Weekend in review, better late than never

So I think I'm bummed out since I missed one of my favorite groups last weekend, The White Stripes. However, the show must go on! I really haven't felt like updating so far this week, things have been kinda' crazy. Plus, Hurricane Katrina (such a pretty name don't you think?) really puts everything into perspective. My personal news seem very unimportant at the moment. My thoughts are with you, people of Louisiana (and adjacent areas)... Just got back from my company's "Summer Party" which was held at one of the Presidents' houses! Nice pad! Not quite as nice as mine though; I think MTV Cribs is coming by my pad to do a little "shoot" next week...

My weekend was quite good, over "like that" though! I hate that. Here's what I did:

Originally Friday I had just planned to mp3 my CD collection and watch Bill Maher Show... however, some of my neighbors a couple of houses down decided to have a bond-fire. My buddy "V" had also joined me at my house as he had to use my computer for some rental-related issues. To make a long-story-short, the night was quite entertaining, at least until the "hard booze" started flowing. Somehow I woke up in my own bed that night!?... Good times, here are a couple of pics:














Saturday started out quite mellow. My buddy "V" came over again to use the computer. We decided to go to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner and drinks as we were waiting to meet up with a friend from out of town. Friend-from-out-of-town got sidetracked, so we wound up hanging out for quite a while (no big deal Metalfan). After this I met up with my dear friend "K-girl" and we listened to a lot of Mint Royale (Song #2, "The Effect On Me", on the new CD is amazing) and discussed politics. Great night... sorry no pics! Even if I had some, I probably couldn't/wouldn't post them!???

As you may know I'm into excercising, especially biking lately. Well, Sunday my Dad and I went biking in the Fort Snelling area. Yes I made it out, even after a quite late night on Saturday. The biking was great! It's absolutely beautiful there... close to the airport too, so you can see planes land virtually over your head! Amazing what Mpls/St. Paul has to offer and things that I didn't know where there. Here are some of the pics:










That's all I'm telling you for today! The rest is on pay-per-view. Cheers!

P.S. The picutre of me with the fire in the background, aka the "Get behind me satan" picture... is this an omen of where I'll end up??? I think so; perhaps I'll see some of you there!

What's happening this weekend?

Even if you can't make it to tonight's (or Saturday's) White Stripes gig (doesn't look like I'll make it myself), there are still lots of other good things going on this weekend in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Here's the info (from MusicScene), local bands/artists in bold-type:



Fri 8/26/05

Thunderheads / Tony Sims
@ 6PM First Avenue $8

The Plastic Constellations
@ 8PM 7th St Entry $6

Stateline Hotel / Hot Rod Hearse / Corpse Show Creeps
@ 9PM Uptown Bar $5

Black Flood Diesel / LTD / Far From Falling / Syntrap
@ 830PM Cabooze 18+ $5

Engine Down (farewell tour) / Bella Lea
@ 5PM Triple Rock Social Club AA $?

Kid Dakota / These Modern Socks / Questions in Letters
@ 9PM Triple Rock Social Club $6

Horace X / Felonious Bosch
@ 9PM Varsity Theater AA $10/12

Charmaine / Sarah Notley / Caitlyn Smith
@ 7PM Club 3 Degrees AA $7

Living Spoon / Lava Bloom / Maudlin
@ 9PM Terminal Bar $5

Chuck Prophet / Joe Rathbone
@ 9PM Turf Club $12

The White Stripes
@ 7PM Orpheum Theater AA SOLD OUT

Mötley Crüe
@ 8PM MN State Fair AA $45

Signs from Cinema (CD release) / ABEC / Autumn Dervish / Fourth Effect / Atomic Annie / The Cretins / Silent Surrender / Nemisis
@ 6PM The Garage AA $4

Bridge Club / Landing Gear / Chop Logic / The Dials
@ 9PM Hexagon Bar $0

Brucial / Crime in Stereo / Life Long Tragedy
@ 7PM The Slaughterhouse AA $5


Sat 8/27/05

Kraig Jarret Johnson & the Program / Michael Morris
@ 9PM 400 Bar $7/10

American Head Charge
@ 6PM First Avenue AA $15

Tight Phantomz / Temper Temper
@ 8PM 7th St Entry $6

Pong / Koalas / Capitol Sons
@ 9PM Uptown Bar $5

Leroy Smokes / Inebriation / Atlus Dusk / Booka B
@ 830PM Cabooze 18+ $6

A Whisper in the Noise / The Swiss Army
@ 9PM Varsity Theater 18+ $10

Scott Wooldrige / The Moss Piglets / Pert Near Sandstone
@ 9PM Terminal Bar $5

Minnesota does Minnesota Music: Friends Like These / Dan Israel & the Cultivators / The Violettes / Karen Paurus / The Homewreckers / JoAnna James
@ 9PM Turf Club $?

Brakelazy / Maiden Korea
@ 9PM The Steak Knife AA $?

The White Stripes
@ 7PM Orpheum Theater AA SOLD OUT

Harbor / Do it for Johnny / Silent Rival / more
@ 6PM The Garage AA $4

The Revamps / BCNP / Seldomseen
@ 9PM Hexagon Bar $0

members of The Suburbs (@ at the end of the Hudson Jetty)
@ 5PM Hudson Amphitheater (WI) AA $0

Jack Johnson
@ 7PM Float-Rite Park AA $35


Sun 8/28/05

Hieroglyphics / Non Phixon / OC
@ 5PM First Avenue AA $12/14

Maps of Norway / Divebomb Honey / Mercurial Rage
@ 6PM The Dinkytowner Cafe AA $5

Red Pony Clock / Your Loving Tiger / I Miss My Best Friend Forever
@ 630PM Walker Community Church AA $5

The New Standards: Chan Poling, John Munson & Steve Roehm
@ 830PM MN Center for Photography AA $25

Norman Brown's Summer Storm
@ 730PM Minnesota Zoo Amphitheater AA $45

Benefit for Bolder Options: Nick Leet / Highview / Elliot Hilton
@ 7PM Acadia Theater & Cafe AA $4

Sharkpants / The Soviettes / MaydayMayday
@ 8PM The Alamo AA $3

Dan Israel
@ 11AM Mpls Institute of Arts AA $0

Underground Lake Street Music Fest
@ 12PM TC Underground AA $?

The White Stripes - live

As mentioned in earlier posts, Jack & Meg are in town for 2(!) shows this weekend! Anybody have any extra tickets? Or... would you like to join me and try to get scalper tickets for the Friday show? Let me know... I'd love to go! Bring your balloons!

Edit: You can read an interview with Jack in the latest Rolling Stone magazine.

5 worst albums you own

OK, let's do something fun and interactive for a change! I see Stereogum doing this quite a bit. Also, there was a cool post on I Rock I Roll yesterday (check out my comments, it's the "jukebox" story). So, let's do something different... Everybody does the "best" or "greatest" albums of the year or of all time, etc... which is cool, however...

I'm wondering... what are the worst albums you have in your collection? I know you have some Vanilla Ice or MC Hammer, or even worse. Don't lie!

These albums are usually such crap that:

• You can't even sell them to a "Used-CD" store (as they are over-stocked)
• You can't even give them to a friend or enemy (they'll graciously decline)
• You can't throw them out... who knows next time you'll need that "one song" at a party...

Without any further a-do, here are my five (in no particular order):

1. Poison - Look What The Cat Dragged In
2. Rick Astley - Whenever You Need Somebody
3. Technotronic - Pump Up The Jam
4. Pointer Sisters - Break Out
5. Europe - The Final Countdown

How pathetic is that, huh?! I did sell a lot of my "really really shitty" CDs a few years back in college when I was piss-ass-poor though...

Your turn! Leave your top 5 in the comments!

P.S. Come on, I know you like "I'm So Excited" by the Pointer Sisters!

Hello Cleveland!

I just wanted to share the excellent mix cd(s) Anglophiliac gave me last Saturday. They're called "Hello Cleveland! A mix with balls" (Vol1 & 2), and really fuckin' rock! (Artwork above - pretty creative, huh?).

In case you're not familiar with band-mate Anglophiliac, he introduced himself on 7/1/05 (took me a while to find that one in the archive). He's a great friend and co-worker, and also one of the guys who goes to most the live-shows with me (along with the rest of the "entourage"). Also, he's the guy responsible for about 75% of my music collection over the past couple of years. Yes, he's a self-proclaimed "music addict" and also the person who gets me into soooo many great bands. To summarize, he's a really great guy, however way tooooo modest about his musical knowledge. As the mix CDs are great I thought I'd share them with you:

Hello Cleveland! (Vol 1)

• Principal Skinner - Instructions
• Ash - Kung Fu
• D4 - Rock 'n' Roll Muther Fucker
• The Music - The Dance
• The Secret Machines - Nowhere Again
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - White Palms
• The Beat Up - Like A Moron
• The White Stripes - Astro
• The Black Keys - Grown So Ugly
• The Mooney Suzuki - Alive And Amplified
• The Sights - Got What I Want
• Tsar - Superdeformed
• Bloc Party - The Answer
• The Crescent - On The Run
• The Blueskins - My Love Is Law
• The Bravery - Swollen Summer
• Stellastarr* - No Weather
• The Cells - Silver Cloud
• Mando Diao - Sweet Ride
• Towers of London - On A Noose
• The Clash - Complete Control
• The Libertines - I Get Along
• The Raveonettes - That Great Love Sound
• The Presidents of the USA - Kick Out The Jams
• The Cooper Temple Clause - Panzer Attack

Hello Cleveland! (Vol 2)

• Marty DiBergi - Review
• The Mooney Suzuki - Primitive Condition
• Ash - Orpheus
• The Vines - Get Free
• The Blackouts - Something... I Can't Say
• Nine Black Alps - Cosmopolitan
• The Von Bondies - No Regrets
• Social Distortion - When She Begins
• The Reverend Horton Heat - 400 Bucks
• The Supersuckers - I Was Born Whithout A Spine
• The Sights - One And Only
• The Cribs - Baby Don't Sweat
• The 22-20s - Devil In Me
• D4 - Come On
• British Sea Power - Apologies To Insect Life
• Tsar - Band-Girls-Money
• The Hiss - Riverbed
• The Mooney Suzuki - Loose 'n' Juicy
• My Red Cell - Going Out For Nothing
• The Fever - Ponyboy
• The Move - Brontosaurus
• Kasabian - Club Foot
• The Secret Machines - First Wave Intact

Pretty awesome, huh!??? Thanks again, Anglophiliac! Anybody who'd like a copy leave me a comment or email me! I wish I had my own server... I'd post all the mp3's for you...

P.S. I hope I got all the bands' links right (I don't have hours to investigate)... If I screwed up any let me know!

I won't be intimidated

So this is where I found my fucking mailbox today after returning home from work! I told you the Minnesota State Fair Gestapo (MSFG) doesn't like it when you write bad stuff about the Minnesota State Fair...

Don't worry, I'm not inimidated (yet)! They didn't even put a deadly spider or snake into the mailbox... how uncreative!

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, see my post "The (not-so) Great Minnesota Get-Together 2005" from 8/24/05.

MN State Fair Gestapo don't mess with me! Otherwise you'll be "swimming with the fishes" in Lake Minnetonka very soon (like Apollonia in Purple Rain)!

There, isn't that tough! OK, I'm totally pretending... I watch way too many Mob movies/series! However, I'm not making any of this up... this is seriously how I found my mailbox today (with no mail in it)! Coincidence? You be the judge!

Random Music Updates

Here's a few things of interest:

• Broken Social Scene with special guest Feist are coming to First Avenue on 10/29/05. As always, for more local updates/info check More Cowbell.

• I'm totally addicted to ex-locals The Hold Steady's new album Separation Sunday! NPR has a great inteview with the band and even analyzes their song lyrics. I didn't know it was a "concept album"!

• The feud between Ozzy and Iron Maiden is bloody great! First Ozzy's wife talks about Iron Maiden being disrespectful, then Maiden gets bombarded by eggs, then Maiden hits back at Ozzy! Classic...

• Anybody local up for crashing The White Stripes show this Friday or Saturday? I don't feel like paying $50.00 for a ticket... the event(s) aren't sold out so I think cheap scalper tickets ($20-$30) should abound! Let me know... In other Jack news, I guess he's got problems with balloons lately! The Modern Age summarizes events...

• You can read a detailed review of the Robotboy show from last weekend at HowWasTheShow. Since I was too busy talking to ladies (Miss Minnesota for example)...

I'm off to make a big pasta dinner.... I know it's hard to believe I can cook anything aside from Toast. Have a great day everybody!

Edit: In non-music news... check out Indiana Tom's. He's got great new pictures of his trip from Indiana to Minneapolis! Especially if you like dogs...

The (not-so) Great Minnesota Get-Together 2005

Just because people around here will start asking me the following question starting tomorrow "Steve, so... you goin' to the Fair?" for the next 2 weeks. The answer is "NO!":

I'll probably get a lot of shit for this post, but never-the-less I'm posting it anyways! Also, let me say that I have nothing against people who visit the Fair, or the state or people of Minnesota, this is solely my opionion, so take-it-or-leave-it (as the Strokes would say).

The Minnesota State Fair starts tomorrow, 8/25/05, and runs through US Labor Day, 9/5/05. Yes, that long, unfortuntately!

For those of you who are not familiar with "The Fair"... it's held at the MN State Fair Grounds once a year and here are the 5 main things that bother me about the event:

• Can I pay a "cover charge" to eat food? Yes, it is really good and very unhealthy (mostly greasy) food. I have nothing against the food aspect, however paying $9.00 to get in, bothers me, which doesn't even include parking. Just go to what's called a "Restaurant" instead?...

• Yes, farm animals are fun to look at. However, again, you don't need to pay a cover for that!??? Go to the Zoo (and you can see way cooler animals for about the same price) or drive a 1/2 hour out of the city...

• According to the local news the Minnesota State Fair is as big as the 2nd coming of Christ, every year!

• Since I work in the area of the fair... the traffic sucks! I can't even make it to a local restaurant under 20 minutes... I guess I should "brown bag" it for the next couple of weeks... I wish I had somethinge to "brown bag"?

• So we come to the music line-up. Wow, it gets worse every year, I swear:

Thu 8/25: 3 Doors Down, Staind, Breaking Benjamin
Fri 8/26: Motley Crue
Sat 8/27: Sawyer Brown, Great Big Sea
Sun 8/28: Lynyrd Skynyrd (Cancelled!)
Mon 8/29: Ryan Cabrera
Tue 8/30: James Taylor
Wed 8/31: Martina McBride
Thu 9/1: Rascal Flatts
Fri 9/2: A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor
Sat 9/3: REO Speedwagon, Styx
Sun 9/4: Amateur Talent Contest Finals
Mon 9/5: Switchfoot

• OK, a couple of these are ok (however most would be considered torture even in Iraq, just ask Saddam!). However, where's the local talent? I thought this is the "Minnesota State Fair"? Where are Bob Mould, Soul Asylum, Gear Daddies, The Hopefuls, Vicious Vicious, Robotboy, etc (do I need to go on)... What a joke!?

I think I'll stop here... I don't want everybody in Minnesota mad at me and/or spitting in my food (at least not at the same time!). All I'm trying to say... The Minnesota State Fair could do a lot better... I should be in charge!

P.S. The only day I would consider "maybe" going would be the final day, 9/5/05, as it's MPR Day, featuring live-sets by The Hang Ups and Cloud Cult. As always check out The Current, arguably the best radio station in the US.

P.P.S. Since I've never seen anybody else write anything remotely critizising the State Fair... if you don't hear from me in the next 3 days, it means the State Fair Gestapo came and got me, and fed me to Minnesota's largest pig!

Queenvick going solo

So it was just a question of time before one of my "band mates" would leave the band. Well, that time has arrived. Queenvick's (the thesbian of this site) blog went "live" today, way to go girl! For those of you who don't know, Queenvick, aka Victoria, is my sister currently residing in NYC with her boyfriend Lucas.

I'm actually very happy she started her own blog as its a lot easier for the rest of the family and friends to track down where she's currently residing or where she is currently visiting. For example if you visit her site at the moment, you'll find pictures from Minnesota, NYC, Boston, and Toronto, Canada... and she's moving to LA in a couple of weeks!

Congrat's Queenvick, great site! We'll look forward to regular updates on what you're up to!

I've added links to her site in the right side-bar, so show her some love and visit her site on a regular basis. Or you can also check out her more "professional" website Queenvick.com. She'll still remain a part-time "band mate" on this site, so if she has something extraordinary to post she can... See, I don't behave like Liam all the time!

P.S. There are actually more pictures of my sister on my site than are of me, I think!

Weekend in Review - Miss Minnesota!?

What a great weekend! Unfortunately this week has been crazy busy, therefore I haven't gotten to this until now...

Friday started out with a bang! My brother and sister-and-law found out the sex of their baby which is due January 5, 2005. It's a GIRL!!! Congratulations again, to them! So I'll have a niece soon...

Friday evening I headed out to catch the Robotboy CD Release party show @ the Uptown Bar. It was a packed house and Robotboy was in fine form. If you've never seen them before (or heard of them) they sound a lot (!) like The Clash. If I had closed my eyes at the show I would have thought it was Joe Strummer up on the stage. We missed the opening band Retribution Gospel Choir, however caught the final band of the night Divorcee who were also quite good. Unfortunately for the band most people had cleared out after Robotboy.

Actually I didn't catch much of Divorcee either as one of the girls I was talking to outside on the patio turned out to be Miss Minnesota! Once again, you never know who you're going to run into... crazy stuff, she introduced herself as "Mandi" which of course is not her real name. You can read more about her here. All in all it was a good time hanging out with her. Nope, she isn't single (I inquired of course), nor my type actually...

The whole night at the Uptown Bar seemed like a big house-party actually. Yes, it was that crazy/good. Here are a couple of pictures from the evening:

RobotBoy - live

Me, Queenvick, Deathblow

Miss Minnesota (Karyn Stordahl), Me

All the hooligans in one picture!














Saturday was my sister's last weekend night in Minneapolis/St. Paul. To celebrate we started out at Buffalo Wild Wings and sampled lots of meat-products. After that we headed out to to Brit's Pub in downtown Minneapolis and met up with many good friends. A great time was had by all.

Pictures from Saturday evening:










Sunday we had a nice family dinner which was delicious. Queenvick and I also biked over to the suburb of Fridley all the way to the Mississippi. Queenvick's bike seat really sucked! I hope her behind has recovered by now!? The weekend was concluded by watching the series-finale of Six Feet Under. Fucking brilliant conclusion to the show! You can download the amazing closing tune to the show @ Stereogum. I highly recommend you do!

All the recent visitors have gone back to their homes now. Nice to hear you made it back to NYC in one piece Queenvick. Missing you already...

Thank you Anglophiliac for your most excellent "Hello Cleveland! A Mix with Balls" Vol 1 & 2 mix CDs! Absolutely fuckin' rockin'!!!

Thing I forgot #1: This picture... it's classic! Queenvick dancing (or attempting to) with Ringo, aka Rock n Roll Dog. Enjoy...


















Thing I forgot #2: My parents had a little party for some friends on Friday. I was over to crash the party very briefly. Here are a few pictures:










And this was supposed to be a "short post"!!! More stuff to come later today...

Bill Maher is back (finally)

I don't really watch a lot of TV, except for HBO and sports... Finally after the long summer hiatus, "Real Time with Bill Maher" is back, starting its new season tonight, 8/19/05 @ 11 pm EST. It's about time! I've missed you Bill...

Local shows this weekend

Some pretty decent local and national gigs this weekend:


FRIDAY 8/19/05

The Hopefuls - 400 Bar

Divorcee / Robotboy (CD Release) / Retribution Gospel Choir - Uptown Bar

Picked 2 Click featuring The Owls, The Deaths, Heavy Sleepers, Deep Pool - Varsity Theater


SATURDAY 8/20/05

Soviettes - Triple Rock

STNNNG / Wives / Toronado - 7th Street Entry

Spittin' Cobras / Tonnage / Countach - Uptown Bar

Ike Reilly Assassination / The Hopefuls - Minnesota Zoo

I'll see you all at the Backstreet Boys concert this Saturday @ Target Center!???

Past week in review - the rest

Gift of the week courtesy of Thomas and Veronika:

This new sign is hanging by my front door of my house. Does it remind you of anybody? Yeah, I thought so, looks just like Ringo, aka Rock n roll dog:


2 other things that happened this past week:

• As mentioned before I went to a 50th Wedding Anniversary party last Sunday. The part I didn't tell you is that I went there on Saturday by accident first! I got all dressed up and arrived at the Summit Avenue mansion only to find out I was 24 hours early... pretty embarrassing I have to say. Reading an invitation is hard...

• As I spoke Deutsch pretty much all weekend... Every Monday I have a meeting with some of the people in my department at work. Well, this last Monday, I by accident started talking in German at this meeting! My co-workers thought I had completely lost it... Again, pretty funny though (thinking back on it now)...

I have a busy weekend ahead of me. My sister is heading back to NYC on Monday so I'll try to hang out with her quite a bit, perhaps even teach her some culture! I shall return next week. There will probably be a lot more content, less pictures, as things will be back to normal... And a lot more music stuff...

Have a great weekend everybody. Prost!

Past week in review - Sat 8/13/05 thru Tue 8/16

The rest of the weekend was great as well. Saturday my friends Thomas and Veronika were in town. We did a lot of "hanging out" with the rest of my family. Now that I think of it... we mainly ate a whole bunch of food! We did manage to work off some of these calories by canoeing @ Lake Calhoun, downtown Minneapolis, last Sunday. The weather was absolutely perfect... and I'm happy to report nobody's canoe tipped and nobody drowned! A very successful mission. Here is a random mix of pics:

Past week in review - Melodious Owl Fri 8/12/05

Finally... my PC is back up and running again. I'm all set now, with 220GBs of hard-disk space I'm ready to download some serious porn!??? I mean mp3's and stuff...

Last Friday, 8/12/05, Queenvick, Mr. "Can I Get Some", and I attened the Melodious Owl CD release show @ First Avenue's 7th Street Entry. Pretty decent gig... of course I forgot to purchase a CD... After the show we checked out the roof-top patio @ downtown club Solera; highly over-rated in my opinion. Great night though. Here are a few pictures (there were some major hooligans in attendance):

















You can check out more pictures and a full review of the show here.