A Great Party

By ben

Friday April 29, 2005

Though I Don’t Know Much About Hot Loins

Last Friday at the Waldorf the bar pulled the plug on the Raking Bombs half way through their performance. They were scheduled as the lone act in between the two sets Foster Kare was going to play that night. Because of the premature end to Raking Bombs’ show, Foster Kare refused to play their second set and thus ended the evening. I wasn’t at the show myself to witness it firsthand but I did talk to some of the parties involved.

The bar manager, Chris, was firm and unapologetic. He told me over the phone, “The Raking Bombs were not playing music. It was just noise and feedback. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard. They were driving the customers out.” Jason Dana from Foster Kare had a different view. “[The Raking Bomb’s] music could have been overwhelming for someone that doesn’t care for that kind of music, but to stop the show was ridiculous,” he said, “needless to say we were offended so we didn’t play and felt bad for the people that were in attendance.” Tome from the Raking Bombs offered more to the story. “It was very surreal, as if we’d had a flashback to some oppressive period of time, when jazz musicians began to play abstract experimental pieces and were thrown out of their Chicago clubs,” he said, “we continued to play for as long as we could before the DJ ran to the front and pushed through the crowd and began throwing unlit cigarettes at us.” Personally I think the Raking Bombs are pretty good and the bar was being lame, although I’m not too surprised at their narrow view of musical styles. I’ve always hated the fact that their DJ spins bad mainstream Matthew Good-type songs in between sets, which ironically is exactly the type of noise that would drive people showing up at a Foster Kare show away.

That same night I was over at Pat’s Pub. A trio comprised of one acoustic guitar and three vocalists called Mother was the opening act. They are sort of folk-pop, but it’s pretty hard to nail them down to a specific genre. I heard some country, some jazz and some hip-hop in there. They were cute and unique at first, but got a bit repetitive and I lost interest. The Approach was on stage next, and they provided a good high-energy affair, in major contrast to the previous band. The night ended with Portico. I’ve seen them before and I don’t particularly mind them. Pretty standard, inoffensive pop rock, they seem to be a band that will always be under the radar.

If you know me well or if you’ve been reading this column regularly, you would realize that I wasn’t about to miss the They Shoot Horses Don’t They?/Bontempi/Fond of Tigers show at the Anza last Saturday. That’s a bill with three of the best bands in town. Sadly, I got there late (my excuse: I had to wait for a friend who got off work later than she expected) and missed Fond of Tigers. Needless to say both Bontempi and the Horses were fantastic in their own ways. Bontempi dished out a more fast paced and high energy set than I expected and attracted a fair-size crowd of dancers to the front, and by the time the Horses got on stage almost everyone at Anza was dancing and jumping along to the music.

This Friday night at the Lamplighter there’s a benefit show for Music Waste with Channels 3&4, The Christa Min, Fun 100 and Hot Loins. I don’t know much about Hot Loins but by looking at the other three bands on the bill, this is guaranteed to be a great party. Over at Pub 340 Portland’s garage rockers Flip-Tops have a show with locals the Gung-Hos. If you want to try the Waldorf there’s Transylvanian Polka with The Hunter Cometh.

The Decemberists had to cancel their show in town last time because their entire trailer was stolen in Portland. The rescheduled show is happening this Saturday at the Commodore. In case you are wondering, the band has recovered the trailer plus about half of their gear. If big shows aren’t your thing, The Fine Options, Woolly Mammoth and Jeff Lee will be at Pat’s Pub the same night. Over at the Railway, there’s a show with Maplewood Lane, The Secret 3, and Ken Beattie from Radiogram. There’s a big art show/party at 156 W Hastings with Book of Lists, Equestrian Death Camp and Channels 3 and 4. Go to one of these. The weather’s great and you have no excuse to stay home.