ComFest, or more formally Community Festival, is a free three day event, typically held the last weekend in June. The only exceptions are years where, oddly enough, Goodale Park has rented itself out to some other function, like for example a wedding (see: 2000, 2008). You would think about 50 years of this they might say, sorry, this weekend is booked, but apparently not.
Even these loose facts haven’t always been the case, however. Originally conceived of in 1972, as a volunteer driven, non-corporate event, the first iteration was held on OSU campus, at that funky triangular intersection where E. 16th Avenue meets Waldeck, running along both of those streets. The dates bounced around quite a bit back then, and as of the mid 80s they were still hosting this thing in August. In 1983 the organizers moved instead to a vacant lot in the Short North, at the intersection of High & Russell. Finally, after ten years there, during which time the event truly blossomed and expanded from one stage into many, the sideways shift over to Goodale Park was undertaken in 1993, where it has remained ever since.
Video was a huge part of the earlier incarnations, too, on equal footing with the live music. This seems surprising, but like in this awesomely primitive program I’m looking at from 1973, there are by my count 17 performers listed (including Saturday night headliner Rahsaan Roland Kirk!) on the lone stage, but over at the UCC lawn, different films/TV segments are aired continually, most either 30 minutes or an hour long. Among these are a couple called Video Freak Games that certainly sound intriguing. And then at 1:30am on both Saturday and Sunday, it’s an all-night movie fest over there.
The programs themselves have undergone a radical transformation, too. Earliest editions have that whole typewritten zine look about them, with some segments clearly (i.e. physically) pasted in, which you can tell because they might be slightly crooked and/or display faint lines where this patch was glued into place. But man does that look mighty freaking cool, the standard old typewriter font (I believe this might be known as Courier New, at least nowadays) and double or triple spaces galore.
Then we move into the middle years. I like the covers on the 1989 and 1990 editions, some of the first stabs at getting a bit more colorful. Much like the Playboy bunny rabbit, this is part of a nice little stretch where the official Comfest logo is somewhat hidden within the artwork somewhere. In ’90 they even list the performers for all three days on the cover, and might be the best looking one I’ve seen up to this point. After that, though, I’m not sure what happened, they may have run into a wee bit of a funding issue – things took a turn back toward the more primitive there for a while. 1994 does at least feature some black and white photography, which will persist until 2000. Since that time, every year that I’m aware of has featured distinct, progressively more and more colorful artwork, most of which has looked awesome. As far as these go, I’ve liked the simplicity of the ’04 design, the hippie van of 2010, and the blood red, vaguely revolutionary bent of the 2017 program.
Well, okay, that’s all I have for now. I don’t want to get too deep into covering individual years here, because I plan to have standalone pages for each. So far, though, I’ve only finished three. You can click on each of them in the image below, which has the official 2004 beer mug as its backdrop. Enjoy!
My first visit to the High Five Bar and Grill occurs on January 15 2000, when an all-star lineup performs AC/DC cover songs all night, as part of this “Bon-A-Thon” charity event. Among these were many friends of mine, in their recently reformed version of Bedlam. Left to right this translates as Alan Kline (drums), Brian Randolph (vocals), Paul Radick (rhythm guitar), Paul Linville (bass), and Damon Privette (lead guitar). Meeting at my apartment prior to the show, I was able to snap a few publicity photos of them, such as this one.
Unfortunately, we only decided to bust the camera out after they went through this costume wearing routine. Breaking out a bunch of random gear found in various corners of this place, Linville had on this crazy cape and purple, medieval looking vest with a matching black hat, skull and crossbones hatband. Alan throws on this business shirt, tie, and dress slacks ensemble left over from my banking days, whereas Brian takes his actual shirt off (in a foreshadowing of future, semi-controversial events) to walk around in a trench coat instead. Damon, meanwhile, brings his own crazy getup, of the very rock star-esque leather pants, but also this shiny shirt that looks red when viewed from one angle, black from another. Radick alone takes the sensible route in wearing his normal street clothes. Nonetheless, just prior to picture time, and long before the show, nearly everyone reverts back to form – Alan alone wears his borrowed costume out to the club.
I actually covered this “Bon-A-Thon” event for a short-lived Mansfield monthly, a black and white local music mag, and still have a copy somewhere. Until I stumble upon that article, though, and can crib some of that material, these notes will have to suffice. Let me say that finding out anything online about the High Five, which bit the dust in 2008, has proven extremely difficult. As always, if anyone has any info or any other hotline tips to submit, these would be most appreciated. Until then there’s my skeletal commentary here to tide you over.
Bedlam have only played Columbus on very rare occasions, such as a weekend back in January of ’96. Their stance has always been a valid one, paradoxical though it may seem: Columbus bands make far less money from the door than they would in other, smaller towns, like the ones in the Mansfield region to the north. At that time (mid 90s – early 00s) it was not unheard of for a very good band, of which they are one, to pull in at least $300 a night playing various bars around those towns. I know of at least one popular metal outfit who was making $600-$900 per outing, in podunk places like Shelby. The problem with a scene like Columbus is not just one of competition, but also a heavily ingrained culture, decades in the making. It’s common practice around here to have 3-4 bands splitting a bill, and fighting for the door. As such you would have to draw 3-4 times as many people just to bring home the same loot. Assuming you were playing for the door at all, and weren’t just being paid in skunky draft beer or something.
Whatever the case, this is for a good cause, they are mostly all AC/DC fanatics, and it promises to be a great time. There’s also the opportunity for networking and promotion, not to mention reestablishing themselves in light of one other important fact: this is the first Bedlam show in about 3 1/2 years. They actually broke up in late ’96. As such, this is not only their initial trial run since reforming, but Brian Randolph’s debut with the group. In fact, as Privette and Linville were splitting vocal duties before, this is their first attempt at having a dedicated frontman, period.
After shooting these photos, we head out in two vehicles, which translates as Kline and Linville riding with me, the other three in Radick’s car. They’re following us most of the way, although we manage to lose them somewhere along High Street, just south of campus. Though driving around a bit, looking for them, we finally park, figuring they’ll find their way somehow or another. We order a couple of pizzas from the Papa John’s down the street, then stand around outside in hopes of spotting the others. At last, they appear, walking up to us from the south on High Street. Turns out Radick had hit a pothole which somehow managed to screw up his power steering, and now the car is parked blocks away while he tries to figure out what to do.
So while Alan goes to grab the pizzas, the rest of us have no choice but to retreat to Radick’s car instead, pitch in to retrieve the rest of the equipment. Well, everyone but Brian, who insists he must remain indoors to “protect his voice.” En route, Radick’s on the phone with his dad, getting advice about the car predicament.
Back at the bar, the crowd is small at first but fills up quickly, despite a somewhat steep at the time $5 cover. Our buddy Travis Tyo shows up, though he’s not playing with own band Superstar Rookie tonight. Instead, he’s joining forces with Dan Focht of Salthorse and some other local cats. As far as friends in the crowd, Damon’s sister makes it here with one of her chick friends, Radick’s sister with a couple of her own. The ever present Sean Gardner’s wandering the premises, although I don’t recall him playing with anyone this evening. Also, in another unexpected twist, we bump into former classmate Jason Woods, despite only spotting him I think one other time in three years of living here.
As far as what’s happening on the stage, two middle-aged guys on acoustics play first. Though the purists might think this is horseshit, I kind of like the distinct spins everyone is putting on these old AC/DC chestnuts. Following them is an outfit calling itself Servants of Evel (as in Knievel), which features a redhead chick singer in a red, white and blue bikini top. After their set, I’m “interviewing” the singer for my own goofy ass purposes. She says her outfit was designed after Evel’s motorcycle logo, but of course I could have already guessed that.
Other than this, I break off from our crew for a little while and dance with some hot girl named Nicole, meet some other lady in furs. In between this, I’m getting caught up in some tiny Bedlam related drama. Brian is dealing with a case of the nerves, wants to read off lyric sheets while singing, as in literally stand there holding sheets of paper at the microphone. I’m guessing teleprompters are out of the question here. The other guys are bitching to me about it, Linville especially, but nobody has told Randolph point blank that this is out of the question. I finally decide to tactfully approach Brian, despite not having any actual dog in this fight, and tell him that he doesn’t need the lyric sheets, because nobody pays attention to the words anyway.
And yet he takes these pieces of paper up with him regardless. But it doesn’t really matter, as Bedlam go over extremely well, playing a five song set of the classics: Big Gun, Gone Shootin’ and Shot Down In Flames I know for certain, as well as two others. The only blemish proves to be Randolph’s doing, although this particular development blindsides everyone, has nothing to do with the lyric sheets: at some point in their set, he whips off his black tank top, and is standing there shirtless. As in, he thinks that the chicks will be impressed by his wicked buff bod or something. I am hanging out near the stage when this happens and witness the whole thing. Kline and Linville tell him straight up that if he ever does this again, he will be immediately fired.
They have a point, considering that I actually hear girls in my vicinity groan when this transpires. But, I don’t know, it sure seems like certain personality types are drawn to certain roles within a band, and this is what you’re signing up for if you decide to take on a front man. From a performance standpoint he can certainly deliver the goods, except, well…you might have to endure some cheesy moments, such as this. I still think it’s a mostly worthwhile tradeoff.
As soon as their set ends, I make a bee line for the bar, and bump into Jason Woods yet again. We’re leaning against the bar, with our backs to the stage, chatting about our current jobs, when the announcer guy congratulates Bedlam from the stage. At which point Woods just about chokes on his drink, at the shock value in hearing that name. He has talked to the guys a little bit here, of course, but apparently didn’t realize that they were still going by Bedlam, as they were clear back in the early high school days, nearly a decade ago.
“Are they still using that name?” he marvels, though that is obviously the case.
In other developments, there’s this Arty guy who is connected to High 5 in some capacity, playing bass for Pat Dull & His Media Whores. He’s wearing this very shiny outfit and they go over extremely well, in fact I would say they are the crowd favorite. Travis and his thrown together crew play a killer set, too. They all wore plain white tee shirts here, because the original plan was to spit fake blood during their set; that plan was eventually scrapped, and yet the tee shirt look prevailed anyway.
Melissa and her sidekick are bored to tears at this point, announce they’re heading out. But Shelly and her very attractive friends are having a great time, in fact they are talking about partying with us at my pad afterwards. So Damon and I spring for a bunch of carryout beer. Even Radick, who has pounded a few ales and is pumped up about their seamless return to form, is in buoyant spirits, says fuck the car, he’ll worry about that tomorrow. We’re trying to talk Travis into riding out to my apartment, too, but he explains he lives in Grandview and isn’t about to drive that far tonight.
Then, after we’ve already bought the damn beer, the girls back out and leave. This means that the six of us, their equipment, and the carryout beverages must all fit in my Geo Storm, as we drive halfway across town. Somehow, we just barely manage to pull this off.
Okay, so that’s all I have at the moment on the High 5. Over the years to follow, however, I will attend countless other shows here, which I hope to transcribe in the near future. In the meantime, all I can tell you is that this place was sold in late 2008 to a few guys around town, including the owners of Skully’s and somebody from Ravari Room. They began remodeling the interior, but only got around to formally rebranding it as Circus in early 2009. So there’s that, and there’s also this mighty incomplete events calendar, which is all I’ve been able to cobble together thus far:
Year 2000 Events Calendar:
January 14: New Bomb Turks
February 1: Plague Daddy, which is some kind of free techno show
February 3:Pfifer, The Marbles, Mr. Earl
February 5: Gossamer, Low Sunday, Monster in Your Closet
February 7: Spoken Word Night. Either that or this is the name of a band – which, come to think of it, wouldn’t be a bad marketing strategy.
February 8: Plague Daddy techno again
February 10: Superstar Rookie, 84 Nash, Pat Dull and the Media Whores. I attend this show but must admit to not remembering many specifics.
February 11: Templeton, Prospect, and Silo The Huskie
February 12: Anger Nation and Crush Effect
February 14: At least some people theoretically spent Valentine’s at High 5, where Tixeon DJ is plying his wares.
February 18: Combine, Sporadic Still, God Thought
February 19: The Mendalsonics, The Sovines, and The Wahoos
February 21: Tixeon DJ again.
February 22: Plague Daddy again.
February 23: The Vague and Mr. Earl
February 25: Gigolo Skills and Miranda Sound
February 26: Dubok vs. Evolution Control Committee, whatever this is.
March 9: Superstar Rookie, May/June, Pat Dull & his Media Whores
March 10: Templeton, Beta Roric, Rancid Yak Butter Tea Party
March 30:Green Sky Grey, Season’s End, Turnbull
March 31:Jive Turkeys, Jack Neat, Lylo
April 21: The Breakdown
May 9:Furnace St. and Chew’s Eye Shop
August 5: Ronnie Dawson
Year 2001 Events Calendar
January 14 – New Bomb Turks, Cult of the Psychic Fetus
March 3 – Owen Grey, The Stapletons
March 4 – Punk Rock Matinee beginning at 6pm. Features Nothing to Lose, Innocence Lost, The Creeps and more
March 5 – Man Planet, Hex on Wheels, Neverwhere, Japanic
March 6 – Punchy, Trapper John
March 7 – In Motion w/ DJ Eric D, Rotating E.D. Prodagy, Noah Nine
March 8 – The Urban Funk Ordinance, HeeVahAva, Amara
March 9 – The Flux featuring members of Gunga Din, Gil Mantra Party Dream, Jack Diesel
March 10 – Silver Star, Phantom 13, Something Said
March 11 – another Punk Rock Matinee. This one features Jessie & the Rippers, Little Orphan Anarchey (sic), The Brute AFO, 5 Foot Nothing
March 12 – Cee Knowledge & The Cosmic Funk Orchestra (tentative)
March 13 – Pop Sound Lounge
March 14 – Jeremia Grotto, The Husher
March 15 – Basrtard Squad, Hex on Wheels
March 16 – Jessie & the Rippers, Criminal Authority
March 17 – The White Outs, Bob City, A Planet For Texas
March 18 – Punk Rock Matinee again. This time it’s Rancid Yak Butter Tea Party, Half Barrel, 12oz Rebels
March 20 – Pop Sound Lounge
March 21 – Leveled, Diluted
March 23 – Doors-A-Thon for the Open Shelter
March 24 The Cusacks (plus unnamed support act(s))
March 25 – Punk Rock Matinee. Face Down, Burning Dawn, The Creeps, Innocence Lost
March 27 – Pop Sound Lounge
March 28 – In Motion w/ DJ Eric D
March 29 – Mercy Township and unnamed support act(s)
March 30 – Pat Dull & Media Whores (tentative)
March 31 – Ohio Punk From 2001 (part 1). Starts at 5pm and is an all day showcase. Innocence Lost, 12oz Rebels, Time has Come, The Creeps, Lazy American Workers, Blatant Finger, LegBone, ScallyWagon, 2% Talent, The Echoes, The Throbs, In Common, The Hitchcocks, Jerkwater Jive, Ska Blue plus Food, Drink, Videos, DJ.
October 11 – One Drop, Trailer Park Ninjas
October 14 – 5 Hand Gang, Speed Devils
October 15 – karaoke
October 16 – DJ Kinkey Doll, DJ Kahkai
October 25 – Lowdown, Unlearned, Soma, High More Body
October 26 – Urn, Gossimer, Josh Roxxx
October 27 – Trailer Park Ninjas Halloween Party
October 28 – 60 Watt Jackass, Crooked Country, Two Cow Garage, Full Custom Time Bombs (or is it Full-Custom Tim, and F Bombs?), Ukelele Man. Different ads list slightly different lineups, though, so it’s possible some of these acts didn’t play.
October 29 – karaoke
October 31 – Separation of Terms, More Plastic
November 2 – Cringe CD release after party. They are also judging and announcing winners for a new logo contest. According to one ad, the owner’s predelections are “jack of hearts, guitar, guns, voluptuous women.” Local musicians, artists, media, and owner comprise the judging panel. I’m not sure how it turned out, although hopefully it solved the High Five/High 5 disparity – they usually display their name as High 5, but events calendars usually list them as High Five. I like the way High Five looks better personally, but I understand the thinking behind the other, official name, considering this is near the corner of High and 5th.
Year 2006 Events Calendar
January 2 – punk rock karaoke. This is a Monday, and they have the exact same thing booked for all Mondays, so you get the drill. I won’t be listing them all. Someone named GURU hosts these things and the bar features half price pitchers on PBR, Bud, Bud Lite.
January 5 – Somany Dynamos, I Against The Tower. This is an early show.
January 6 – Houses, Ashley Creek, Cale, Autumns Last Romance. This is an early show.
January 7 – Chris Mills and the New Miserable Bastards, Two Cow Garage, Chris McCoy and the Gospel
January 8 – at 2pm Jack Rinella hosts the first NLA meeting of the year, revolving around the topic of “Bedroom Play.” This has something to do with folks who are into leather for spicing up their sex life. A $2 door charge contributes to the cause.
Much later, there’s a good ol’ fashioned music show featuring Peelander Z, Marvin The Robot, and Ali Zjana.
January 12 – Deadwillrise, Harlots, Burning Love Letters.
January 13 – Audible Detonation (the bar’s website at this time raved about the band, saying, “High Five loves this band! They’re crazy, they’re fun, they’ll make you dance.”), The Real California (which features Ron and Don from The Peachbones.)
January 14 – Rapfest twin bill with both Kadiz and Lyrical having a CD release party.
January 15 – Girls Girls Girls, One Step Ahead
January 16 – Possibly Cyborgs play an early show. This is before the punk rock karaoke juggernaut lumbers to its feet.
January 17 – Femme Fatality, The Colour Scheme, The Stock Market Crash, Anna Ranger
January 19 – Day 9, Lead the Children to the Slaughter, An End To All This
January 20 – MC battle
January 21 – Kati’s graduation party, from 5-9pm. Then the Evolved Kings Of Rock hoedown, hosted by columbusparty.com and featuring at least 8Kount, Simply Waiting, possibly others.
January 24 – They start (at least I think it begins here) this new thing that sounds kind of cool, Tuesday Amateur Nights. Lasting from 8 to 10, it costs $15 to register, though this does get you passes for two guests to come watch you play. It says they are using “Apollo style judging,” whatever that means, and the winner gets $150. Will repeat on future Tuesdays hereafter.
January 25 – following an open dodgeball night at nearby Thompson Rec Center, there’s an afterparty here at the bar.
January 26 – A dance party called UNDERGROUND, which is also known as Less Than Zero, features what sounds like someone spinning classic records ranging from Britpop to punk to new wave and so on. No cover charge. It will repeat as a recurring event on most but not all Thursday nights.
January 27 – Novemberkills plays an early show. Then later there’s a packed set at normal hours with Jonathan Burgess, Wake Up, The Blue Eyed Gunslingers, Asthmo, and Supersonic Theory.
January 28 – multi-level Battle of the Bands begins tonight. There are 3 rounds of competition, with the next occurring on Feb 25 and Mar 25. A list of the known participants: Dissonant Hatred, Occams Razor, Study of Revenge, Once Pure, Caje, Halo Effect, Sour Blood, Pollock, Ripcord, 1 Point 3, Bishop.
First place, which I’m guessing isn’t handed out until the final night in March, includes a sponsorship deal with Rockstar Energy Drinks, 10 hours of recording time, a music video filmed by Columbus Productions, press kit submissions to major labels, prizes from Evolved Body Art, and an unspecified cash windfall.
Second place nets prizes from Evolved Body Art and a press kit from Columbus Productions, but what also might be the most bizarre/hilarious reward for any such competition, ever: they will film half of a music video for you. How does that work, exactly? I am now dying to know how this turned out and what the finish product wound up looking like.
January 29 – Battle Of Gettysburg, Triceratops
February 1 – Shuttlecock, Freedom
February 3 – some sort of Myspace party. DJs, drink specials, and no cover charge.
February 4 – so this is something else new they are starting, which is a “Psychedelic Supper” on Gallery Hop nights (first Saturday of every month.) Running from 5-9pm, it will feature a meal, of course, but then followed by live music from Mas Bagua – this is presumably the psychedelic part, and not anything you will be ingesting.
February 5 – quite the action packed day here. First, from 1-5pm, there’s a rugby party hosted by Scioto Valley and OSU’s teams. Then there’s a Super Bowl gathering later, featuring 25 cent wings, the game itself of course, a halftime draft for what I’m guessing is a fantasy football league organizing this event (called the QuarterBack Club), and then afterwards DJs Alan Greenspin, Detox, and Kenny Ki scratching records or whatever it is they do.
February 6 – the usual Monday night punk rock karaoke thing has been upgraded, tonight only, to Strip Tease Karaoke. Hosted by “local hotties” the Project X Girls.
February 7 – and now the weekly Tuesday amateur night is followed by a proper show, featuring Circle Takes The Square, Junius, and Freedom.
February 8 – Old English, MOB, We Rise Records, Sangreal
February 10 – In what is to be a multi-week installment, donewaiting.com kicks off its 3 year anniversary party. One thing that’s odd about this is they don’t appear to have written about the shows at any point on their actual blog. Like I could find nothing, before or after, relating to these events in the slightest. Then again, can I reasonably claim there have never been any bizarre and baffling marketing lapses in my own half-baked strategies? Not exactly. But anyway, Sweetheart, Houseguest, The Six Parts Seven, and Beaten Awake are the scheduled performers for tonight. Celebrations will continue on the next two Fridays as well.
February 11 – Marah, a band Stephen King is apparently really into. Unless this is a made-up quote.
February 12 – Mice Parade, Pompeii, This Morning, and Elephants Gerald
February 16 – speakerFIRE, Listed M.I.A., Lest Still Bleeding, and Probably Cyborgs play an early show. Then Edith Frost, The Zincs, and Tiara play one at the proper time.
February 17 – Donewaiting’s celebrations extravaganza continues with Little Darlings, 333, Mixtape vs. Atakbot, and Apocalypso as the scheduled acts.
February 18 – An early show features 1931 (for a CD release), Kill What I Adore, Gone To Graceland, and The Bloodstain Prophecy. Then much later, at 11pm, there’s a Rapfest with acts, in running order, Infinite, Lyrical and the Association, L-Marr The Great, Blackhouse, Streetkor, Distinct1, and Swift all on a tightly wound schedule. Tito 6, who was recently signed to Shady Aftermath, makes a special guest hosting appearance. Doors open at 9, though, with DJ Carma spinning records for a couple hours. $5 cover, $1 drafts, $2 imports, $5 uh, Hennesey and Heineken combo? That’s what the ad says.
February 19 – something which didn’t happen but has me intensely curious about it, and thus I will list here anyway: Report Suspicious Activity, The Bomb, and Early Empire were supposed to play, but the show was cancelled.
February 22 – The Black Angels, The Slide Machine
February 24 – Donewaiting’s anniversary wraps up with Envelope, The Evil Queens, Miranda Sound, and Necropolis
February 25 – the three part battle of the bands (from January 28) continues. Group B so to speak features the acts Azygous, Templetons Zeal, Day Nine, The Nothings From Nowhere, Addison Iane, The Most Beautiful Losers, An End To All This, Caption, Triceratops, and Mystic Syntax
March 1 – Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets fame plays a solo gig here. The Rackets open for him.
March 3 – not entirely sure what’s happening here, but it sounds pretty awesome. “Columbus Dude Band Extravaganza,” says it is starring Freedom, Pretty Weapons, Sweetheart, and a couple other acts. Come hear us sound like your dad is the tagline for the show, listed on the High Five events calendar. In other news, something billing itself as Nicks Shit Fit is also on the docket, though it’s unclear if this is related to the dude band blowout or what. All we have to go on by way of description is that this is a “doom patrol” of some sort.
March 4 – the whole Mas Bagua/Psychedelic Supper thing, tying in with the Gallery Hop, happens again from 5-9pm. After that, you are encouraged to “come enjoy the hospitality of the OSU Women’s Rugby team,” heh heh, from 9 o’clock onward. This is related to some Arnold’s Fitness Classic afterparty that they are hosting here.
March 6 – Strip Tease Karaoke again, featuring Project X Girls and free giveaways. This seems to be a first Monday of the month occurrence, an appendage to the punk rock karaoke on all other Monday nights.
March 8 – another dodgeball afterparty
March 10 – The Life And Times, Russian Circles, and local band Miranda Sound.
March 11 – Desolate Mindframe, A Vicious Cycle, Life Shot, Study Of Revenge
March 12 – An extensive early show featuring Valencia, Time and Distance, Dusty Innocenti, Five Year Breakup, and Levi
March 14 – Psyclon Nine, The Brown Notes. DJ FailSafe opens.
March 15 – The Receiver, Eagle Seagull, Pirate
March 16 – Folly, The Static Age, Paulson play an early show, followed by the whole UNDERGROUND dance party thing
March 17 – the latest Evolved Kings Of Rock with a bill of Ryan Smith and the Agency, Bullet Jones, Nicholas Williams. Before that, there’s an early show involving The Junior Varsity and the awesomely named Small Towns Burn A Little Slower.
March 18 – and now the latest Rapfest. Distinct1, Forever Fam, Catalyst vs Kadiz, RNS, and Lyrical are the performers. DJ Carma is “dropping straight hip hop sets,” whatever that means, during the interludes.
March 19 – Simply Waiting and All Left Out
March 21 – Kiss Me Deadly
March 22 – Aloha, Kopaz, and Jon Chinn
March 24 – Haram with opening act Freedom
March 25 – At 3pm, the Scioto Valley RFC rugby team has their social event here. Later, the third and final night of that multistage Battle Of The Bands (January 28, February 25) concludes with the finalists pulled from the first two shows. The roll call is as follows: Azygous, An End To All This, Occams Razor, Once Pure, Day Nine, Mystic Syntax, A Vicious Cycle, Caje, Ripcord, Study of Revenge. Although at present, I haven’t discovered who won.
March 26 – an early show that appears to be some traveling horde from Portland, Oregon. At least four and probably all five bands hail from there: Privacy, A John Henry Memorial, The Watery Graves of Portland, TI-83, and Thanksgiving.
March 28 – Premature Burial, The Bloodstain Prophecy, 4th Plague
March 29 – at 8pm, the Ohio Roller Girls conduct their league meeting here. This gives way to a show headlined by My Way My Love (all the way from Japan), opening acts 333, Church of the Red Museum, and Kim Chi
March 30 – an early all ages show featuring The Joggers and Oxford Collapse. Then later UNDERGROUND again.
March 31 – another Rapfest
April 1 – Gallery Hop deal with Mas Bagua again. Also something called Funk Fashion featuring J Rawls. Cosmo martini specials are in store for the lucky visitor.
April 2 – Liz Janes is in town and is joined by a free jazz group called Create (!) – and yes that exclamation is part of the name, not my doing. Half-handed Cloud and Parker Paul are also on the bill.
April 3 – something called “hold” is listed as the early show. Later comes the strip tease karaoke business.
April 4 – A duo called Dangerzone, which features Amos Famous and Bru Lei, graces the stage. Kru Kid is also in the mix somewhere.
April 5 – a show featuring 1 Point 3, Black Cobra, and the incredibly named If He Dies He Dies.
April 6 – Racebannon, Gospel, Freedom all play. There’s also that Underground dance party business at some point, either before or after or between these bands.
April 7 – Centro-Magic, Great Lake Swimmers, and Two Cow Garage play. That last one is touting itself as “the last rock and roll band.” I like these guys, but that’s a bit much.
April 8 – Call Me Lightning and I Against The Tower play an early show. Later, there’s a “Skatetillion Ball” offering patrons the chance to meet the various teams of the Ohio Roller Girls League: Band Of Brawlers, Take Outs, Blackeyed Bullies, and Sprockettes. DJs Moxy and Drastic soundtrack this soiree.
April 9 – This month is littered with dates on the High Five website’s event calendar where they have an entry marked “hold (rd)” or in one instance “hold (nw)” as it was on April 3 also. I have no idea what this means, but today is one such day. It’s possible this is some kind of TBD designation that they used internally and only made sense to them. So while it’s possible this is the name of some performer, I’m guessing no.
There is an early show listed however featuring Capital Tragedy, November Kills, Triceratops, and Philo.
April 12 – Torche and The Sword
April 14 – An event for some entity called columbusparty.com
April 15 – A tribute night in honor of the Uncle Tupelo/Wilco/Son Volt family tree of music. I’m not sure exactly which performers were involved, however.
April 17 – John Vanderslice is in town for a gig, with Wooden Wand for support. There’s also a punk rock karaoke just like all other Mondays.
April 20 – You Will Die perform, and otherwise there’s an Underground dance party just like all other Thursdays.
April 21 – Fine Dining and The Proper Nouns play.
April 22 – Another Scioto Valley RFC rugby team social event, beginning at 3pm
April 23 – Capital Tragedy play another early show, joined this time by Inked In Blood, Hand to Hand, and 1931.
April 26 – High On Fire, Goatwhore, and Waiting To Die
April 28 – first there’s an early show featuring Bottom Line, Break Away, and The Aesthetics. Later, a Tribal Night hosted by Raks Jahanni, with special guests Snakes Rising
April 29 – Scioto Valley’s rugby squad convenes here again, at 3. Later there’s a CD release party for Aether.
May 1 – a bit confused because according to their events calendar, tonight is a party celebrating their 2nd anniversary. But I’ve been coming here since early 2000 and they were certainly in business before then, for who knows how long. So was this place closed at one point? Did it change hands or undergo a remodel/rebrand? That could maybe explain the switch from apparently preferring High 5 in the early days, to styling it as High Five in more recent ones. Whatever the case, it’s also a party for Evolved’s sixth year in Columbus, with the whole Strip Tease Karaoke thing a-happenin’
May 5 – Thought Set and a Cinco De Mayo party
May 6 – Mas Bagua and the whole Gallery Hop thing
May 12 – First, an early show featuring Bloodstain Prophecy, Every Bridge Burned, The Devil Wears Prada, and 1931.
Then later it’s a bash celebrating Sean’s birthday. Freedom, Tree Of Envelope, and Pat Minotaur are on the docket.
May 13 – Desolate Mindframe, Lifeshot, Stapled Mouth Shut, Axiomatic, Human Incineration
May 14 – An early show involving Chiodos, Number 12 Looks Like You, Lorene Drive, and The Blackout Pact
May 19 – First another early show, this time with Clearview Kills, Near Miss, and The Finals. This is followed by a BA Baracus CD release event.
May 20 – Weightless Records, a local hiphop label, stages an all ages show. The Other Paper reviews this in the issue that follows. According to the piece written by Rick Allen, Blueprint leads off the show by explaining that the format will be somewhat unusual, in that everyone will only be performing a couple songs apieces. “Tonight, everyone is headlining,” he is quoted as saying.
Greenhouse Effect kicks things off, with Amos Famous in the role of DJ, and are described as only okay; Blueprint, Manifest, Envelope, and Zero are all given high marks, however.
May 24 – Phobia, Electro Quarterstaff, Disfear, Misery Index, Strong Intention, Bohemian Grove
May 25 – Hempfest Fundraiser. Bum Wealthy, RTFO Bandwagon, Fists Of Fusion, and Doug Guttenberger are the listed acts.
May 26 – Growing Thrones. (Kranky) is also listed off to the side, in the High Five ads, whatever that means.
May 27 – Battle Of The Bands. Last Minute Messiah, Life Shot, House Of Cards, and Threshold Of Pain are the listed acts. Doors open at 5pm.
May 28 – 30 OT 6, Left 4 Dead, and Grey Scale
June 2 – Infinite Number Of Sounds, Ocean Ghosts, Electric Grandmother
June 17 – an early show featuring The Fold
June 24 – another battle of the bands
June 25 – Dysrythmia, Behold The Arctopus, Idiedtrying
it seems redundant to list these, when I already have the picture
July 29 – battle of the bands
August 2 – Only Flesh, Mankind Is Obsolete, Ohm Ghost
August 26 – battle of the bands
September 21 – an early show features Much The Same, God As A Bullet, Wars Of The Future, Houseguesst, and False Alarm. Then there’s a late show with Beaten Awake, Brainbow, and Houseguest again.
September 22 – Byzantine, Demiricous, Shocking Jesus, Cadavary Spasm, A Chaotic Dream
September 23 – From 6 to 9pm there’s something called A Bossa E Nossa which ties in with Jaime’s birthday party. Then later Homegrown Hero headlines a local talent celebration including Clutterhouse, Derk Vana, Rese Jhordan, The Damnits, W.D.K., Dan Swartwout, and Barry Lanier
September 26 – Asia’s Hope, which has something to do with a skreened.com launch party. Peachcake, Less Pain Forever, Matt Beckler, Cale, and Stealing Bismarck are also here.
September 30 – battle of the bands
October 14 – Curtis Vodka show. He is a DJ from Alaska.
October 28 – battle of the bands
November 1 – something they are calling BEATLOUNGE.
November 2 – Outlook First Thursdays at High Five evidently begins here, whatever this is. The Yekrats are the featured act.
November 3 – Burn In Silence, Year Of Desolation, A Love Ends Suicide
November 4 – there’s an Urban Sound Showcase, and also the Scioto Valley rugby team has its latest social.
November 5 – Jack Rinella is here from 1-4pm
November 6 – the punk rock karaoke thing is still going on, as it is every Monday
November 10 – Fetish Under Glass from 5-9pm. I think this might be an art exhibit, not a band.
November 11 – Gear Pit runs from 3-9pm. If I’m reading this correctly, it involves the following acts: Razor Key Exit, Garblejunk, Only Flesh, Darkness Undying, CC Manded, Dark Monarchy, Mystic Syntax, Remains Of Eden.
Then at 10pm there’s something called Pornucopia staged by Students Pursuing Avant Garde, with DJ Daddy Whorebucks performing.
November 12 – A Chaotic Dream, Human Incineration
November 14 – Los Burbanks
November 16 – Searius Add
November 17 – the DownFront Beat Michigan Rally, with musical guests What We Are, Trailing Grayson, Downplay, The Andy Shaw Band, and Vinyl
November 18 – The Wild Breed Boys
November 23 – Misery Index, Swarm Of The Lotus, Intronaut, Premature Burial, Human Incineration. I’m going to take a wild guess that these acts are not performing the top 40 hits of today.
November 24 – Brazilian Night! Featuring $3 Caipiranhas all night, and special guest Magia Tropical
November 25 – Tribal Night! Once again somehow featuring $3 Caipiranhas all night, and special guest Magia Tropical. But then a Brazilian acoustic segment begins at midnight.
November 30 – Rikets, Only Flesh, and An End To All This
December 1 – DownFront Holiday Benefit Show. Proceeds go to Toys For Tots and the Franklin County 2nd Harvest Food Bank. The Damnits, Morning Round, and Exceptional Edward perform.
December 2 – another Urban Sound Showcase
December 3 – Level C has their CD release party here, even though they actually hail from Cleveland.
December 4 – Strip Tease Karaoke celebrates its one year anniversary.
December 5 – another Outlook First Thursday
December 8 – Ryan Smith, Your Favorite Assassin, Pike
December 9 – DEJAVU Latin Fusion Rhythms
December 15 – the second DownFront Holiday Benefit Show. This one has Zomo, The American Imports, and Blackcoin on the bill.
December 16 – third and final of the DownFront shows. Cardinal Hill, The Andy Shaw Band, and Downplay take the stage this time around.
December 25 – Santa Claus Karaoke!
December 29 – Magia Tropical
December 30 – Tribal Night
I guess I forget that they actually served food at this place. Then again wasn’t this a late night destination for such? Like people would go here late for 3am breakfast? In late 2008 local bar owners Skully (Skully’s) and Mike (Ravari Room) purchased the place. It was remodeled and renamed, possibly to Circus. The kitchen had closed by this point.
Little Brother’s, the brainchild of former Stache’s owner Dan Dougan, opened its doors in the spring of 1997. When the bar and live music oasis hosts its opening celebration on May 25 of that year, R.L. Burnside is the headlining act, and they don’t yet have a license to sell booze. This is a great metaphor for how this establishment hit the ground running, and almost immediately became one of our city’s top venues. I think they have one pool table to the left, in front of the restrooms – but that’s quite alright, as you really didn’t come here for their billiard offerings.
Here I will begin listing every Little Brother’s event that I come across, with hopefully a little bit of personal insight if possible. It never would have occurred to me in my wildest dreams that I would eventually wind up working the door some at this place, or the merch table for a Twilight Singers show. But I truly came to love this establishment and was sad to see this era come to a close. However, which is maybe only right, this was also ground zero for probably my worst night living in Columbus. I would still take those, too, once a decade or so – it’s a worthwhile tradeoff. I mean I’m sure this Standard Hall restaurant currently occupying 1100 N. High is great and all, but it’s clearly a totally different thing.
Click the year below to jump ahead in the timeline. Or else by all means continue reading…
They’re gracing the stage tonight at a relatively new music club on High, south of campus and just barely into the artsier, vaguely yuppie-fied district known as Short North. It’s a place called Little Brother’s, the creation of former treasured campus venue Stache’s owner, Dan Dougan. None of us have ever been here before, and furthermore, neither Damon nor Paul have yet seen this band, incredible though it seems.
The upper reaches of this Short North region are not quite as polished, as art gallery saturated, as the lower half or three quarters. Thus when we cruise past this distinctive off-white brick building, the individual blocks of which are by appearances each about as big as our television set, we’re pulling left into a gravel lot. Though not ordinarily locking my car, something about this neighborhood suggests it’s not the worst idea in the world to do so now.
Upon entering the club, a classy looking bar awaits us, to the right – and a number of familiar faces both there and beyond. Each of which, or at least those given to much emotion, seem fairly amazed that we would breeze in unannounced like this, particular as even Alan and I haven’t been to a gig since September. Most are lounging around the central seating region, a cavernous space between the bar and the stage, populated with a small fleet of tiny square tables. Overall I would estimate it claims about a third the space of the Newport’s ground floor, with a raised stage, and, via a walkway breezing past the right side of this platform, a backstage room to which Dan escorts us.
While the club itself has only been open six months, I’m guessing it might have served a similar purpose during previous incarnations. All four walls of this secluded rear bunker are plastered with posters, stickers, and the like, advertising a litany of past shows. Bandman can’t resist the temptation to slap a few transparent Superstar Rookie stickers throughout the room, and as I happen to spy a Mike Watt sticker on the wall, remnants of a solo jaunt, he admits it’s a little strange sometimes to think that he’s playing on the same stage as a guy like that.
But they’ve been here once before already, and will surely deliver the goods tonight, the early jitters long behind them. First, however, we have to wade through a couple of other unfamiliar acts. As a group we venture out to the tables, drop into loose formation, either standing or seated, along with Travis and the other guys from the band, in addition to all the other random spectators we know. Matt Montanya’s among those gathered here, and Jeremy Wendling, Tiffany Miller and that skinny blonde Lori chick I remember from previous parties. Matt Kasper, Kevin and Vanessa, and that strange little Greg character who’s always kind of a dick to me for reasons unknown, has been from day one.
Vena Cava is the opening act tonight, an artsy four piece. They’re okay but I can’t really seem to get into them. At least there’s a quality sound system here and some people who know how to run it, which bodes well for the remainder of the night. Midway, a punk outfit, assume the throne next and take advantage of this fact, faring much better. Then again it kind of doesn’t matter if you can’t play, and these guys certainly can. They pull off the often tricky balance of managing to rock mightily while at the same time displaying a comical stage presence. The drummer will execute these lightning fast rolls, for example, pausing for just a fraction of a millisecond to point his sticks at the singer, before falling into a normal beat again. And some of their touches are just plain musically impressive, such as the bass player’s occasional lilting harmonies.
Following their set, having observed a Papa John’s nearby on the drive in, I walk up the street to score some cheesy bread. On the way back, strolling down the eastern side of the street, where Little Brother’s sits, I pass this short, skinny black woman standing on a corner.
“Can I suck you tonight?” she asks, casually, without even really looking at me. Hmm, but no, thanks, I’m good on that front.
When I return, Montanya’s seated at my table, now, a welcome development, and Dan’s hanging around, is all but begging me for some cheesy bread. I don’t mind hooking him up with a few sticks – it only seems like the humane thing to do. The funny thing about this, though, is that as he leaves so Superstar Rookie can take the stage, Montanya, likely wasted and spotting the Papa John’s box but apparently not paying attention to any of these developments, asks me, “how’s your za?”
“My what?”
“How’s your za?” he repeats, and when I still evince some bafflement, he adds, “Your za! Your pete-za!”
As for Superstar Rookie, they sound far better than ever before – and were never bad to begin with. This is due in part to that superior PA and decent sound man, and this somewhat larger, musically dedicated club. Plus, at least for the time being, it appears they’ve reached a decision to flip-flop guitar players, as Dan is mostly playing the lead parts and Tony’s switched over to rhythm. Lastly, Brandon has also made great strides as a singer, since I last saw them in September.
They could already be the best local progenitors of whatever you call this particular strain, poppier than Midway but with some elements of punk woven in. Dan, having dispensed with the three piece suit business but still otherwise positively oozing with enthusiasm; Copper, solid yet possessing his own unique and powerful sound back there on drums; Travis mostly grinning and standing in place as he plays his bass, as though slightly unable to believe they’ve gotten this good so quickly; and Brandon, expressionless as a rule but with his face becoming flushed the more they play, also occasionally raising his eyebrows to deliver a line or sometimes pump his fist, albeit standing stationary for the most part just like Travis.
As for the set itself, these are mostly upbeat originals, though the sound, texture and speed vary from song to song. On exactly one occasion, Copper, whom Bandman once told me is actually an amazing multi-instrumentalist, drifts up to play guitar on a song he’s recently written, as Dan then takes his place behind the kit. And in keeping with what is apparently a tradition so far, they throw in a cover of Just What I Needed, plus a snippet of that one instrumental piece from Top Gun, Bandman beaming throughout as he wails away on guitar.
Damon is impressed, as we mostly suspected he would be, and will say of their show, “a lot of bands, I feel like they’re good, but you can kinda tell what their influences are. These guys don’t really sound like anybody.” For Paul to enthuse about them is really something, however, going as far as to track down Copper and tell him he’s an awesome drummer, asking the band for a copy of their tape – gestures Paul would never undertake if not genuine. While we are all sometimes capable of jackass comments blurted without thinking, and I especially often have a serious struggle being anything but real, I do at least attempt as much tact as possible if it occurs to me. But Radick rarely bothers, or is possibly incapable of such, knowing little else but the blunt approach.
Afterwards, we mingle with the band, mostly Dan, Travis, and Dave. Brandon remains aloof, although I think this is probably shyness more than anything else, while Tony it seems is a bit of a skirt chaser and works the room with that singular focus. Soon enough, with various handshakes doled out assuring them we’ll get together again before long, like with a very intoxicated Montanya, we shove off into the night.
February 7, 1998 – Superstar Rookie, Salthorse
In the midst of a crazy Saturday night with a ton of stuff transpiring, Jon Weirick calls me, proposing yet another option.
“Superstar Rookie’s playing at Little Brother’s tonight and your ass had better be there!” he threatens.
“Eh, maybe,” I tell him.
“What’s this maybe?” he demands.
Unusual for him, Paul R will wind up driving down from Lexington, and the two of us do indeed catch this show. It’s kind of strange, but though this feels like the least interesting of the four options initially presented to me for this night, driving down High Street to watch my buddies play nonetheless seems right, somehow. You can’t even really put your finger on it, but buried somewhere is the notion that an option you hadn’t even known about when the day began is the correct one, the one you always knew you’d follow, all the same. And I think maybe this is the function of friends, in a metaphysical sense. Beyond the obvious benefits of social interaction and mental well-being, they also help you interpret reality. Though appearing as inconveniences in the moment, all of these phone calls still without question help me sort out what is really going on.
“Hey hey!” Dan Bandman greets us upon arrival.
Travis is also pleasantly surprised, though unable to resist calling out the busted up nature of my spectacles, which I’ve forgotten to remove. “Dude, what is up with your glasses?” he howls. Apart from being Coke-bottle thick and composed of a wire frame highly redolent of 1986 fashions, they are held together by bent paperclips, and there’s also a huge chunk gouged out of the left lens now. One night I was walking home from Woody’s and right by Taj Mahal, on the sidewalk beside their wrought iron fence, these glasses fell from my head, scooping out this crater in the process.
As far as Superstar Rookie constituents are concerned, Jeremy Wendling is making a somewhat unexpected appearance. Dan Goddard and Ana are here, as is Jon Weirick with his now reconciled girlfriend Jennifer Thomas, back with him following a temporary separation. Otherwise, it’s a fairly typical, half full crowd for a spacious bar on a random winter night.
“I did not expect to see you here, the way you were talking on the phone,” Weirick admits.
A four piece by the name of Salthorse kicks off the night. The spelling they’ve chosen is unfortunate, only the first of many bad decisions made. I mean, is this sal-thorseor salt horse we are watching? But you catch glimpses which suggest this could be a great band, which makes the rest so frustrating.
Most of their troubles, I hate to say it, but you can pin these to the feet of their lead singer. Initial impressions are that they rock, but their vocalist, who also strums rhythm guitar and oh yeah is wearing a navy blue ski cap, is a little bit on the silly side. He also keeps making a bunch of inexplicably goofy faces, like bugging his eyes out with tongue extended, as he bites down on it, which completely undermine any rocking aspects to their songs. Or regarding the mic like it’s a foreign object, or high stepping around the stage like someone attempting to avoid mud puddles.
“This guy’s getting on my nerves,” I tell Paul.
“Mine too,” he admits.
“The band rocks, but their singer makes me feel like I’m gonna throw up,” I add.
“I know,” he agrees.
Everything is a matter of personal taste, obviously, yet it’s difficult to imagine that even the group themselves are entirely comfortable with this persona. Right before I’d said this, the impetus for my comment, their singer executed another bugged out eyes expression, this time with his chin titled to the left, lips pulled back in a horrified mimic of a scream while theoretically regarding some person in the audience. Except you can tell at a glance this isn’t genuine inspiration, rather the nervous stage tics of someone uncomfortable up there and attempting to overcompensate with kooky affected mannerisms. It sucks being on edge in the spotlight, sure, but I would say just stand and sweat in your boots like everybody else.
“Can you believe this whole band is made up of Lexington grads?” Jon remarks offhand, as he and Jennifer are hanging out with the two of us. “They all four graduated, like, class of ‘88 or ‘89…”
This seems like another crazy development, even if these guys are likely just a little too old for me to have made their acquaintance. Jon knows the lead player’s name, though, the burly dude with curly hair on the left, shredding lead guitar and probably the best musician in the band: Milan Karcic. But I will soon learn another factoid that shouldn’t matter, yet it’s impossible to ignore and now has me viewing them in a different light. The lead singer is Dan Focht, a name I’ve only seen thus far. We’re still getting his mail at 1990 ½ Summit Street. He and I don’t know who else were the theorized “skate punks” who’d lived there right before we moved in. Wow.
The set soon ends and Salthorse walks off to a smattering of applause. After a short intermission, our boys in Superstar Rookie take the stage, and while I wouldn’t say this is one of their top outings, they’re still delivering the goods at a high level. They’ve come a long way in swift order and I would already consider them one of Columbus’s best live acts. Brandon does still have some room to grow as a singer, but he hasn’t been at this long and would surely rate himself in the same fashion. Even after – or possibly as a result of – shifting Tony over to rhythm guitar, he’s still struggling at times to find his niche within the group. That’s about it for the slight beefs, however, as the strength of the remaining core, Bandman and Tyo and Copper, more than make up the difference. On a technical level, the sound maybe isn’t quite as awe inspiring as the first occasion we witnessed them here, but any marginal decline is more than made up by the swarm of dancing bodies before the stage.
Afterwards, Paul and I chat with the guys and hang out in the small backstage area while they’re tearing down. One curious encounter which makes me wonder about my wingman here concerns a short blonde girl who apparently went to high school with us – Radick was a grade below me and I wouldn’t claim to know anywhere close to everyone in his class – who certainly looks attractive enough and is chatting his ear off, trying to talk him into the inevitable party at Travis’s later. Yet he remains non-committal at best to her overtures, in fact it’s pretty obvious he has no interest in attending.
“You guys should come party with us later!” she insists, shifting her gaze over to me in a last ditch plea, as though I might have the power to sway him, “there’s gonna be tons of girls gettin drunk!”
February 15, 1998 – This Cajun band named File plays a 4pm show, brought to you by the Short North Folk Sampler.
February 26 – Patty Griffin
March 14 – Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, Moviola, Fuck
March 22 – Syrup, Helium
April 1 – Carrie Newcomer
April 8 – Sixpence None The Richer
May 13 – Tribe 8
May 17 – The Woggles
May 30 – Link Wray
June 10, 1998 – Swervedriver, Spoon
Though visiting the club a couple of times to view local acts, first and foremost Superstar Rookie, my first so-called “national” show glimpsed here would occur when Swervedriver careens into town, in June of 1998. Having seen the English shoegaze-y type group one other time, they really impressed me, and thus this contest at Magnolia Thunderpussy catches my eye, the previous week. They have this box out by the door offering a pair of free tickets to whichever name is drawn. While it seems likely they drew more than one name, or possibly dispensed free tickets to every name, I’m not complaining or asking questions when Magnolia’s calls to say I won, just a few hours before the show.
One of my roommates, Alan, happens to be home from work, and agrees to go with me. He’s never heard of the band but is generally up for live music in any form. In the hours leading up to it, I call some of the usual suspects, too, friends I know who seem good candidates for attendance, to gauge whether anybody else is going. At every instance, an answering machine awaits me at the other end, so I never speak to anyone…but it doesn’t matter, as we bump into every one of these souls down at the show anyway.
As had been the case five years ago, that night we witnessed these guys opening for the Smashing Pumpkins, this occasion is fast turning into a high school reunion of sorts. It’s not an overstatement at all to suggest that previous show had been a real eye opener for many of us, a somewhat mind blowing experience. That night is a major reason many of us are here and creeps into the conversation repeatedly this time around.
After parking next to the club, in their uneven gravel lot, we round the corner and immediately run into Jeremy Wendling, who is sitting on the sidewalk in front of the place with Angie Stearns, the two of them reclining against the giant off-white bricks of its exterior. Next up, Dave Kemp, who is merrily drunk, it would seem, ambles over to shake our hand. Then I give my name to the doorman, and we gain admission, which is when we realize that something like half of this wall-to-wall crowd must be familiar to us.
Some of this is so surreal we’re struggling to make sense of it. Travis is hanging out inside the door, which is probably the most expected development thus far, but we spot Steve Simmers meandering through the crowd nearby, having just purchased a beer, and this inspires us to drift over and do the same. Here I nearly crash into a former busboy at the restaurant I too recently left, the Damon’s on Olentangy, Dave Warnock, seated at the bar. He sort of resembled another Dave, the main Foo Fighter Grohl, when both were sporting greasy long black hair. But now that Warnock’s cut it, he curiously does not. Weirder still, Warnock’s not just sitting next to but somehow knows another guy from our old high school, Greg Dillinger, and keeps namechecking a bunch of other Mansfield area people in attendance, asking if I know so-and-so, even though he is not from our region. Somehow none of this ever came up when we were working together.
“Hey, you’re friends with Keisha, aren’t you?” this voice calls out from behind me, and it’s that Jeff guy Alan knows from the Guard. Alan happens to be over in the near distance, talking to some other people, and I point him out to Jeff. Then we intercept Travis again in the middle of the crowd, and he informs us Jon Weirick’s up near the stage with a ton of other people we know, which is where we head next.
Spoon is the opening act, an indie band who’ve just signed a major label deal yet not really gained much of a foothold nationally. At the time of this show, I am also not that familiar with them, but will never become a fan even when hearing more of their music over the years. In fairness to the group on this night, however, I must admit to not really paying attention, too busy chatting with these random encounters to properly do so. As it so happens, they will soon become the far more popular of these two bands, and not only their set list but audio of this performance exists, while I have neither for Swervedriver. Here’s the rundown of Spoon’s set:
Rocket USA (a Suicide cover)
Mountain To Sound
Utilitarian
Minor Tough
Primary
Idiot Driver/ I Could See The Dude
Get Out The State
Metal Detektor
The Guest List/ The Execution/ Not Turning Off
Telemon Bridge
Car Radio
Waiting For The Kid To Come Out
Lowdown (a Wire cover, not the Boz Skaggs song) (although the latter’s borderline disco groove might make more sense)
Here’s the audio from the show if you care to indulge:
This is the first time I’m listening to this performance since, and as mentioned wasn’t glued to their set at the time, either. I would rate this now as decent, but not exactly an otherworldly experience. Minor Tough actually sounds a lot more like Bush than anyone would probably like to admit – only the presence of this fluid drummer elevates Spoon beyond that. In fact I think the drummer is pretty much the only thing to get somewhat excited about on any of this stuff. At the end of Primary, Britt Daniel does mention that this is their first show on the tour, and throws a howdy out to the headliners. Aside from this, it’s decent background music, nothing more, as it was on a summer’s night in 1998.
Some of our friends are thoroughly engrossed with this group, though, or at least standing right in front of the stage as if they are. Jon’s up here with his girlfriend, Jennifer Thomas, and in this extended circle we find Dan Bandman, Jack Edinger, Scott Imsland, Tiffany Miller, Ben Kick, and a good dozen others. Most of all though I’m stoked to see my old friend Matt Montanya, as he and I continually crack up and discuss classic memories for the majority of Spoon’s duration on stage. Matt’s good arm is in a cast right now, not that this condition is limiting him from moshing when the mood strikes.
Early on, Weirick says to me, “I’ll buy if you fly,” which sets a pattern that will last the remainder of the concert: he’s paying for the beer, so long as I’m willing to retrieve them. And this is totally fine with me, for the sight lines and sound are great throughout this club, not to mention it affords an excellent opportunity to cover more ground and see who else I might rub shoulders with. Even in one instance next door neighbor Sean Gardner, who seems to have gotten over our covering the side of his house with a bunch of food. We talk for maybe thirty seconds before continuing our separate ways.
It’s tragic that I have the complete Spoon show, but that Swervedriver’s appears lost to the sands of time, at least for now. There’s always the hope of unearthing some documents or reliable memories, but the truth is, I’m not focusing any more to their set, either, though remaining rooted near the front of the stage. They are touring in support of their 4th album, 99th Dream, and while they’ve definitely lost some early fans by this stage of their career, and the critical buzz once surrounding them has moved on, I might personally like this material just as much as their previous, trendier stuff. It’s a great swirling album to throw on around the house when occupied elsewhere, the proverbial release that slowly grows on you. Less heavier than their earlier albums, but, as the title might indicate, a little more dreamy.
We will soon discover some of the reasons behind this momentum loss. It seems that upon rolling into town last night, these Swervedriver mates somehow caught word that our buddy Ben here would be a reliable local source for them to score some heroin. Apparently only two of the four band members are into this stuff, at least at present, and Ben does indeed deliver them the goods. He, along with a few other friends of mine who aren’t into the heroin scene at all – who only wished to hang out with Swervedriver – wound up visiting them at their hotel room last night, in the Holiday Inn on Lane Avenue. This has led to rumors that these same couple of characters might hit a party at Travis’s house, after the show tonight.
Without any knowledge or memories about particulars, it seems a good bet they played a solid amount of material in support of this most recent release. Also from what is probably the consensus favorite, Mezcal Head, which I have on cassette dubbed from a disc borrowed at the downtown library, and their equally praised debut, Raise, plus surely a smattering of the early EP and B-side type offerings. The dimmest corner of their repertoire for me is a third album I admittedly haven’t listened to, probably because it wasn’t even released in the U.S., coinciding with the rough five years in the wilderness there where the band seemed a bit lost, and you didn’t really hear much about them.
I only wish I had focused a little more, and taken better notes after the show, but am enjoying this reunion aspect and talking throughout, the same as everyone else is. Still, despite a lack of specifics, I know my impression at the time – echoed by just about all who’d seen both – is that this represents a solid outing, though nowhere near as mindblowing as that show in ’93. Yeah, yeah, I know, there’s nothing more tedious than a grizzled blowhard blathering on about previous concerts seen in sepia tinted decades past…but sometimes, these comparisons prove sort of useful.
The room is so insanely humid that these beverages seem to evaporate through our pores before cooling us down in the slightest. Standing maybe ten feet away from this four piece, we turn to them now and again, when not merely absorbed as an ear splitting soundtrack, and I do remember thinking it cool at the time that they don’t trifle with an encore. Then, following various high fives, quick recaps, and airing of vague impressions, we are in our various vehicles, seemingly half the crowd bound for Travis’s house on Patterson.
Alan and I stop off at the Kroger on 7th and High to pick up beer but then also some Krispy Kremes, basically as our dinner. By predetermined consensus, a bunch of us have agreed to meet at Weirick’s apartment, from which we will walk over to this bash. Once inside we are confronted by one of the mustiest trinkets imaginable, continuing this 1993 nostalgia theme – Jon throws on the debut album by Canadian rapper Snow, which he has for some reason in his living room CD collection. While he blasts Informer at full volume, Matt Kasper starts breakdancing to it, then a few others join in the fun. Meanwhile Weirick is showing Alan and me the scene of the crime, this coffee table where Montanya recently messed up his arm.
“Travis sat on it,” Jon explains, pointing at the empty hole in the middle pane, where a piece of glass should be, “then we put the pieces back together, and Montanya put this hand through it.” Apparently he was reaching for a pack of cigarettes on a lower shelf and wasn’t aware the glass had been reinstalled, necessitating a trip to the emergency room.
He does get at least one good story out of the cast, however. Once we arrive on foot at Travis’s house full of people, sitting or standing around in ever shifting packs to drink beer, play pool, and listen to music, two members of Swervedriver do indeed eventually drift through the front door. A number of us trail after them, once they breeze through the house and then out to the back yard, to shake their hands, to repeat the standard and surely tedious lines about tonight’s great show and a really good one we caught back in ’93 as well.
Alan and I spend a couple of minutes conversing with the tall, tough looking bass player, Steve George, who nonetheless possesses the requisite droll British nonchalance everyone expects. He seems kind of bored with the conversation until Alan mentions World Cup soccer, a genius move causing George’s eyes to light up. And so we bluff our way through this subject for a while. Then Alan presses his luck in asking the dude for a cigarette.
“Oh, sure, mate,” he replies, and fishes one out from the pack. Alan lights it, takes one puff, then discreetly spins away to hand it off to Jon Weirick.
“That cigarette he gave me was laced with pot!” Alan whispers to me, as the bassist is still within earshot, “I can’t be doing that shit with the Guard and everything!”
A short while later, I happen to be standing nearby when Matt Montanya starts chatting with both members of the band, and attempts signing these guys to a record deal. But instead they just sign his cast.
Swervedriver: bandanna shades trousers
June 21 – Ruins
July 2 – The Mekons
August 11 – Edith Frost
September 8 – The Meat Purveyors
September 13 – stare, Trance To The Sun
September 17 – Tish Hinojosa
September 29 – Juliana Hatfield
October 13 – Archers Of Loaf
October 20 – Mike Watt
October 21 – Two Dollar Guitar, Fuck
October 22 – Built To Spill
November 7 – Guided By Voices, The Apples In Stereo
November 12 – Jonatha Brooke
November 18 – Cult of the Psychic Fetus, Tribe 8
1999
January 14 – O.A.R.
January 28 – Fred Eaglesmith
January 31 – Sloan
February 25 – O.A.R.
February 27 – Mudhoney, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, Cheater Slicks
March 7 – Superchunk
March 27 – Cheryl Wheeler
April 20 – Edith Frost
April 28 – Iris DeMent
May 11 – Built To Spill
May 12 – Los Straightjackets
May 27 – The Disco Biscuits
July 2 – Cathy 13
July 3 – Mojo Nixon, Sovines
July 6 – The Cannanes, Log, Timonium
July 8 – Big Barn Combo, Cheatin’ Dogs
July 9 – Gillian Welch, David Rawlings (early show)
July 14 – Candye Kane, The Chiselers
July 15 – The Mighty Diamonds, Beniah, The Decals
July 19 – Blonde Redhead, Man Or Astro-Man?, Dianogah
August 13 – Kami Lyle
September 12 – Wayne Kramer
September 16 – The Disco Biscuits
September 24 – Royal Trux
October 2 – Shemekia Copeland
October 10 – Mike Watt
October 13 – Martin Sexton
October 26 – Donna Mogavero, Toshi Reagon
October 28 – Superchunk
November 2 – Sloan
November 3 – At The Drive-In, The Get Up Kids
November 7 – The Apples In Stereo, Of Montreal
November 18 – Southern Culture On The Skids
December 31 – Watershed, Lilybandits, Wahoos. Complimentary champagne & party favors! Just $10
2000
January 1 – Mullins Band playing (but of course) a “Mullinnium Party.”
January 8 – Elvis-A-Thon. 4th Annual.
January 15 – Velveteens
January 22 – Fred Haring and the Franklin County All-Stars CD release party. Yikes. This is what’s scheduled, anyway, but if I’m not mistaken Haring scrapped his own CD release plans for the time being. I’m not sure if he played the show anyway.
January 27 – Hot Club of Cowtown with Jack Neat. I’m not sure if this is one entity or two. I can’t make any sense of what’s going on with that name.
January 28 – Tiara/Betaroric CD release. Tiara plays in support of their new album Again Cast In. This is show is reviewed by Jerry Dannemiller for The Other Paper and he says they were overly loud, which tended to obscure their sharp songwriting, and made the vocals seem especially weak by comparison. And that the closing 10 minute number was especially brutal. Betaroric (now that’s a strangely twisted mouthful) is also celebrating a new CD, though he has even fewer nice words for this outfit, labeling them “the sound of Midwestern art students looking at themselves in the mirror” and describing their sound as sometimes resembling a fork caught in the garbage disposal.
January 31 – Jack Ingram
Every Sunday (as of January): Flex Crew (reggae)
February 2 – The Sovines, The Bottlerockets
February 3 – The Twist-Offs
February4 – Stepford 5 CD release party. Templeton and Electric Porn open.
February5 – The Cowslingers, Bottletones, Blatant Finger
February11 – Scrawl and Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments (?). Although I see a different events calendar listing Lunasa as playing here at 8pm.
February16 – Nashville Pussy
March 3 – Tim Easton
March 4: Columbusmusic.com showcase, including Go Robot, Go! and others. This is the 2nd such event, meant to promote the website (it features downloadable mp3s by local acts). Throat Culture (a cappella) open, performing both originals but some covers that sound like they must have been awesome – such as AC/DC’s TNT done doo-wop style. Website owner Jason Clayton is on hand, passing copies of a sampler (Super Sampler Volume I) featuring all these acts, as well as a handful of others.
Templeton is next, followed by the heavily touted NUdE, then GRG. By the time they take the stage, it’s about 2 in the morning.
March 5: Yeah No (NYC) with Avant Collective (local) opening
March 7: Two Dollar Guitar
March 9: Fighting Gravity, Jerkwater Jive, Fallout Shelter
March 10: ARA Benefit featuring Hoodoo Soul Band, Mescalito, Soul Fu Villains
March 15 – The Sheila Divine
March 16: Local heroes Scrawl, with support from Girlie Machine. Scrawl drummer Dana Marshall used to play with Girly Machine and is performing with both – his last show with Scrawl, too, as he is moving overseas
March 23 – Toshi Reagon
March 28: Yo La Tengo, Quickspace
March 30 – Knee Jerk Reaction
March 31 – John Mullins Band
April 5: Bad Livers
April6 – Richard Buckner
April10 – The Gunga Din
April 11: Cat Power
April 18 – Karma To Burn
April20 – The Melvins
April22 – Workbook Studios CD release party for Proud Like Parents compilation. No Tagbacks, Silo The Huskie, The Randys, The Stepford Five, A Planet For Texas, Gilmore Tamny, Amy Alwood, Jon Chinn perform. A computer is set up at the show so fans can play songs from the CD, and order it online from the dedicated website page. As an added bonus, the cover charge is being donated to Wellness Community.
April 28: BR5-49, with opening act Tarbox Ramblers (Cambridge, MA). Slaybaugh raves about Tarbox in his 5/4/00 review for Alive.
April 30 – …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
May 1 – Rock For FLOC. A benefit for migrant workers, staged by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee. Doors open at 6 for an all-ages show (Cessna, Mr. Celery Face, Fletch Wiley), with a regular 18+ one to follow at 10 (Stepford Five, F*Bomb, Floatation Walls). There’s even a special Dan Dougan appearance!
May 4 – Peter Rowan
May 6 – Fred Haring CD release. For real this time. Apparently the one earlier this year was canceled.
May 11 – The Go
May 20: Local band HensleySturgis play a CD release party, commemorating their debut album Open Lanes.
May 31: Juliana Hatfield and her other band, Juliana’s Pony, both play
June 1: L7
June 5: Collapsis
June 6: Asylum Street Spankers, Ukelele Man
June 7 – Shaffer Street
June 12 – The Skatalites
June 14 – Todd Snider, Dan Dougan
June 16 – Legendary Pink Dots
June 19 – Rebirth Brass Band, New Basics Brass Band
June 20 – Quadrajets, The Bell Rays, Fireballs of Freedom
June 21 – MP3 Showcase featuring Emily Richards, Bryan Kelly, and others
June 26 – Blonde Redhead
July 1 – Mojo Nixon & The Toadliquors. This is billed as a “Co-Dependence Day Party.”
July 8 – Season’s End CD release
July 24 – an interesting first ever foray into digital broadcasting for this venue. A website called “Digital Club Network” is hosting a four day online festival, broadcasting live shows. New Bomb Turks, Bob City, and Them Wranch perform to an actual crowd, though anyone can also watch for free online, from a static, single camera video feed. Some buffering issues aside, the event proved mostly a success.
July 28 – HensleySturgis again, this time with Hayseed
July 29 – Flyin’ Saucers
August 4 – New Duncan Imperials (billed as their “last Columbus show”)
September 17 – Sleater-Kinney, The White Stripes
October 10 – Martin Sexton. Damon and Leah are at this show. He ends up raving about this guy and his guitar playing abilities, says it was a really good performance.
October 17 – Drive-By Truckers
October 20 – Merl Saunders. This show is notable in that it’s an early transmission from a website called Digital Club Network, the first one I can track down. They would broadcast live from a venue, but then save it for viewing later as well. This wasn’t just a Columbus production, either, as they’ve set up shop at select venues all over the country.
I can’t find a set list much less the video or even audio now for this. If anyone knows how/where to track down these old DCN recordings, I would love to hear about it!
October 22 – Planet 12 and Subatomic Particles and Public Nuisance. Another DCN broadcast.
October 24 – Versus
November 11 – Superstar Rookie CD release. Pretty Mighty Mighty and A Planet For Texas also play.
November 15 – Yonder Mountain String Band
December 13 – Over The Rhine, Ashley Peacock
December 15 – Stepford Five. Another DCN broadcast.
December 16 – The Returnables, Salthorse. Another DCN broadcast.
December 17 – Mojo Nixon & The Toadliquors. Another DCN broadcast.
December 21 – Emperors Of Bad Luck. Another DCN broadcast.
Alive names Little Brother’s as the best place in town for rock n’ roll, 2000. Paul Bearer works the door and Bill Kramer is the sound man.
2001
January 12 – Elvis-a-thon Benefit
January 20 – Gaza Strippers
February 6 – J. Mascis. Another DCN broadcast.
February 13 – Flogging Molly, Blue Meanies. Another DCN broadcast for at least the Flogging Molly portion. After this I can’t find mention of any others, so this may have been a short lived experiment here.
February 15 – Sarah Harmer
February 28 – Yonder Mountain String Band
March 9 – The White Stripes
March 24 – Jonathan Richman
March 25 – Over The Rhine
March 27 – Crooked Fingers, Azure Ray
April 4 – Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
April 10 – Amy Ray, The Butchies, Rose Polenzani
April 21 – Frank Black and the Catholics
May 3 – Grandaddy
May 8 – Guided By Voices, The Lovin’ Spoonful, Spoon
June 3 – Glen Phillips
June 5 – Flickerstick
June 6 – Blake Babies, Wheat
June 27 – Kristin Hersh
July 12 – Mojo Nixon & The Toadliquors
July 24 – Pete Yorn, Ours
August 23 – John Mayer
September 5 – The Faint, Blood Brothers
October 11 – Peach Melba, The Almighty Senators
October 12 – Uncle Sam’s Dream Machine, The Sultans of Bing
October 13 – Scoot-A-Que 4 event! A Planet For Texas, Superstar Rookie, Fat Ass, The Patsys (possibly The Cutters, mentioned in at least one events calendar).
October 14 – Thalia Zedek
October 15 – Aboogatoot, Len Lew
October 19 – Salt Horse CD release party. Joined by Grafton, Pretty Mighty Mighty, The Marcy Mays Experience
October 22 – The Corn Sisters
October 23 – Death Cab For Cutie, The Prom
October 24 – Iris DeMent
October 25 – Caedmon’s Call
October 26 – Stone Velvet, Go Robot Go, Barefoot Landing
October 27 – The Paladins with Ray Fuller & The Bluesrockers, Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash
October 28 – 3pm show is Columbus Blues Alliance Twin Tower Benefit. Dave Chisholm Band, Blues at Last, Nighttrain, Willie Pooch & The Upsetters, Teeny Tucker Band all play.
Then a different 8pm show, not part of this, which features Mezzanine C-14, Bob City, Grafton, The Weary Boys
October 29 – Karma To Burn with Bastard Squad of America
October 30 – Tomato Box Creative Music Ensemble, with The Avant Collective opening. The Other Paper raved about the first, John Zorn likes the latter.
October 31 – Jive Turkeys, Go Evol Shiki, Di Di Mao, Suran Song in Stag, Flotation Walls
November 1 – Jude, Michelle Branch with Scott Dorsuch
November 3 – Jay Farrar
November 4 – The Sheila Divine
November 11 – The Frogs
November 12 – The National
November 14 – The Immortal Lee County Killers
November 24 – Willie Phoenix, Johnson Brothers, X-Rated Cowboys
December 4 – Bliss 66
December 8 – Nashville Pussy, Betty Blowtorch, Broadzilla
December 14 – Watershed, Willie Phoenix, The Stepford Five play benefit show for Grant/Riverside Pet Therapy Program. This supplies terminally ill patients with free pets. Attendees get a gratis copy of Watershed’s latest single, Can’t Be Myself
December 20 – Over the Rhine
2002
January 15 – Maery Lanahan, Ember Swift
February 14 – The Breeders
February 20 – Azure Ray, The Good Life
February 21 – Drive-By Truckers, Slobberbone
February 23 – Jonathan Richman
March 1 – Virginia Coalition, Llama
March 3 – Daniel Ash
March 29 – Daniel Ash
May 11 – Watershed
May 13 – Supersuckers
May 25 – Gossip
June 11 – Frostiva, Mary Timony
June 19 – Umphrey’s McGee
June 25 – Pretty Girls Make Graves
June 28 – Umphrey’s McGee
August 29 – Drive-By Truckers
September 5 – The Black Keys
September 18 – Luna
October 8 – Melt Banana
October 19 – John Wesley Harding
October 28 – Particle
October 31 – Bright Eyes
November 1 – Faire Winds
November 6 – The Black Heart Procession
November 8 – Lou Barlow
November 10 – The Black Keys, The Datsuns
November 28 – KHM
2003
January 9 – Cursive, Neva Dinova
January 25 – Ordinary Peoples
February 16 – Koko Taylor And Her Blues Machine
February 17 – The Great Fiction, Lovedrug
February 20 – Sleater-Kinney, The Black Keys
February 21 – Neko Case, Carolyn Mark, Catherine Irwin
March 6 – Rilo Kiley, The Good Life, Mayday
March 12 – Maroon 5
March 21 – Frank Black and the Catholics
March 22 – Minus The Bear, Cursive, No Knife
March 24 – Mary Timony, Frostiva
April 1 – The Datsuns
April 2 – Bettie Serveert
April 10 – Lovedrug, twothirtyeight, House Of Heroes
April 25 – The Detroit Cobras
June 1 – Q And Not U
June 3 – Rocket From The Tombs
June 6 – Melt Banana
June 13 – Laura Cantrell
June 16 – Small Brown Bike, Lovedrug, Rocky Votolato, The Casket Lottery
June 25 – Hot Action Cop
June 26 – Drive-By Truckers
July 23 – Rilo Kiley, M. Ward
July 26 – Vic Chesnutt
July 28 – Jets To Brazil
August 9 – Watershed
August 26 – Xavier Rudd
September 3 – Tommy Stinson
September 14 – Cursive, The Blood Brothers, eastern youth
September 28 – Lovedrug, MewithoutYou
October 4 – Allison Moorer
October 9 – Pseudopod
October 11 – Peaches
October 23 – Beulah
October 29 – Death Cab For Cutie, Mates Of State
November 6 – Electric Six
November 23 – Planes Mistaken For Stars, Lovedrug, Narcissus
November 29 – Over The Rhine
2004
January 14 – The Samples
January 19 – Mastodon, Rune
February 1 – Copeland
February 13 – The Black Keys
February 23 – Mary Timony
February 25 – Gossip
March 11 – Guided By Voices
March 18 – dada
March 22 – Great Big Sea
April 23 – Cursive, Darkest Hour
April 28 – Mastodon, Rune
May 6 – Blue October
May 7 – Electric Six
May 28 – Tracy + The Plastics
May 29 – Scrawl, Slumber Party, Mascott
June 9 – Beulah
June 19 – Heartless Bastards
June 20 – Braid, Minus The Bear, Murder By Death
June 24 – Over The Rhine
June 28 – Spoon
July 11 – As I Lay Dying
July 27 – Rainer Maria, Engine Down
August 6 – The Walkmen
August 12 – VHS Or Beta
August 15 – Bad Acid Trip, Tub Ring, Dog Fashion Disco
September 9 – Brave Combo
September 11 – Les Savy Fav
September 13 – Sloan
September 25 – RJD2
October 17 – The Decemberists, Apollo Sunshine
October 21 – The Good Life, Neva Dinova, The ’89 Cubs
October 24 – mclusky
November 2 – Nada Surf, Maplewood
November 4 – Pinback, Aspects Of Physics, Earlimart
November 8 – Mastodon
November 11 – American Music Club
December 3 – Over The Rhine
2005
February 19 – Heartless Bastards
February 20 – Kings Of Convenience
February 25 – Watershed
February 26 – Dr. Dog
March 12 – Death From Above 1979
March 13 – The National
March 24 – Drive-By Truckers, Heartless Bastards
April 15 – The Dirtbombs
April 19 – M. Ward
April 27 – MUTEMATH
April 29 – The Clarks
April 30 – Danko Jones
May 4 – The Wedding Present, The Organ
May 7 – The Decemberists
May 8 – Jimmy Chamberlin Complex
May 11 – Unsane
May 25 – Stereophonics
June 14 – Neko Case, Johnny Dowd
June 15 – Caesars
June 20 – Kimya Dawson
August 12 – Brave Combo
August 13 – Heartless Bastards
August 16 – Joe Ely
August 26 – Bob Schneider
September 2 – Over The Rhine
September 7 – Matt Wertz
September 20 – The National, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
September 29 – We Are Wolves, Gossip
October 1 – Tom Waits-a-Thon. Local acts ranging from Bob Sauls to Champipple to Ukelele Man tackle cover tunes by the gravel throated legend.
October 5 – The Posies, with Miranda Sound (local) and Oranger (not sure) opening.
Chelsie’s was a semi-legendary rock club once located at 980 N. High Street. I only had the pleasure of checking out this establishment once, which would have been in the fall of ’97. You kind of feel guilty sometimes about not patronizing certain establishments more – or even never getting around to checking them out at all – but the reality is that our time and our money are both precious resources and it’s just impossible to cram in everything we would like.
Anyway, if my notes are correct, this would have been a Friday, September 19, 1997. Whatever the case, the band on tap that night would be Watershed, whom I had seen one other night back in ’95. But I don’t know what band we’re going to see, because my tour guide, so to speak, Clif, can’t remember the name of the group. All he knows is that his coworker at B Street, Colin, is playing here tonight. And I don’t know enough about Watershed at the time to put 2 and 2 together.
We park on this residential street a block east of High and walk to the club. The air is warm for the season and almost spookily still, perfect for a stroll as we make our way to that main thoroughfare. Neither of us know the precise location of the bar, however, Chelsie’s, and didn’t think to do a drive by before parking, thus we’re not sure in which direction to walk from here. We ask this elderly black gentleman hanging out at this particular corner if he’s ever heard of the place, and he hands us both his business card. It turns out he’s a preacher at this ministry a few blocks south of here, one which serves free food for anyone who will sit through a sermon. Considering the outrageousness of our current lifestyle, there’s no telling what kind of dire straits I might find myself in this week or the next, so I thank him, tuck his card inside my wallet. But no, he hasn’t heard of this place, either.
With a shrug, we decide to head south, and sure enough hit paydirt soon enough. We have found the club, and its requisite surly doorman, both standing tall amidst a number of trendy looking art galleries which have shuttered for the evening, along with a handful of other bars peppering this region.
“Eight dollars?” I gasp, “these guys better be pretty fucking good.”
“No shit,” Clif agrees.
Then I spot the name on the bill, and this elicits a knowing chuckle: Watershed. Clif asks me what’s so funny, and I explain that I had seen these guys a couple of years ago, but went home after 3 songs. This would have been at the Blitzfest or whatever it was called, a free show held at Polaris in the summer of ’95. They were the headliners and it had been a long day, so my impression of that experience probably doesn’t reflect on them. My girlfriend at the time, Heather, never showed up – we were going through a rough patch which pretty much ended up being the final patch – so I said screw it and drove down alone. I remember the Nixons played earlier, hot on the coattails of their only hit, and also a ton of local bands who weren’t very good, and that Suzi Waud, at the time the most popular DJ in town, came onstage to say a few things, and that this was maybe the highlight of the day. By the time Watershed appeared, as the last act of the night, I’d heard enough a few tunes into their set and decided to pack it in. I didn’t realize at the time that they were signed to a major label. Clearly they were a bigger deal than the Nixons, but it was hard to have perspective on them in some respect because they were local.
The long, battle scarred bar sits perpendicular to the door and runs nearly the length of this cramped establishment, filled to the brim with bodies. Nonetheless we manage to secure a couple of bottled beers, as I scan my eyes around the room and try to appraise this place. The atmosphere here reminds me of Ruby Tuesday, albeit on a much bigger scale. Even so, I’m not entirely thrilled by what Chelsie’s has to offer, and the hefty admission ranks among the least of my concerns. Despite a back door swinging wide open this decrepit joint has the worst ventilation of all time, as we’re dripping sweat in buckets. A massive elevated stage lines the rear wall, which the bands assuredly love, and does indeed make them appear lordly, yet most clubs hosting groups of this caliber would never risk doing so in such limited space. The phrase fire hazard was specifically created for settings such as this, with scores of people wedged elbow to elbow, the friction between us incendiary enough to shoot sparks on its own.
Call this a scaled down model of campus as a whole. Alluring and terrible at the same time, full of dogeared charm. When I look back on this era years down the road I know that this is how I’ll see it, dark and cramped and loud, perspiration extruding from every pore, off to meet a group of individuals we may never intersect at all. Nights like disjointed limbs, impossible to stitch together again in any functional matter, where so much changes on an hourly basis you forget why you left the house to begin with. Courses changing direction as quickly as the Midwestern wind, alliances plotted, names learned and then forgotten, romances that bloom and wither in the space of one tumultuous evening. And everywhere, everywhere, there are no strangers left, because from one end of this city to another we’re all friends already and our futures are plotted but we’re not tuned in enough to grasp this, the import of these adventures escapes our meager minds.
Almost as a matter of magnetic propulsion, we’re pushed out onto the back patio, where we run into a handful of Clif’s friends. This auburn haired, extremely talkative and somewhat amusing Joe character I remember meeting before is yukking it up with some folks, and also milling around is this wholesome set of twins who look as though they’ve teleported here from a 1950s sitcom. A drop dead gorgeous blonde named Laura whose hate filled scowl is fiery enough to blister paint on the surface of nearby buildings, and her slick, smiling boyfriend with immaculately groomed jet black hair. Some guy named Johnny, some chick named Amy, too, but these are just faceless names, blank slates whose personas never extend beyond this moment of introductory hellos.
Meeting folks through Clif is a curious affair because he clearly knows a lot of people, although I do question how well. The plain looking twins, with their short, sandy colored hair seem genuinely pleased by his arrival, but elsewhere he registers few blips on the radar. So I’m left wondering if these individuals are always this nonchalant, or whether he’s around so much it’s no big deal, or else they’re simply shocked that he appeared down here. Introducing me it goes without saying rates even lower and the prevalent reaction is disinterest, as if wondering why Clif is even bothering at all.
When the headliners we’ve coalesced to support are ready to go on, as one nearly unified mass we reenter the building, needle our way through the dense foliage of bodies near the stage. And the instant this power trio dives into their first number, it becomes apparent that either my tastes have changed or they’ve gotten a whole lot better. Probably a combination of both, in fact. Two summers earlier when I saw them, Watershed were signed to Epic Records, a major label for whom they’d cut a couple releases, and they were playing for a crowd of ten thousand. So while tonight’s paid attendance might pale in comparison, Chelsie’s is packed to the rafters, nonetheless, and they’re making up the difference in sheer quality of performance, they’ve come a long way.
Colin sings most of the songs, and there’s something of a dapper British gentleman about his appearance – maybe a little Hugh Grant-ish, or Gavin Rossdale-esque, although really, I’ll tell you what he reminds me of, he reminds of Robert Smith from the Cure, if only he were 50 pounds lighter at a similar age and smiled as much as this guy does. More importantly, these quick little three minutes gems ring with hooks, the kind of catchy choruses less talented musicians sell their souls for. The guitar shimmers and the bass bounces and the drums snap out the beat with sharp, compressed ferocity, and there’s nary a wayward note played anywhere. What I envisioned as a favor to a friend has instead torn my ears apart, and when their set comes thundering to a halt forty five minutes later I feel as though they’ve not yet played a single song. And while I know a lot of musicians who dislike this term, dismissing it as not applicable to their own sound, the description power pop certainly fits Watershed, this generic umbrella nonetheless a weapon they’ve wielded like no other band I have seen live.
After the set, we ooze like gelatinous blobs onto the back patio again, the cool blast of fresh autumn air a form of life support that resuscitates our torpid shells. Colin buys Clif a beer for showing up, a kind reversal of the usual fandom role, and a positive vibe hangs in the breeze, as the band is clearly pleased with their performance, with the turnout and the money they’ve pulled in off the door. In addition to the frontman himself we meet their bassist, a gruff cat with shaved head also named Joe, and their drummer, Herb, and once our drinks are extinguished we all climb into separate vehicles, in pursuit of a party up on campus.
II.
One of my good friends was in Silo The Huskie and says they were supposed to play that memorable night in May of ’97 following the U2 show at the Horseshoe. But that the gig was scrapped when the owner showed up considerably late and torn off the frame drunk. He unlocked the doors long enough basically so that they could cart their gear back out of the place. I’ve also heard rumors about some benefit show where the employees actually used the proceeds for some big coke party instead of donating it to the stated cause – but these are rumors, mind you, only rumors. Let us dip, however, into what we can discover about the booking schedule at Chelsie’s. These aren’t confirmed dates that were played, but they were at least on the docket. I still have boxes upon boxes of old Alive! and The Other Paper weeklies that I will surely trawl through at some point for additional gigs. But this is the roll call so far, of other shows I’ve discovered beside this one:
1/18/95 – Edgar Winter
5/22/95 – Letters To Cleo
5/11/96 – Jorma Kaukonen
9/18/96 – Switchblade Symphony
12/6/96 – Goldfinger
4/16/97 – Lycia
4/25/97 – Bloodhound Gang
6/4/97 – Reel Big Fish
6/6/97 – Switchblade Symphony
7/17/97 – Lycia
8/13/97 – Iced Earth
10/10/97 – Merl Saunders
12/12/97 – Deicide
9/30/98 – The Outfield (local band The Shantee open)
10/19/99 – Melvin Seals
A healthy mix of local and national acts frequented the stage here, and these are only the most memorable names I could unearth. Ideally I would like to post the entire lifetime calendar for all of these places, down to the set lists. As far as what befell Chelsie’s, I’m not exactly sure, but seem to remember something in the papers about mismanagement – and the handful of first hand stories I’ve heard tend to corroborate this theory.
