Sunday, July 3, 2011

Midwest Mudstomp Takeover Recap / Jammin for Joplin Recap / Sunday Kickball Coverage / Adorable Duos at Replay Matinee

Yes, we know that bluegrass is not hip, but we're a couple of country rubes at heart, with a lot of pickin' and grinnin' in our backgrounds, so when the Granada kindly offered to add us to the guest list for yesterday's Midwest Mudstomp Takeover festival, we couldn't rightly say no.




















Sadly, our hipster schedule for the evening was tight, and we arrived during the (far too long) downtime between the afternoon's outdoor acts and the evening's indoor festivities. Luckily, Tyler Gregory was still hanging around the outdoor stage, serenading eight or so sunburnt hippies with songs about Kansas girls and stories about frog-gigging. (Yes, both Richard and Chip have gigged frogs during their childhoods).
















The crowd was sparse indoors as well at this early hour, with much of Mudstomp's demographic no doubt attending the "annual fish fry" with Split Lip Rayfield at the Replay matinee (can ANYONE tell us if fish was actually fried at this event?). Perhaps not wanting to take the main stage in a nearly empty cavernous venue, Carbondale's Whistle Pigs made the wise and interesting choice to play their set in the VIP area above the bar. This appealed very much to Richard's theater-background interest in unusual performance spaces. It definitely changed the otherwise lackluster dynamic of the small crowd, forcing everyone to gather near the bar and pay attention (Chip: "And drink more."). The Pigs managed to make the accordion feel like an essential bluegrass instrument as they ripped through a set about cocaine as well as their take on "High on a Mountaintop," which was very much about getting high (as in stoned) on a mountaintop. We kept hoping for a song about snorting bath salts but no such luck. Here's an awful picture in which you might be able to discern a band above the bar if you stare long enough.

















Verdict: three out of four evening specials (the evening special was a $5 PBR and shot combo).

And did you know Mudstomp is not just a weekly gig at the Granada but also a record label ? Will it be the next Bloodshot? Probably not, since hipsters no longer enjoy music played with technical precision by gifted musicians who actually seem to enjoy what they do.



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When we arrived down the street at the Bottleneck for Jammin For Joplin, Sellout was between sets and BARRR was entertaining the already large crowd. It was probably a bit unfortunate that J-BARRR mistakenly referred to the Sandbar's "hurricane" as the Sandbar's "tornado," but otherwise his antics went over well and Sellout soon returned for a sweaty dance party.

Chip: "Did you see me bouncing like a drunken kangaroo and shouting 867-5309?"

This was our first time seeing Sellout in many years (since being a hipster normally prohibits us from enjoying bands that are actually fun), but they were much as we remembered with a few new twists (there's now a "Lady Gaga" amongst them). At any rate, they were a wise choice for such an event, able to bring in a large crowd that wanted nothing more than to get hammered and dance while doing a charitable deed for their neighbors in Joplin (and Reading).

Congrats to @Ms_Frye for putting together the event!

Chip's favorite moment: a woman paused at the giant fan in the back, bent over, and cooled off her cleavage, a moment which seemed to Chip to be occurring in slow motion like a scene from an 80's sex-comedy in which the hot girl walks by and gives the geeky 'hero' a boner. Yes, Chip had a boner.


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Normally kickball takes a vacation on the Fourth of July weekend, but not this year. Let's check in with Coach Billy Gay Cyrus at the KVKL blog and get hyped up for this week's match-ups:

"I’m not going to lie, this week is looking pretty boring as far as match-ups go..." --Coach Cyrus

Oh well, at least there's a contest in which you can win a 12 pack of Hamm's and a "tiny American flag." Head over to the KVKL blog (link in sidebar) for details.

Where will we be? At the Replay's special songwriter "duo night." Get there early for Richard Gintowt and Michelle Sanders. We think you'll find them very adorable in a She and Him-y kind of way.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

bluegrass: not hip, or hippest thing ever?

Anthony said...

I hate Barrr.

I hate when this blog mentions fatty.

I'd like to have him beaten like a govt. mule for screwing up with the Sandbar.

His podcasts suck, and, if I saw him on the street, I'd personally beat his ass with a jungle cat.

play nice said...

Normally we'd remove this comment, but we think BARRR would like to see this challenge to a "jungle cat" fight, and perhaps take Anthony up on it!