Out to the show

I’m celebrating Labor Day weekend by going down to Cafe Du Nord to check out the most blue-collar bunch of musicians I know, the Trainwreck Riders.  I’ll post some comments down about that later this week.  But first, I’m very excited to recall a show I attended this past Monday. It was a fundraiser for 826 Valencia featuring Dave Eggers, Sarah Vowell, Patton Oswalt, Aimee Mann, Mark Kozelek, Zack Rogue and my new favorite artist, Jonathan Richman.  I’d seen Richman perform before, but I never felt too close to his music. The other night that changed because what I witnessed was a true performer. He only played four songs (all performers were limited to 15-20 minutes of playing time) but he kept the sold out crowd pleasently amused with his hip swaying antics.  He had a kind of Harpo Marx skip to him this evening without any in between song commentary.  I found out later in conversation with him that he hadn’t been speaking since December on doctors orders because of an excrescence in his throat. All of his words were conveyed to me via his handy notepad.  He even had a night light ready to to illuminate his writing in the dark pub we were drinking beers at. It was a strange exchange, but our conversation was much more direct and honest than talking over the loud chatter of drinkers would have allowed. And man, if you haven’t heard the Modern Lovers, Richman’s first band, go out and get it. Most of the album was produced by John Cale and featured musicians that later formed the Talking Heads and The Cars.  They only had one copy left at Amoeba Music yesterday.

It was my first time catching Mark Kozelek perform. He was every bit as depressed in person as his voice seems to project on recordings.  Don’t get me wrong, I love his music and I thought his shortened performance was strong. Perhaps he was a bit upset about Patton Oswalt mispronouncing his name when he was introduced, but I doubt it.

Here are some new folks that want you to hear their stuff. Good old fun punk from down under.  I especially like the length of the tunes, the longest a little bit over 3 minutes.  Reminds me of my old band, Patch (well at least the length of songs remind me of our stuff). They recently played a show with Mike Watt and the Stooges.  Could you imagine that? They do rock pretty hard and have a more refined and innovative punk sound than any bands I’ve heard lately.

We are Gallucci, soca punk band from convict hangout Sydney, Australia. Our new album is called “You-Wrecker” 21 performances by the above mentioned….I guess we just wanted to let you know that we exist and make sound, that is all.

That’s enough for me.  Thanks guys.  Here are some tunes for you perusal:

Gallucci : Stockade March
Gallucci : Pan, Pan, Pan
Gallucci : I Thought You Were Dead
Gallucci : Resc-You & Me