It started off on Friday night when Theresa and I went out to dinner with her folks. We are watching their little dog Izzy for a month while they are out in Palau.
After dinner we relaxed at home with Izzy for the rest of the night and watched TV.
Saturday morning I watched the animated movie Planet Hulk. It was a good flick. You get to see the Hulk fight as a gladiator on some far away planet where he does pretty much nothing except beat the shit out of anyone who fucks with him and then he becomes the king of the place. Someday I'll get around to reading the comics that the movie is based on. After that Theresa and I watched a documentary about Zombies in popular culture.
Later that night Theresa and I went out to the Gorevette EP release party at Goodnite Gracie's. I've lived most of my adult life here in Ann Arbor and that bar is one of the places I've managed to avoid. It always seemed to posh for my taste. I tend to prefer the dive bar. Then again I never really gave it a chance did I? It was a nice little spot. Not as lame as I imagined. Except they don't serve any cheap beer, so don't ask for a PBR or Rolling Rock unless you want a scornful look from the bartender. To me it seemed like an unusual place for a local rock show. I don't remember them ever having local bands perform there before. Someone told me they sometimes have jazz bands play there or DJs. The Gorevette show was moved there last minute due to the Heidelberg being turned into seven night a week poker night venue (?) virtually overnight. The bummer part being that the Heidelberg owners didn't inform anyone including the booking agent till the last minute and all the shows that had been booked had to be moved to a new venue. Enter Goodnite Gracie's. Good for them. I hope they continue to have bands play there.
Anyway, our friends Ryan and Casey, who used to be in the Riots were opening the show as part of a new band with singer Freddy Fortune called The United Space League.
I loved them right off the bat. The group plays a mix of 60's psych sounding jams with two guitars, one playing a cleaner tone while the other is fuzzed out, while also throwing some nice vibrato sounds into the mix. Freddy is a great front man with a loud commanding voice. It reminded me of the rocking side of the 13th floor Elevators musically with a Sonics like vocal delivery. Ryan said they should have a 7" coming out soon. Watch for it. These guys and girl know how to rock.
Up next was Silverghost. I've seen them play a few times now. They are a two piece featuring Marcie Bolen on guitar and vocals, and Deleano Acevedo on keyboards, vocals and drum machine. Normally not my type of thing, but I actually enjoy their music. The vibe is playful, quirky and new wave sounding. I like the way their two voices go together. They did a Devo cover of Mongoloid that was great.
After Silverghost it was time for Gorevette.
The ladies and dude got up there and wasted little time blasting out their girl-pop-rock 'n' roll. The songs flowed out one after the other with sparse stage banter, mostly just drummer Al King snapping out the count on his sticks and launching the band into another rocking tune.
The crowd loved it. I thought the band played very well. I heard they sold a lot of copies their new EP although I forgot to pick one up (Doh!). Two of the tracks on the EP feature Deniz Tek on guitar.
After the show we had a few friends over for drinks and stayed up way to late.
Earlier on Saturday afternoon Retro Kimmer rang up and asked if Al King and I would like to participate in a little jam session on Sunday with the legendary songwriter/guitar player Ivan Kral, along with Mark Sisto, singer from the Visitors, and guitarist Gary Quackenbush from the 60's Ann Arbor rock group SRC. It sounded like something cool to do on a Sunday afternoon. The only catch being we would have to do it at the Bang studio, which wasn't a big deal. It actually made it easier for me. I knew who all those dudes are, so I agreed right away.
(left-right, Gary, Chris, Mark, Al)
Before Ivan showed up, the group got to know each other and then warmed up by learning an old SRC song. After jamming a bit, Ivan and his wife Cindy showed up with some pizza and soda for us and then we learned a few of his songs.
I'm not sure what this collaboration might lead too, but I really enjoyed playing music with all these guys.
After the session I went home and crashed out in preparation for the coming work week.
