The Kickstand

The Kickstand is a community oriented bike shop, venue and thrift store. If you have not heard about it — it’s about time.

The quirky warehouse has one half of its grounds devoted to the thrift shop, which raises money for its main project, the bike shop, which is housed on the other side. The stage area is somewhere in the middle. The Kickstand was started late last year by Ani Previc.

As a venue, the place has a good vibe. There is no air conditioning and it can be quite a drive from campus, but the otherwise great atmosphere is worth the discomforts. On the walls hang local artwork for sale. Painted bicycles and Christmas lights also decorate the red interior. The people are nice and everything is in the name of DIY bike repair.

It is a gigantic building, but can be difficult to find. The most helpful directions have come from Glypher, creator of Gainesvillebands.com, who backs The Kickstand as a committee member. He has a picture of the area on his news forum.

The Alligator has done two pieces on The Kickstand. The first is a multimedia article, which has pictures of the interior being constructed and is narrated by Vyki Englert. In the piece, Chelsea Carnes is quoted as stressing the importance of the venue aspect of The Kickstand.

My band opened for a show at the Kickstand somewhere in May. It was a great time. My girlfriend came down from Tallahassee to witness. My newspaper editor and her friends also came. A modest slew of others too (including a roommate).

Jon Crocker played after us, and really got intimate with the crowd, telling stories and making jokes mid-songs. Everyone sat around him in a circle in a style reminiscent of of elementary school story time. A dog hopped around the crowd and interrupted many musical moments.

The seemingly awkward highschool band, Max’s Birthday played after Crocker. Their piano driven indie music was fun. Here is a picture of what the stage looked like with them on it.

The last band to play was the Muse/Radiohead-esque Dead Songwriters. A very talented group of musicians who are originally from Ocala.

The place can only get better and I hear they have already improved the venue with new equipment. A list of upcoming Kickstand shows can be found here. I strongly urge you to support them.

I earnestly hope the place becomes big — it deserves to. The many volunteers backing The Kickstand have big hearts and great ambitions for the place.

The Kickstand has both a MySpace and a website. Check them out and go to their shows. Learn how to get your bike fixed if necissary. If you do not have one, let them help you build one.

Lillian’s Jam Nights

I wish more people would go to Lillian’s Music Store on Mondays for their open mic nights. I myself, am a culprit of not going often enough. The last time I was there was was back in March; a “new, fresh and seemingly disjointed band” called Bandits were playing there for their first show. Previous to that, the last time I set foot in Lillian’s was somewhere in 2006 for my own band’s first show.

I have fond memories of playing at Lillians; rocking out in front of a small group of 40-something-year-old regulars and about three friends who stuck around on a Monday night. There is nothing to make you more humble.

The dynamics and location of the place create a strange vibe. The last time I was there, a man from a club next door called the music inside, “some country music there.” Tim and Terry’s is more of the hot spot for open mic nights and general jamming, but I think Lillian’s would be much more fun, with better sound, if people would give it a chance. It is a great place to see bands get a shaky start.

The tradition goes: before anyone can start playing, the house band must open. It is an amusing quirk to the bar. Their songs rarely change and are predominately bluesy covers of popular songs from before 1976. The drummer, and co-coordinator, looks like a gentlemanly gremlin. He sings on the songs that work best with his country tinged sound, songs like “Sitting on The Dock of the Bay.” The guitarist seems droopy and sad, but plays some mean licks. He sings on most of the other songs. The bassist, meanwhile, stands corpse stiff, with a constant deer in the headlights look on his face. I find him to be hilariously archetypal of a rock bassist. Only his fingers seem to move. Overall, I find them to be a blast: a hoot if you will.

But that is just my two cents. Here is their MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/lilliansmusicstore

Go out and judge for yourself. Keep me company in that strange, strange venue.

Action Research Show #24 on June 13

I went to the show not knowing what to expect. Supposedly, even veterans of Action Research shows do not know what to expect.

Both Action Research, headed by Andrew Chadwick, and Alternative SubSouth, a similar movement headed by Chris Miller, have been gaining steady popularity as an alternative to the “guitar hegemony” of Gainesville music.

An article I wrote in “The Alligator” describes Action Research in depth.  Unfortunately, I did not get to describe in detail my experience at that particular show and make an example of the kinds of performances that can be expected.

I was initially going to use samples of the bands that I recorded on my cellphone, but after being notified of the YouTube videos available, have inserted them where appropriate.

Hal McGee performed first at Action Research #24, playing synthesizer as part of a duet with trumpet player, Jay Peele. McGee has been described by Miller as the “Bo Diddley” of experiential music.

Royallen was next. His music was described on the promotional posters as “records and tapes on a play date.” The description is quite accurate. He is a solo act, switching between a record player and tape player, both which blast out children’s songs, books on tape and other assortments of sound clips. One of his machines broke at the end of the show and he frustratingly threw it down, ending his performance on a happy hoe down.

In the same dimly lit back room as Royallen, Kane Pour under the performance name, Pospullen, looped his guitar, bass and synthesizer into beautiful symphonies. He was one of my favorite live performances of the night.

Andrew Barranca, under the name GayBomb, was probably the best known performer at Action Research #24. In his performance he used two Califone Magnetic Card Readers: devices originally intended to help children read. Sitting on the floor and using his spidery limbs, Barranca frenziedly swiped cards through the machines in order to play prerecorded samples of piercing distortion and thunderous wailing. The sound was akin to urban myths of what Satan would sound like communicating through a Led Zeppelin record played backwards.

Dave Armitage, a UF graduate student who performed under the name, No Limit Cycle, gave one of the most intense performances of the night. The whole thing sounded like a soundtrack from a suspense thriller. His voice echoed into a vocoder and he switched between tweaking knobs on foot pedals, clicking mysterious icons on his computer and playing heavy metal riffs on his untuned guitar.

Later, sitting on an old pew and a couple of chairs, Glockenshock, a glockenspiel quartet, played their hand-held mallet instruments in synchronized patterns. It reminded me of the simplistic band class exercises in third grade.

Towards the end of the night, prowling through the audience on ten gallon buckets, spreading yarn and eventually spasming on the concrete floor, was the dance duo known as Triscults.

All together, there were ten performances at Action Research #24, with two collaborations – and most importantly, it ended at a reasonable time. The show was like a sample disc of all the experiential bands in the area. I wish more shows would follow their example.

I am very disappointed that I missed their July 12 show, as I was not only looking forward to it, but desperately wanted to prove that I did not only attend the other show in order to write a story. The concept of the show was interesting in that it pitted Action Research against Electronic SubSouth in a semi-collaborative match up. What a great idea and what a great combination.

I immplore you to visit Action Research and see their upcoming shows at: http://www.myspace.com/actionresearch

Action Researchness = Weirdness = More words that end in “ness”

I suppose I will mention my last article.

It came out well — to say the least. That last part was unnecessary.

Anyways, it was an interesting process. I discovered a new stereotype: experimental musicians are even more awkward than “normal” musicians. Imagine that.

I interviewed a lot more people than were in the story, but maybe the extra bodies were unnecessary.

There is an interesting documentary about the Action Research movement, which I will put here (as well as a link to the story).

Action Research story

That is it for the night. I started too late. Vague promises of more later.

It was a grave mistake and I am sorry; I did not put Talib Kweli on my list of best rappers

* This post was started on April 16. I have decided to publish it as is. Enjoy.

Talib Kweli should have been number one on my list of best rappers.

A recap of the list I made quite a few posts ago had Nas, Big Boi, Tupac, Bob Dylan, Grand Master Flash, the Wutang Clan, Sage Francis and the Fugees as kings of the hip-hop genre.

Kweli’s lyrical skills are unmatched. When you combine him with other artists like KRS-1, Common, Kanye West (like was done on his latest album), you have a force to be reckoned with. Not t mention, the tastefully done gospel choir on his single, “Hostile Gospel Pt. II.” The music video has a wailing church choir on a beach and Kweli somehow looking badass riding on the back of a scooter in Africa.

I also have an older album with both Kweli and Mos Def and it is oozing with clever, politically charged lyrics. It fills your brain to the brim with knowledge and spills out your ears as you nod your head to the beat. My favorite song is actually one about sex. And unlike 50 Cent’s “Candy Shop” or Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” — it is actually good.

I could go on for ages. Just go listen to him.

Ongakuga keko edu (That may or may not mean something)

So, this has been quite a long hiatus. Part of the time I have been in Japan; part of it has been spent laying around being lazy.

I now write for “The Alligator” doing mostly music related stories. My last published story was a local album review on The Early Twenties. I hope to do more local albums reviews in the future.

The Early Twenties review

A story about Glypher — the man behind Gainesvillebands.com

A series of reviews that was published while I was in Japan

I like listening to rap while writing stories. I imagine it looking funnier than it probably does. I make playlists based on what I think will go well with my keyboard tapping and then wonder how it effects my writing — if at all.

Lately, I have been working on a story about experimental music and an organization trying to gather experimental musicians in Gainesville. It has been a leisurely pursuit with a far off deadline.

I listened to a lot of Japanese music while out of the States. I find that most genres in Japan seem to be tainted by the corny earnestness of pop music. Permed and straightened hair, bland cliche beats catered to every type of song, voices that fluctuate at the exact right moment, etc. Just the way the culture views music seems different. In Japan, you can rent CDs like movies. I see the industry there as attention defect, with the market moving quickly and the devotion of the audience fleeting. It is amusing to see covers of American songs translated into Japanese.

I sang in a  karaoke booth. I had watched my family before, but had never participated. “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles and some Talking Heads songs were among the selections. My uncle sang some hair metal band he remembered from his youth. My mother and him sang a pretty duet together. My little cousin sang his favorite theme songs from cartoons and children’s television shows. I drank melon soda out of a tiny cup and my youngest cousin attempted to stick his hand in it to grab ice. The microphone tended to exaggerate lows and highs, making my mother sound like Barry Manilowe at times and like Alvin the chipmunk at others. It had a lot of reverb on it to mask any bad voice, but to me that tended to make it worse. I was never a karaoke person, but I guess I can say I have done it now — in the true form before it was popularized, butchered and repackaged in the States.

Back in Gainesville: one bandmate has left and one has returned. I hope my band takes off in some respect. I just want to play shows again. I am thinking that this will happen in the fall, when everyone is conveniently here and less flighty.

And those are my musical shenanigans. Later, I will write about some new artists I have found along the way.

Futuristic Bad Girl Goes On Bad Boy Records

She is like the best parts of “The Love Below” by Andre 3000. The drum beat, the clapping, the horns, everything on the song “VSHH CyberHop Remix” screams “Hey Ya” part two. She reminds me of what David Bowie would have been if he had never left his Ziggy Stardust phase and then got a sex change instead of settling for androgyny.

As an entertainer, she is like James Brown, but more jerky and futuristic. She even cites him as a major influence. Okay, enough with the comparisons.

“I’m an alien from outer space.”

The way her voice crows at the end of “VSHH CyberHop Remix” fills your body with soul.The way she stutters some words leaves your foot tapping and your head jerking. Other songs, she tones down the quirky futuristic vibe and breaks out like a gospel girl.

I think Janelle Monae is going to blow up on the scene this year. In fact, Nouveau Magazine predicted her as one of five artists who people would know by 2008. I hope this rings true.

She has been steadily gaining a following ever since 2005 when she was featured on the “Purple Ribbon All-Star’s Compilation: Volume 2″ with her song, “Lettin’ Go.” The song became a cult hit. Later, in 2006, she was appropriately featured on The Idlewild soundtrack.

The movie clip below was ripped from MySpace. It explains how Big Boi and P. Diddy jointly discovered Monae. I find it amusing that she did not respond to P. Diddy’s initial message inquiry.

Okay, I will be honest — I cannot figure out how to embed MySpace videos into WordPress. So, here is the link:

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=34522441

If you find a bag of weed on the floor motherfucker — What the fuck you gonna do? Pick it up, pick it up…

I have been a neglectful neglecter and if this blog were a child, Child Protective Services would have investigated long ago. If you really want to know why I have been absent from here, read my personal blog … though I have neglected that blog also. I am sure an update will be there at some point.

Anyways, I want to mention the Method Man and Redman show I saw on April 23. Yes, that was almost a month ago

I need to get this down before the memory wanes.

I had trouble getting anyone to go at first, but finally got a hold of a friend through a friend who was ecstatic to accompany me. We stuck out like a sore thumb, but had the time of our lives.

The iconic duo mustered up every sinew and spick of spit to prove their worth. They worked the crowd like no other performance I had ever seen. There is no need no to hustle on the streets when they can hustle a crowd like they did.

“We aren’t only rappers, we’re also M.C.s,” Method Man said.

It could have easily turned out different with the mixed crowd of half-interested college students and “wanna-be ghetto, but really just Gainesville hick” citizens. Not many people filled the stadium, which suprised me since it was a free show. That did not end up mattering though.

As soon as they stepped on the stage, the energy was stepped up. I actually saw someone yawn during the opening acts, but mouths were only open in shouts of “Wu Tang” once Method and Red layed out their master plan.

Method jumped down into the crowd and prowled around on the chairs as he rapped the first song.

The two danced on the speaker systems, humping the air and pursing their lips. Redman did his quirky indian chop with a fist and discoed to the beat. They sprayed water bottles into the crowd, which seems like a cheap effect, but worked perfectly.

At one point, they demanded the crowd stop sitting in their designated seats and come up to the stage. The mob rushed to the front, pushing through police and security. The hands were up and waving.

They did everything from Wu Tang classics to originals from their classic stoner movie, “How High.”

It was too bad my friend and I were stuck on the side bleachers and could not bum rush the stage like everyone else. Luckily, Redman decided to come to us. He jumped the stage and climbed up the bleachers. We stood right by him and did awkward white dances with the small crowd. He fell into me to be hoisted up: a sweaty rapper falling on a weak college kid does not work out that well. We finally got him in the air and he crowd surfed off the bleachers.

“Redman fell on me!” I believe were my exact words to my girlfriend after leaving the show.

They threw leftover water bottles at the end and my friend ended up getting one. We called it “Wu Tang” water and drank it while walking home.

I heard last time Method man and Redman came to Gainesville a riot or something started. But that is just hearsay that I do not feel like researching or ruining. I can see them starting a riot.

I have gained tremendous respect for the duo. They are funny, entertaining and can rap like fuck. The whole reason I went to the show (besides the cheap price of free) was because I love Wu Tang clan and wanted to see a fraction of it through Method Man. I left with a million other reasons to have gone.

Liar, liar, pants on fire, hanging by a telephone wire.

So, I was going to finish my post about White Rabbits, but I am a liar.

So on that note, here are some great songs about liars:

“Liar” by Queen is an exquisite song and an obvious pick. The track is from their early days as a band, but still stands up to their later and more renowned work.

The multiple parts of “liar” mesh seamlessly and are arranged similar to an orchestral piece, although it fails to be even near as ambitious as their later hit, “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

My favorite part is when the tempo and mood shifts to a jungle-like beat. Freddy Mercury comes in with his shimmering vocals: “Mama, I’m gonna be your slave.” The band responds with a falsetto “all night long.”

Heavy guitar riffs are prominent in the song; as well as drum solos, a feature not often heard from Queen.

Electronica, doo-wop, rock, avant garde, jazz: Try to find a label for TV On The Radio and you will probably fall flat on your face stumbling over the genres.

It all started with their first major release, “Young Liars.”

The EP kicked off their career as one of rock’s most innovative bands. Tracks like “Staring at the Sun” and the Pixies cover, “Mr. Grieves” showcased their potential for what would turn out to be the tip of the iceberg.

The title track, “Young Liars,” is impressive in itself. A noble song; I imagine the lead singer, Tunde Adebimpe, riding a white stallion to a castle guarded by tarantulas while tripping on shrooms and singing the song.

The man is quite entertaining live — waving his hands in shooing motions and grabbing the back of his head. The other 2/5 of the band faces away from the audience, deeply involved in their amps and effects; entertaining also in its own awkward light.

The textures, the whistling, the wooing and the wind chimes — I cannot get enough of them.

A last song to mention is “Lies” as sung by Glen Hansardon on the movie “Once.” The lyrics border, tumble and drown in cliche, but Hansardon’s delivery could not be more spot on. So much emotion is conveyed in the way he repeats the simple word, “lies, lies, lies.”

This can be said about all the songs on the film though, so go watch it if you have yet to do so; whether for Irish pride, indie cred, or love of acoustic guitars.

Maybe I will talk about the end of the show with White Rabbits in my next post. Of course, I am a pathological liar.

I am tired of getting links to Jefferson Airplane when I am obviously trying find the new and hip band, White Rabbits: My retelling of a night of egos.

I saw White Rabbits last night. They played in front of whatever that Greek Colosseum area is called.

It is a perfect place to witness good music: a swampish pond in the background, grass covered stone steps to sit on and a Taco Bell near by. The show was sponsored by the Reitz Union Board and I believe some fraternity/sorority/Greek organization or two.

In order to get revved up, I watched White Rabbit’s “Late Show With David Letterman” performance on YouTube. It was their television debut.

I secretly hope that they will get even bigger and then I can complain about how they were better back when I saw them in 2008.

Also on the bill last night was Band Marino and Oh Fortuna (not in that order). I will write about them too, since it seems appropriate and convenient.

I will start with Oh Fortuna since they opened. They are a local band that I have had the pleasure of playing with and seeing numerous times. They have a charismatic and goofy lead singer who occasionally picks up an acoustic guitar, which can usually hardly be heard over the synthesizers and drum-tracks. I sometimes call them “The Flaming Lips Carbon Copy From Gainesville.” The nickname is a little spiteful, but mostly I am just harmlessly poking fun at the similarities between Oh Fortuna and The Flaming Lips.

Both of the band’s music consists of multi-layered, psychedelic and slack-jawed, happy songs. J.T. Bringardner’s voice is eerily like Wayne Coyne’s.

Oh Fortuna has a gimmick where they wear costumes based on different themes (past examples include ’80s pedophiles, glam rock stars and Harry Potter characters). The costumes are a definite throwback to the Flaming Lips concert I saw last spring.

There is so much to compare between the two — even down to Bringardner and Coyne’s similar hair style. It is like that poodle hat Weird Al Yankovic sported on that one album … “Poodle Hat.”

I still love to watch Oh Fortuna, though, and despite the similarities to Flaming Lips, they definitely have a spirit of their own.

The band includes two girls who I think are there for looks, charm and further voicing to Bringardner’s falsetto crooning and the synthesizer squeals. Two guys peck at the synthesizer and drum machines during concerts. They are quite a sight, hunching over their instruments in the back, bobbing their heads, tweaking knobs and generally looking awkward. There is also two guitarists in the band.

They ended their set last night with “Five Years”, a David Bowie cover and one of my favorite songs ever to exist. They were an appropriate and cheery warmup for the next two bands. The night just kept getting better.

The professionalism was stepped up as soon as Band Marino took the stage. A random tidbit: Band Marino was voted as the number one MySpace band a year or two ago.

Time has been good to them and they are even better than remembered. I believe they replaced a member in the band, and I am not necessarily saying that this is the catalyst, but something clicked during last night’s performance.

They are a quirky band playing a hodge-podge (I like that word and tend to overuse it) of folk, indie, classic rock and … folk.

Singer, Nathan Bond, has a strangly high-pitched voice that comes out of his stout, hobbit-like body. It is funny to watch him contrasted by now bassist and longtime friend, Abraham Couch who is gangly and tall.

Their stage presence is relaxed, giddy and professional. Bond has that confidant swagger, which he partially gets away with because of the band’s impeciable and catchy music.

From a technical stand point, their recordings are some of the best I have ever heard. Their live performances are just as good.

It was a fun set filled with signature banjos, mandolins, piercing guitars, harmonies and light-hearted lyrics (strange that I feel compelled to label it light hearted when at least two songs were about death).

One song has them go through a strange life and death reenactment. The highlight of this theater performance is a strange homoerotic battle with guitars. It is difficult to explain. I saw it the last time they had a show in Gainesville, but they have since lengthened the act and elaborated with Zoro masks.

A group of girls in the crowd yelled in unison “make me cry” before the end of the set. The band poked fun of the odd request, but did end up finishing the set with “Every Time I make A Girl Cry I Know I’ve Done My Job.”

It was time for White Rabbits to play.

And now I find it too late to continue this post. I will finish tomorrow morning so check back eager readers.