all the subcatergories in the Voice's Best-Of issue are totally made up with the specific winner already in mind, but how is it humanly possible that someone from Philly won "Best Anarchist Political Folk-Punk Singer" in the "best of NYC" issue and Scott MX Turner didn't? Also, I realize that my RMart review sounded incredibly half-assed and dismissive, but I couldn't help but compare the 2 (and I had that job thing on my mind) and I didn't want to tip my hand about what was to come and after spending $25.68 the next day at Kinko's to get it finished did I realize that I should've written that a fuller review is in the November archives and/or to check back here in the near future. It's just that the things I had a problem with about Mischief Brew really brought home for me everything that's right about RebelMart. With Mischief Brew, I just got the feeling that Petersen approaches MB by standing back and looking at the big picture and doesn't see the beauty of an individual brushstroke, can't see the forest for the trees. It's kinda the same feeling I got the last few times I saw Dan Bern perform. And I kept looking around at the crowd, still singing every word, trying to see if I recognized anyone from Dan's shows--and trying to gauge how old they were. Because I also got the feeling that Dan Bern is the missing link to all this and it's like an important evolutionary step was skipped, if that makes any sense. The way he started out brought to mind someone impatient to get his chance on the soapbox so he pushed to the front of the line before he forgot what he was going to say and doesn't reach people on an individual basis. I also thought he was a little bit of a snarky wiseass (after all, his slogan is "Folk The System"), a feeling you don't get from seeing RebelMart, who is a bit more poised and confident when performing. (Wait, did I just say that RebelMart is mature? Well, I'm at the Internet Cafe and just at a sandwich that's been sitting around for a while, so I'm probably delirious.) And even though that was the 1st time I saw Mischief Brew and only had 2 pix left because I'm trying to save film, I pretty much doubt I'd ever get as cool a pic of him as I have of Scott. Funny thing about the Mischief Brew site, tho: he uses the quote/unquote "Spunk Lads Font." I couldn't help but feel happy from hearing him (because it just proves that RebelMart has a shot at it) and yes, people do mosh to anarchist political folk-punk singers (See, that's another reason I love Turner's version of Town That I Loved So Well--I'm picturing the crowd rocking out and bouncing off each other and off walls), and people do throw money at their merch table. He closed with Jawbreaker's Boxcar: "You're not punk and I'm telling everyone, save your breath I never was one.... One, Two, Three, Four, who's punk, what's the score?"
Still, I was even singing along at some points. And there are worse things for Petersen to do than doing Mischief Brew, I guess, like being a former member of a boy band, being a Bush supporter. Stuff like that.
I almost didn't go to this and it was almost BBQ By The BQE. Boss Martians were playing Magnetic Fields and even tho they're okay, I still haven't been to Magnetic Fields, and the $8 included a BBQ. Then I saw the benefit for ABC and I wanted to go, the bands sound cool, but I'd already planned on going to Magnetic Fields. Yeah, but this is a benefit for ABC No Rio; that's important, I told myself. Then I saw that there's going to be a BBQ for the ABC show, and it's a dollar less. (I probably shouldn't've said that out loud.) And for a good cause. Hey, I'm poor not cheap.
Joe told us to sit down since he was going to be sitting down, passed around candles, and dimmed the lights. I freaked out for a sec with everyone shifting positions, passing open fires around, and then holding lit candles in a packed room. He said it was to distract us from his guitar playing, but that wasn't Joe's problem. I've only seen the Stockyard Stoics maybe 5X and the hardcore folksinging was quite a switch. I honestly didn't know what to make of the 1st 2 songs, but by the 3rd song, it all kicked in. Joe also passed around a tray of bits of veggie dogs to roast over the candles, and then Teddy Grahams, miniature marshmallows, and chocolate chips for s'mores and I worried that there'd be no need to raise funds to renevate the bldg because at the rate we were going, there wouldn't be any bldg. He closed with a song about hating aggressive skinheads at shows and had a guy come up to wear a bald cap to play the skinhead as well as drawing a mustache on him in order to play a cop busting up a fight. "The humor doesn't really come across when we're plugged in," he said at one point, but it does.
It turns out that the veggie burgers had corn in it, so I guess that's what I get for choosing to go to the benefit only because it was less money. The Cankickers are a folky, acoustic, olde tymey Americana trio complete with fiddle, harmonica, and banjo who also happened to kick some serious ass, if not cans. (Then again, maybe that's what they mean by Cankickers--except their sticker had beer cans on it.) I wished we weren't in a tiny packed room so we could all have a proper barnstorming and dance around. Their drummer was out of control, standing behind his kit and really laying into it and working up a total sweat.
After that we were all milling about, eating BBQ, I waited for them to fire up the apple kabobs, and I went back into the performance space to wait, pissed that I didn't have anything to read and what's taking everyone so long to do something. Then I hear music outside. Bread & Roses were playing in the backyard garden and it was a cool sight to behold, this 6-piece folkpunk band w/upright bass, fiddle, and mandolin outside in a city garden, creating and playing music in the midst of these buildings. It was packed outside and the weather was great, but the chills I got were from this band and the vibe. They're called an anarchist band in Wikipedia, but they're more anarchronists. They're from Boston, and I can only hope that if RebelMart ever has a gig with them there, it's near the Chinatown bus station so I can go. And that it's on a weekend. Because that would be one worthy of a trip like that.
I have to admit that I had no idea who this Erik Petersen guy was until he set up his merch. I suppose I could've done a search on him like I did for The Cankickers and Bread & Roses (or maybe I'm just out of touch), but I figured that if he's on a bill like this, there's a good chance he's probably worthy. If Dan Bern and Ani DiFranco had a son, it would be Erik Petersen. With a guitar way too pristine for his music and a Dickies guitar strap (red stars, of course), his 1st song was about getting rid of Under God and moving on to the liberty part. The next one was Boycott Me! The whole room was singing every word and I couldn't help but laugh because this was like seeing Dan Bern 10 years ago--and I just saw Scott do this the other day, and do it better. "Hi, I'm Erik Petersen and I call what I do Mischief Brew."
Now, I know that all the subcatergories in the Voice's Best-Of issue are totally made up with the specific winner already in mind, but how is it humanly possible that someone from Philly won "Best Anarchist Political Folk-Punk Singer" in the "best of NYC" issue and Scott MX Turner didn't? Also, I realize that my RMart review sounded incredibly half-assed and dismissive, but I couldn't help but compare the 2 (and I had that job thing on my mind) and I didn't want to tip my hand about what was to come and after spending $25.68 the next day at Kinko's to get it finished did I realize that I should've written that a fuller review is in the November archives and/or to check back here in the near future. It's just that the things I had a problem with about Mischief Brew really brought home for me everything that's right about RebelMart. With Mischief Brew, I just got the feeling that Petersen approaches MB by standing back and looking at the big picture and doesn't see the beauty of an individual brushstroke, can't see the forest for the trees. It's kinda the same feeling I got the last few times I saw Dan Bern perform. And I kept looking around at the crowd, still singing every word, trying to see if I recognized anyone from Dan's shows--and trying to gauge how old they were. Because I also got the feeling that Dan Bern is the missing link to all this and it's like an important evolutionary step was skipped, if that makes any sense. The way he started out brought to mind someone impatient to get his chance on the soapbox so he pushed to the front of the line before he forgot what he was going to say and doesn't reach people on an individual basis. I also thought he was a little bit of a snarky wiseass (after all, his slogan is "Folk The System"), a feeling you don't get from seeing RebelMart, who is a bit more poised and confident when performing. (Wait, did I just say that RebelMart is mature? Well, I'm at the Internet Cafe and just at a sandwich that's been sitting around for a while, so I'm probably delirious.) And even though that was the 1st time I saw Mischief Brew and only had 2 pix left because I'm trying to save film, I pretty much doubt I'd ever get as cool a pic of him as I have of Scott. Funny thing about the Mischief Brew site, tho: he uses the quote/unquote "Spunk Lads Font." I couldn't help but feel happy from hearing him (because it just proves that RebelMart has a shot at it) and yes, people do mosh to anarchist political folk-punk singers (See, that's another reason I love Turner's version of Town That I Loved So Well--I'm picturing the crowd rocking out and bouncing off each other and off walls), and people do throw money at their merch table. He closed with Jawbreaker's Boxcar: "You're not punk and I'm telling everyone, save your breath I never was one.... One, Two, Three, Four, who's punk, what's the score?"
Still, I was even singing along at some points. And there are worse things for Petersen to do than doing Mischief Brew, I guess, like being a former member of a boy band, being a Bush supporter. Stuff like that.
posted by heather @ 8:37 PM
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