Sunday Scenester Pick: Schwervon / Checking In With KVKL

Readers, we know you got hammered at the Shannon and the Clams show last night, but obviously you've got to do it all over again tonight for kickball and the big Schwervon/Pale Hearts/Organ Loaners show at Replay.

Schwervon is a NY two-piece who are now settled in KC and we're loving adorable songs such as "Cougar Pride" and "Dog Got Your Cat Tongue."   Plus, they have a cat named Gummo, so that's pretty cool.  Check 'em out on Bandcamp.   Also, we stumbled across the term "cuddle-punk" in our Schwervon research (perhaps we'd heard it before in connection to bands like Moldy Peaches but somehow we'd forgotten it?  we won't forget again).  

According to the FB event page, at least 38 of your hippest friends will be on hand and ready to cuddle.

And the other bands?  Well,  of course you know Pale Hearts already.  We think the biggest Pale Hearts fan in town is our friend @Punnilingus. Maybe he'll become their official biographer one day.

And what about Organ Loaners? According to their FB page they are "your basic, run-of-the-mill experimental, Jungian attic rock trio."  They had us at "Jungian."


 


---

We haven't been to a Game of the Week since the Late Fees took the field a few weeks back, so let's check in with our friends at Sunday(s) in the Park to see who's been winning the funny awards the blog has been bestowing this season (we don't really care who's been winning the games).

Two of our favorites:

"Cutest dog: Mr. Bojangles, spotted after the Brew Ballers/MUrda game; a little keg on legs, who could resist a dog with a name like that."

"Shortest shorts: the girl in the sherbet colored Daisy Duke mom shorts at Holcom; didn’t catch your name but I also didn’t know that jean shorts could defy physics like that."

And this:


"Jamari Traylor of KU basketball notoriety threw out the first pitch for Game of the Week, yet again illustrating the vast reach that KVKL has in our community."

Hopefully someone can convince Wiggins to come by before the summer's over?

Tonight's match-up is the Harpies vs. Tellerdactyls.  Will the Harpies finally secure a win?  We're gonna dream big and say yes.

Saturday Scenester Pick: A Night Of "Pure Uncut Joy" With Shannon and the Clams and Nude Beach and Dean Monkey and the Dropouts at Replay

Between our Final Friday picks posted yesterday (mostly music-related) and Karen's Larryville Artists picks posted today (mostly art-related) and @oxfordist 's in-depth piece about SeedCo over at L.com ,  you artsy types should be pretty well prepared for tomorrow's festivities.

So let's go ahead and turn our attention to the sweet Replay rock show on Saturday when Shannon and the Clams hit town with Nude Beach and LFK's own Dean Monkey and the Dropouts.

Pitchfork bestows a 7.1 on Shannon and the Clams' recent album Dreams in the Rathouse (full review here):

Oakland trio Shannon and the Clams have a broad musical vocabulary that belies their simple, trad setup. Their sound contains lo-fi's distorted treble, the gruff tumble of rockabilly, the soaring heights of R&B balladry, and the weirdness of mid-60s psychedelia. Their albums have the feel of a freeform AM station whose DJs and programmers get their jollies from being gleefully unpredictable, the kind that wouldn’t think twice about following up a tender oldie like "Oh Louie" with a punkabilly romp called 'Cat Party.' "

Folks, please click that link and listen to "Cat Party."  It ends with a bunch of "meows" and we love it!

 


Nude Beach is from Brooklyn.  That means they are pretty hip.  Go to Bandcamp and click on "Walkin' Down My Street" and fall in love immediately (or at least get naked).  It's a VERY good song.  Pitchfork offers this nice assessment of their recent Nude Beach II album (full review here):

"While Nude Beach self-identify as punks, II is more akin to pub rock, the roots-driven movement that pre-dated the Sex Pistols in mid-70s England. Elvis Costello had connections to that scene, and My Aim Is True is an obvious touchstone for II-- particularly "Keep It Cool" and the beery bear-hug that is "Cathedral Echoes"-- but Nude Beach don't aspire to Costello's erudite lyricism or furious posturing. This is good-time, forget-your-troubles music whose primary subject is the pure, uncut joy it inspires."

While we normally prefer "erudite lyricism" (of the sort practiced by Costello and our local friends in The Leotards), there's something to be said for "pure, uncut joy" as well. 


 


And opening up the night is LFK's own Dean Monkey and the Dropouts.  Those fuckers play doo-wop, as you know.  We've often raved about Dean Monkey tunes like "Love Load" because they're so dirty and we love that shit, but for a change today we recommend you head to Bandcamp and click "Glad You Are Gone" , which is delightfully cynical and very pretty.

Flyer of the Week and a Few Final Friday Picks But Mostly Not About Art

Our honky-tonk friends in Shawn Bruce and the Horsebite Tears are playing their final show at Friday's Replay matinee, and they put together a sweet flyer, especially sweet for the film buffs amongst us.  Bring some butter to this show, if you catch our (naughty) reference.  The "Last Twango" runs from 6:00-9:00.

Down the street at the same time, you can catch the Tour of Lawrence bicycle sprints, a popular summer event for several years now.  These are followed by a street party in front of the Sandbar with music from KC's The Rent (they seem to exist mostly on MySpace).  Visit the Tour of Lawrence site here for a full schedule of events.

If you missed Young Drew's send-off party at the Jackpot last week, you've got another chance to say farewell at Love Garden, as his Bad Kids to the Front project plays a show with KC's Scammers. According to the FB event page, this is a rare LFK appearance by "the epic 21st century electronic/dance crooner," so you don't want to miss out.



Over in ELFK, our friends The Leotards are playing on a roof at 9th and Pennsylvania at around 8:30, directly across the street from Charlie's Eastside.  This show is so hip it's pretty much just word-of-mouth.  On a clear, hot night, you should be able to hear Stephanie Stix screaming "COCK" all over the city, but you'll want to be there in person to see if anyone falls off the roof, gets arrested for violating noise ordinances or public obscenity laws, etc.  We're told that the evening's "program" will begin with a classically trained upright bass player, followed by some folky business, followed by The Leotards.  There's art on display inside the house.  Be bold and check it out.

Here's the same picture of The Leotards we showed you last week:





And here's what King Tosser looks like when he's not being a rock star:

 


The place to be for late-night activities on Friday is ELFK's SeedCo, so head over there after the Leotards play.  It's a one-year anniversary bash for everyone's favorite warehouse featuring a bunch of bands such as Portland's Lovers and KC's Bloodbirds.  A $5-10 donation is requested for the show.  There will be booze available and (presumably) drugs. Anybody got any Molly? We want to dance. Visit the FB event page here to find out that 139 of your artsiest friends will be on hand.  There doesn't seem to be a flyer, which seems odd.

---

Oh, and there's also art going on for Final Fridays.  It's easy to forget that these days.  We remember loving the first installment of HOTT SHEETS at Wonder Fair, and they're bringing it back on Friday with HOTT SHEETS II: HOTTER SHEETS.  It's a delightful deconstruction of the arts scene.  Here's a long blurb from  FB event page that we're printing (almost) in full because we like it:

"Part group drawing exhibition, part economics experiment, and part art market critique, Hott Sheets features new works of art on paper prepared by artists from Lawrence and beyond. Of equal import in the exhibition are the confounding yellow worksheets displayed prominently alongside each work. Their purpose? In advance of the exhibition, each artist’s “Hott Sheet” was subjected to a rigorous and absurd value-determination process—a process that attempts to replicate, then subvert and implicate the dubious motivations that determine value in the highest reaches of International Fine Art Market. The resulting “value assessment methodology form” allows viewers to ponder both the physical work and its objective value side-by-side; and perhaps to consider whether they agree with the result."

Here's one of those yellow worksheets:

 




We might actually focus on some other art shows later in the week.

Tuesday Picks: Science on Tap Gets Buggy and Trash Nite Goes Big

Readers, do you like learning new things in a booze-fueled environment but can't wait a few weeks for the next Nerd Nite.  We do.  So we're thinking of checking out Free State's Science on Tap this evening.   This month's presentation is called "400 Million Years on Six Legs:  Evolution of the Insects" and promises to enlighten attendees on "everything from the Jurassic love songs of katydids to giant fleas to the Age of the Insects."  It starts at 7:30 and we hope that Free State has brewed some kind of special beer made from cicadas for this event. 

"Jurassic Love Songs of Katydids" would also be a pretty great band name for an experimental project that just plays a bunch of nature sounds.  We'd totally check them out at SeedCo. 

Get some details on the event from the Kansas Natural History Museum site over here.

---

Afterwards, Trash Nite returns to the Bottleneck (while Horror Remix is on hiatus).   If you like giant monsters that are even weirder than the usual giant monsters, tonight is your night. Like Horror Remix, Trash Nite condenses these films into a more palatable experience, all "put together in the style of a mid-80s local TV broadcast."  Surely anything called Ganjasaurus Rex is worth your while (plus, Saurians and King Kung Fu and "kaiju-themed commercial breaks").  Smoke up in the alley and enjoy!  Visit the FB event page here for more info and to see a trailer for the event and to learn that 29 of your friends are totally getting drunk/high and watching giant monsters on a Tuesday.  The official Trash Nite site is here.

 ---


See you later in the week with Final Friday picks, such as HOTT SHEETS II:  HOTTER SHEETS (at Wonder Fair, obviously).

Weekend Sights and Sounds: SUPERMOON, Gandolfini, Honky-Tonk, and More

It's a slow summer Monday in LFK and we don't know of too much happening except for the Lawrence Tweetup, which hits the Replay this evening from 7:00-9:00.  Find some details here.  We've joined them before. They're friendlies.  Go and meet them and follow them on Twitter @ltwup . We wish they tweeted more often.

Now let's look at some photos of stuff we saw over the weekend.

We saw the SUPERMOON rise above the Mexican Fiesta on Friday.  Chip gazed upon it for about as long as Clark looks at the Grand Canyon in National Lampoon's Vacation.  And then he stuck his face right back into a plate of enchiladas.

We saw this sweet little altar for James Gandolfini at Liberty Hall's Film Church double-feature of Jackie Brown and Reservoir Dogs.  Nice job, Maggie!

Attendance was sadly quite poor for what should have been a packed one-year anniversary celebration of this great local film series.   Our friends at Liberty may not like this suggestion (because they want to keep the focus on the films above all else), but the truth is that they could easily get more people to come out if they really played up and pimped the food element of the proceedings.  People love to fucking eat! For instance, Burger Stand could have served up chicken and waffles for Jackie Brown (prominently referenced in the film) and Liberty's bartenders could have whipped up some Screwdrivers, as memorably ordered by Sam Jackson's Ordell in one scene: "Let me have a screwdriver, homes."  Just an idea, friends.

---

We saw Austin's Leo Rondeau and company playing a stellar set of country (and a few Cajun) tunes at the Replay on Sunday.  This was one of those $3 shows that ends up being more fun than most shows you pay $30 for.  Rondeau's a terrific songwriter:  our favorite was a country ballad whose chorus repeats "I'll never love again, I'll never love again.  But don't quote me on that" (the first lyric of the song is: "All these fat girls are sizing me up.").   The people-watching at the show was absolutely prime.  This ol' boy stationed himself near the band.  He reminded us of our grandpa.

The crowd could not help cutting a rug to Leo's songs.  Sunday Replay matinees are the best place in LFK to see children dancing alongside VERY drunk people who can barely stand up.  This guy had a tattoo on his forehead and we were so scared! But he seemed friendly enough. 

And this guy almost looks like he's part of the mural.  Oh shit. That's our pal King Tosser.

King Tosser himself also took the stage at the Replay over the weekend. It was the first matinee performance from The Leotards in a very long while (they were previously booked on Easter but not allowed to play that day because even the Replay deemed their songs "unholy").   If you haven't seen Stephanie Stix and King Tosser in action you're really missing...something.  We love the baffled looks of spectators after each song.  Most people politely applaud Stix's screamy/moany tales of six-foot dildoes and wanting to fuck your daughter tonight. After the daughter tune, our friend Cl.thier turned to us and asked: "Did she just say 'I want to fuck your daughter in the root cellar?"  Those aren't actually the lyrics, but there's a good chance that Stix will change them now, because it would make the song even creepier than it already is.

You can catch the Leotards this Friday performing on top of a house at the corner of 9th and Pennsylvania as part of the Final Friday festivities ("Who are the REAL Rooftop Vigilantes now?" asks King T).  Make sure to catch them quick, before the cops arrive.

Here they are:

And here is surely the best picture of the weekend:  Tyler Gregory looking absolutely beautific in a little unplugged encore performance in front of the stage.  The late-evening Replay sunlight really brings out the best in beards.

Weekend Picks: Tamales, Leotards, Rap, Sister Wives, Frances Ha, Tarantino Double-Feature, and More

Readers, it's the longest day of the year, so squeeze in a little extra day-drinking.  But how else should you spend a blazing hot weekend?

When it's close to 100 degrees, it's always a good idea to hang around on some asphalt and stuff your face with tamales and beans.  So don't forget the Mexican Fiesta at St. John's on Friday and Saturday, one of LFK's biggest summer events.

 

Our friends The Leotards are headlining the Friday matinee at the Replay, so apparently they are no longer banned from playing Replay early shows.  Make sure to bring the kiddies for this one.  Lead screamer Stephanie Stix recently said:  "Richard, there's no question that 'Fuck My Tits' is the greatest song The Leotards have ever written."  FB event page here.  Opening up are local folkies The Silos (which also includes King Tosser), so this evening will be a powerful study in contrasts.   There have also been rumors that The Leotards will play a rooftop show during next week's Final Friday near the ELFK Arts District.  We can assure you that the Cider Gallery crowd is NOT going to like this.  Expect arrests.  The Leotards look like this: 






Over at the Bottleneck, we hear "there is going to be a really fucking good rap show" on Friday (if you catch our reference to the cool flyers downtown).  Reread our past interviews with Show You Suck (here) and Ebony Tusks' Marty Hillard (here) to get prepared. 





On Saturday, a group of Evangelicals will be at the Replay (that's probably the first time that phrase has ever been uttered, or at least since the last time the acclaimed Oklahoma band played there).  Stereogum said of their 2008 album The Evening Descends:

"This is a great album, a big, sprawling, mess of a trip through the band’s unhinged and unruly musical vocabulary. It’s a strain of pop, no mistake there; but as made by kids from Oklahoma weaned on the Lips and Scooby Doo re-runs, on 8-bit pastimes and ’80s bands." (full review here).



  Evangelicals look like this.  Is that Jonah Hill on the left??  Man, that's gotta be Jonah Hill, right?



Film Church returns on Sunday at Liberty Hall with a Tarantino double-feature to celebrate the first anniversary of the popular monthly film series.  That's right:  Jackie Brown and Reservoir Dogs.  On the big-screen.  What's on the brunch/lunch menu?  Maybe EARS of corn? (if you catch our reference to a certain infamous Dogs moment).   Yes, some of us elitists have been grumbling because Liberty couldn't score 70mm prints, but let's face it:  four+ hours of QT on the big-screen on a hot summer afternoon in LFK is still a pretty sweet deal.

Here's the bad-ass poster for the event (and we think posters will be available for purchase on Sunday?):

 


It should also be noted that Noah Baumbach's terrific new black-and-white comedy Frances Ha (with the delightful Greta Gerwig) is also playing at Liberty starting tomorrow.   Being huge Baumbach geeks, we saw it several weeks ago in KC and loved it so much that we wrote an egghead piece of film criticism about it, which we'd like you to read and then hire us to write film pieces for you because we occasionally get tired of writing boner jokes.   Read our Frances Ha article at the PBR Book and Film Club blog over here.

Frances Ha looks like this:





After kickball on Sunday, bounce around at the Replay with some lovely new songs from our pals in Hidden Pictures.  The FB event page is here.  Make sure and listen to the new Sister Wife EP via Bandcamp here before you go.  We don't know about you, but the very mention of the term "sister wife" makes us think of this (oh, Margene!):

 


 



Also, allow us to indulge in a moment of nostalgia.  We recently unearthed this rare photo of Richard and Chip as children and just had to share it with you.

Guest Post: Oxfordist Reports on LFK's Greatest Graffiti Moments

One of yesterday's top LFK stories was about controversial recent changes in graffiti which transformed the city's beloved "love" garage into the "glove" garage and then into the "Risk for Adventure" garage.  We asked intrepid reporter Oxfordist to hit the streets and consider some of LFK's greatest moments in graffiti and the scandals that often surround that graffiti.  Here's her report!  Follow her on Twitter @oxfordist .

"Lawrence can be kind of funny about its graffiti. In just the past few years, a small garage remains iconic for its charming defacement; a mysterious piece of graffiti (perhaps in opposition to the building’s construction?) shows up on a tall, new hotel; and an established graffiti artist crowd paints the town (heh, see what I did there?).

The latest graffiti issue plaguing Lawrence streets is the infamous "love" garage [near Memorial Stadium] that you’ve undoubtedly posed in front of for a photo.  An additional “g” made it the "glove" garage for the past few weeks, and it was recently painted over completely to declare “Risk for Adventure.”  LJW is on the case and wants your leads—their Facebook plea had 25 shares within 6 hours. A friend told me she’s ready for it to be something new when I asked her what she thought about the new paint job. Do you feel the same way? Is the love garage an iconic part of Lawrence, or tiresome?

In doing some Googling on the topic of Lawrence graffiti, I learned there’s a pretty robust Tumblr dedicated to local graffiti pics, though its creator said in a post from July 2012 he hasn’t had time to update as much since he “got arrested” (for graffiti?). At least 10 memorable local graffiti artists exist [according to the Tumblr] and here’s a fun tidbit about Lawrence graffiti removal I bet you didn’t know: “most things done on the streetfront of mass get taken down real fast. rooftop spots, alleyways and utility boxes, newspaperboxes etc can stay for weeks or even months. abandoned/derelict buildings don’t usually get removed...”

Then, who can forget the "SHOUT PEACE" fiasco at the Oread Hotel? In February 2010, the slogan colorfully showed up on the front of the hotel (here is an epic LJW post about the graffiti and a letter to the editor from a student upset when the hotel removed it ).

Resident artist Jason Barr was questioned on suspicion of creating the graffiti  [story via Pitch] and
afterwards he capitalized on the whole thing by selling "SHOUT PEACE" t-shirts [see BARRR's Tumblr] — “I told the cop in the car that I'd be making shirts to recoup the time he was wasting of mine,” he told me). It’s basically just a big meme now.

Do you have any thoughts on local graffiti? Any significant scandals from before my time? Share your stories!"

Photos:  

The new "love garage" (via LJ-World)

 

SHOUT PEACE! (via LJ-World) :

And here's Chip's pick for LFK's greatest-of-all-time graffiti (from the former Blockbuster on 23rd Street):

Wednesday Worthy Causes: Drew's Going Away Party at Jackpot and Punk Rock Karaoke at Frank's

Everyone's favorite underage rock star/blogger/record producer is leaving LFK and moving to Texas, so the only proper send-off is 8 hours of rock and roll at the Jackpot on a Wednesday!  There's an early-evening portion and a late-evening portion. And balloons.  Enough balloons to make even the most jaded scenesters (almost) crack a smile.  Visit the FB event page here and stop by the Jackpot to wish Drew well!  But do NOT buy him a PBR or you'll go straight to fucking jail for corrupting a youth!!

A glance at the flyer reveals there's much more to the evening than just those young wizards of Merlin setting off the fire alarms with their smoke machines (remember that Love Garden show?).  You've got your well-known local entities like The Sluts and CS Luxem.  And there's delightful folk-punk on the bill with Destroy Nate Allen (we've showcased them before) and there's some freaky folk from Wally Tusk and the Film Club (we'd never heard of them prior to today).  Go to Bandcamp and listen to Wally Tusk's "I Wanna Punch You in Your Goddamn Stupid Face Part II: Punch Harder" and "Fran Drescher Eat Your Face Off" and "The Kids Are Alright, On Zoloft." It's no Mountain Goats, but since the Goats' Record Bar show is sold out tonight, we guess it'll have to do!

Happy trails, Drew!






---

Across the river, another worthy event transpires this evening at Frank's as the good folks from Punk Rock Karaoke hit town.  Each city's show is a benefit for a local organization, and  LFK's will raise money for Lawrence Queer Youth.  It starts at 7:00 and there's a $5-10 suggested donation.  The FB event page is here.  So go and get drunk and shout some Ramones tunes while helping out the kids.

Tuesday Picks for History Geeks and Fans of Sweet Country Crooners: #QR1863, Mount Moriah, Jesse Sykes

It's a great summer for history nerds in LFK and preparations for the sesquicentennial commemorations of Quantrill's Raid are well underway.  Our favorite, as we've mentioned before, is the Twitter re-enactment of the Raid that will take place on the morning of August 21 starting at about 5:00 am (damn, we've never tweeted that early before!).   The next meeting for Twitter participants or other interested parties takes place at 7:00 tonight at the Castle Tea Room.  Here's some of the scoop from the FB event page:

"Missouri State University History Instructor Jeremy Neely will kick-off the evening by leading a 20-minute discussion on the national and local historical context of Quantrill’s Raid. Following the discussion will be a brief demonstration by the Lecompton Players, portraying Jayhawker Jim Lane and Sheriff Sam Jones. Participants can spend the reminder of the evening discussing their character with local history consultants, looking through historical resources or learning how to use Twitter."

Plenty of roles are still available (find them here ). We've decided to take the proceedings (more or less) seriously and will be flexing our Twitter-acting muscles and playing a local hero called Doc Prentiss. However, we recommend that someone take on the roles of "Three Eudora Townsmen," bumbling characters who set out for Lawrence during the raid but encountered a series of deadly mishaps along the way.  Something as depressing as Quantrill's Raid surely needs a little comic relief!  And, yes, Chip will still be rogue-tweeting on the morning of August 21 in the guise of the fictional "Flip," the town drunk who reports on events while swilling rotgut whiskey on the river levee ("Gol-DURN!!  That there's Frank James and Cole Younger ridin' into town, ain't it??"). 

In related news, our friends over at Watkins Museum and the Percolator are asking area artists to submit pieces (paintings, photography, videos, etc) for concurrent exhibitions called "Modern Views of Quantrill's Raid" that will be displayed from August to October.   Contact Abby Pierron at Watkins for details:  apierron@watkinsmuseum.org . Works will need to be submitted late July/early August.

What we're planning for this art project is to put together a freak-folk collective called Quantrill and the Raiders to record a concept album that follows the cursed descendants of Quantrill and the James gang in the years since the raid.  It's going to be quite nice.  Send us your sample lyrics.



---


Readers, do you miss the days when it was so hip to enjoy twangy bands out of Chapel Hill.  We do, very much.  Luckily, Mount Moriah is bringing back those glory days.  Even Pitchfork's on board, giving this year's Miracle Temple a respectable 7.8 and comparing lead singer Heather McEntire to a young Dolly Parton:

"McEntire often gets pegged as post-punk, due to her proximity to the DIY scene she came up in, but on "White Sands", she stretches "kids" to nearly four syllables (something like "key-yuh-hid-s" with a little hiccup in the middle)-- conclusive proof that girl is country." (full review here

Oh shit!  We love ladies with looooong southern drawls.  See you at the Replay tonight as Mount Moriah joins forces with the (also quite good) Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter.  The NYT says of Sykes:

"Psychedelia as communal creation, psychedelia as mystical quest, psychedelia as a roiling tangle and psychedelia as a euphoric, entranced sprawl are all encompassed in the music of Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter...There’s nothing neo- about this band’s psychedelia."

Sounds positively psychedelic, right?

Check out Mount Moriah on FB here and Jesse Sykes on FB here.










 



 

Concert Recap: Father John Misty Impregnates LFK With Happiness on Father's Day at the Granada / Monday Pick: Everest/ Old Lights/Dean Monkey at Bottleneck

Readers, if you are like us, you're still recovering from last night's Father John Misty rave-up at the Granada.

The half-full venue (the other half of the town was playing kickball), along with a sound-mix twice as loud as necessary for a show where lyrics should be front and center, may have prevented the evening from attaining the same intimate magic of FJM's buzzy, packed-house winter appearance at the Bottleneck, but don't worry: it was still a barnburner.  Kicking off with a honky-tonkin' double-shot of "I'm Writing a Novel" and "Tee Pees 1-12," Father John Misty proceeded to tear it up, pausing occasionally for such necessities as a short Q&A session with fans (Fan: "Can I have your shirt?"  FJM: "No. I wear this shirt every day.") and to riff on ICP (did the Faygo-bath from their recent Granada appearance really fuck up the Granada's stage? probably).

Other highlights: 

A nice little duet from the Tillman boys (Josh's brother Zach is playing bass with the opener Pure Bathing Culture on this tour. They are delightful).

A sterling cover of "Happiness is a Warm Gun" in the encore.

Our horny, dope-smoking little Twitter brother known as @LarryfuckingKS could NOT stop laughing during a FJM riff about he should have knocked his girlfriend up and used the pregnancy test to score free Father's Day ice cream at Sylas and Maddy's before the show.

FJM:  "Love the people holding up lighters during that song. Just shows the impotence of songwriting to effect actual change."

Final thoughts:

BARRR was on hand to take some Vines, though he didn't Vine up very many last night (perhaps he was too hypnotized by FJM's signature, sensuous dance moves).  Here is a Vine of one of those dance moves.  Remember to contact BARRR for all your Vine-ing needs:  he'll Vine up your concerts, weddings, bar mitzvahs, baptisms, etc.  [side note:  there was a really rockin' baptism going down in the main room at Liberty Hall on Friday night...truly they deserve their Best of LFK win for "Best Place for an Event!"].

Our friends at I Heart Local Music were on hand to take a lot of sexy pictures.  Ogle them here.

Verdict:  

More fun than Game of the Week.

Sincere Regrets:  

We should've tagged along with BARRR and LarryfuckingKS for post-show karaoke at Bottleneck, since apparently FJM his own self apparently showed up and sang "I Believe I Can Fly."  This is why it always pays to stay out till the bars close every fucking night.  And especially Sunday.

Pics:  

Q&A session:

Sweet tour poster now adorning the walls at Larryville Chronicles headquarters (thanks, BARRR!) :

---

If you're still in the mood for rocking tonight, hit the Bottleneck for Everest, Old Lights, and LFK's own doo-wop daddies Dean Monkey and the Dropouts.  Here's a nice FB blurb on Everest's new album Ownerless (read in full at their page):

"Whether it be the slack-jaw stoner riffing of opening track “Rapture”, the ghostly, late-night harmonics of “Letter,” or the krautrock shuffle of “Hungry Ghost,” Ownerless sounds like a band functioning like an eight-armed groove machine—a vibe cultivated by the bands newfound sense of not giving a fuck (in the best way possible)."

Here's Everest performing on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon a few years back.  

And here's Dean Monkey and the gang performing "Fucking Broke" and "Blue Balls" in a hole in the ground behind the train station in LFK a few years ago.  We can't wait until they get big enough to sing "Love Load" on the late-night talk shows!


 

Weekend Picks For Sensitive Scenesters, Metalheads, Hippies, and More

It's gonna be humid in LFK. Where will you beat the heat?

Sensitive scenesters of a certain age will flock to Liberty Hall for the much-ballyhooed third film in Linklater's Before trilogy.  Fuck a bunch of Zach Snyder's Superman this weekend.  We want to see the thirty-minute marital squabble between Jesse and Celine!
 


Less sensitive types can embrace the heat and stickiness at the Replay for a thrashing good time tonight with Hammerlord and Troglodyte.  It will be less cute than the (hilarious) flyer implies:




And if you're hanging at Frank's tonight, you'll be hearing Monzie Leo and friends, such as the Gentlemen Geeks.  We caught 'em at the Replay recently.  There's horns involved. 




If you're bummed at missing Bonnaroo, LFK's got a little twangy, homegrown music fest at Americana Music Academy on Saturday and Sunday featuring favorites such as Ashes to Immortality.   $25 bucks for two days.  Compared to Bonnaroo: very reasonable.  But still seems too pricey to us PBR-swillers.



A cheaper (in fact, cover-free) way to fill your weekend hippie needs is to join our friends The Silos (AKA "King Tosser and His Sly Hos, Featuring Mick") at Gaslight Gardens in NoLaw for a Saturday patio show along with The Heebie Jeebies, a band who recently played a bunch of Beatles songs for a special evening at Knuckleheads in KC.  Maybe they'll play a Paul McCartney tune and, if you're stoned enough, you can close your eyes and pretend you're at Bonnaroo (yep, Sir Paul's at Bonnaroo).  There's a FB event page here.

Follow that up with a walk to Frank's to catch the return of "Dark Time," a "live late night talk show" hosted by Jay Maus that was formerly housed at the Granada, if you remember your fairly recent scenester history.   With Victor Continental (reportedly) closing shop for good in LFK after his final July shows, maybe "Dark Time" can step in as the reigning king of cock jokes.  The FB event page is here.

Another option is the Bottleneck, where Austin's Marmalakes hit the stage.

 Dig this Austin Chronicle blurb: "Pop-power trio Marmalakes bashes out its slow, sultry "White Height" in some alt.universe meeting of Ben Kweller's Radish and the Punch Brothers' Chris Thile, while the Sour Notes get brassy on a Fountain of Wayne-like goose bump cruise." 

Goose bump cruise?

Also on the bill:  Wild Child and Shakey Graves, who have a big L.com piece this weekend (read it here).

 

And on Sunday, Father John Misty returns to LFK following last year's big and buzzy and super-packed Bottleneck show.  Tillman and company are at the Granada this time.  Is FJM still hip?  Well, we hoped to ask them in person, since they told the Granada they were open to interviews and since the Granada gave our blog a ringing endorsement.  But his people at Sub Pop quickly shot us down.  Too bad, since the sex and drug-fueled lyrics would have made perfect fodder for Chip's interview questions.  Given Tillman's propensity to attack his critics (remember his feud with Pitchfork: read some highlights here ) perhaps it's for the best the interview didn't happen anyway.

See you Sunday!  Opening up is Portland's Pure Bathing Culture. Pitchfork raves about their "glassy acoustic guitars, immersive reverb, and incandescent vocals."  You had us at "immersive reverb," Pitchfork! 

Chip's favorite FJM lyrics: 

"Well, you took me to the movies
You took me to the dance
You took me to your warehouse
Tied up in the back of your van
You said, "Whip it out"
And I started to shout
"I'm in love with a woman again"

Nerd Nite 18 Recap: When Nerds Met Boobs

It was a broiling hot summer day in LFK but large numbers of sunshine-hating nerds managed to dash through the heat and into the cool darkness of Pachamama's ballroom to learn about hot sauce, boobs, and the methodology of "garbage studies." 

A brief rundown:

 First presentation: Kevin Freese's  "Tabasco is for wimps. Welcome to the world of extreme hot sauce"

This was round two for Kevin at Nerd Nite.  In an early NN presentation, he regaled us with a history of Scotch (and some free samples).   Sadly, but probably wisely, there were no free samples of "Professor Phartpounders Colon Cleaner" hot sauce circulating during this evening.  Kevin's well-organized presentation led us quickly and clearly through the various heat levels of sauces (measured in SHU: Scoville Heat Units), taking us from the relatively mild (cayenne) to the terrifying (Scorpion Butch T pepper).  Then we examined the history of the sauces themselves, from Tabasco's emergence around 1860 up to the wacky world of today's internet sauce-sites whose users often find themselves hospitalized.

Favorite line:  "Frank's hot sauce is close to being the ketchup of the hot sauce world."

Observation:  Hot sauce creators all look completely insane in their photographs.

Scorpion Butch T pepper:






Second presentation:  Rachel Smalter Hall's "Oggles and Goggles: Viewing KU Boobs Through Feminism’s Many Lenses"

Rachel began her rise to prominence as a "KU Boobs" scholar right here on the LC with this piece, which ultimately found its way onto the Huffington Post and was afterward debated on numerous sites such as Feministing (Chip: "Does feministing refer to a sexual act?") and earned her the Italian designation of the "voce delle femminista del Kansas."  Rachel's presentation was not quite the full-on controversial feminist embrace of the "Boobment" that many expected, but instead smartly considered the phenomenon through a variety of third-wave feminist talking points  (such as "slut shaming" and "rape culture") in an effort to figure out whether putting pictures of your KU-loving boobs online can be read as a feminist act.  Rachel left us at the end in the realm of "choice feminism" (along with a picture of her own KU Boobs), concluding that "smart, self-actualizing women" have every right to engage in this silly phenomenon if they damn well want to.

Favorite line (Rachel pointing to a KU boobs pic):  "THESE KU Boobs are in the audience right now."  [every nerd looks around, trying to find the boobs).

Observation:   We had the sense that the Q&A was about to get really contentious if it had been allowed to continue much longer.

Here's a KU Boob pic that shows a little more than just boobs.  Continue your debates.

 


Third presentation:  Shelly McNerney's "Garbage 101: Everything you never knew about your own stinking garbage"

Shelly had the unenviable task of following up the boob-talk, and a surprising amount of nerds had left the room before she began her presentation (Chip: "My best guess is that they all had boners after the previous presentation, and were embarrassed.  Nerds are shy.").   Their loss, however, as Shelly's engaging presentation took us into the world of "garbage studies," focusing on intrepid "garbologists" who understand our culture through analyzing its waste.  In a nice moment, Shelly exposed the ignorance of much of the nerds in attendance by having us guess the percentage of foam, fast food, and disposable diapers that make up our garbage.  Guesses were all wildly inflated.  It's paper that makes up 40% of trash, silly nerds.



Favorite line:  "Garbologists found that beer consumption is not related to the lunar cycle.  It's more related to payday."

Observation:  As most things do, this presentation reminded us of our favorite novel, Don DeLillo's White Noise, which we believe is the greatest statement on American consumption and decay and features a classic description of trash-compacted garbage.  An excerpt:

"The compressed bulk sat there like an ironic modern sculpture, massive, squat, mocking.  I jabbed at it with the butt end of a rake and then spread the material over the concrete floor. I picked through it item by item, mass by shapeless mass, wondering why I felt guilty, a violator of privacy, uncovering intimate and perhaps shameful secrets...Is garbage so private?  Does it glow at the core with personal heat, with sign's of one's deepest nature, clues to secret yearnings, humiliating flaws?  What habits, fetishes, addictions, inclinations?  What solitary acts, behavioral ruts?"  [followed by classic DeLillo list of various items in garbage].

If any garbologists have not read this novel, they should probably have their garbology licenses revoked.

Final verdict:  We give this very hot Nerd Nite a 1 million SHU rating.

Coming soon:  a "summer shorts" edition of NN featuring two-minute presentations (yes, just two minutes).  Our pal Punnilingus has something funny lined up for this one so don't miss out.  And then a month's break in August as the nerds all go on a wacky and nerdy field trip to the first-ever Nerd Nite Global Festival in Brooklyn in August.

Pre-Weekend Scenester Picks: Hospital Ships, Cowboy Indian Bear, Lucas Oswald, Funny Business at Frank's / Plus: Nearly Flightless and the Joy of an LFK Debut

The biggest and buzziest pre-weekend show is surely Hospital Ships/Cowboy Indian Bear/Lucas Oswald at the Replay on Thursday.  Hospital Ships' new Destruction In Yr Soul can be heard right now via Pitchfork Advance: go here.

But since everyone already knows all about HS and CIB, let's focus on Oswald a minute.  Listen to him cover "North Star" via a Graveface Records compilation tribute to Jason Molina (RIP) at Bandcamp here . Damn, it's nice!  And check out the rest of that compilation while you're there (you'll find Hospital Ships closing out the album with a stomping/clapping "Hammer Down").   And spend 30 seconds below watching a very pretty preview of Lucas Oswald's certain-to-be very pretty debut album The Things We've Seen.

If you find yourselves across the river instead, head to Frank's for some hijinks, japes, and various forms of crude behavior at the "Stand-Up Comedy Freakout."  There won't be a cockfight in the basement, but there WILL be a lot of jokes about cocks.  That we can guarantee.  We happened to catch our friend Peter Lyrene performing at EMU's recent variety show at the Replay where he delivered a dramatic reading from an important film  (Ghostbusters) as part of his set.  He'll be doing stuff on Thursday too.  Go and listen.  The FB event page is here.




---

It's an exciting time for young bands from the wilds of Kansas when they make their LFK debut, so we're happy to give a shout-out on occasion.  Manhattan's Nearly Flightless reached out to us recently in advance of this Sunday's show at the Jackpot opening up for LFK's 88er and Omaha's Skypiper.  It promises to be a particularly tough gig, as they'll be competing not only with the ever-popular kickball Game of the Week but also with Father John Misty at the Granada.  So check Nearly Flightless out on Facebook here and see them on Sunday.  But don't corrupt them with PBR because they're underage!

We asked band member Sam to pimp the show a bit and here's what he sent us:

"Do you like beards and music? Are you the unathletic-type of scenester that finds playing organized sports (such as kickball) less rewarding than a finely-crafted coffee shop creation? 

Well, for the entire town of Lawrence still listening, you’re going to want to be at the Jackpot this Sunday June 16 (9pm) to catch local Lawrence artist 88er opening up for bands Nearly Flightless (Manhattan KS) and Skypiper (Omaha NE) on tour.  

Nearly Flightless and Skypiper both have recently released EP’s this year, titled “All Things That Are Good” and “Troubadour” (respectively) that will be available at the show. Nearly Flightless’ live show is bass-heavy, with dance beats on the drums, a high vocal range, and melodic guitar parts that might make you move, groove, laugh, and cry, but hopefully not leave. Skypiper takes a different route with their 5-piece, bringing a smooth, catchy sound with eclectric guitars, upright bass, vocal harmonies, keys, and just about any stringed instrument you can imagine. 

This trifecta of Indie Rock will cover all your alternative, experimental, danceable, grungy, powerpop needs, for a measly $3. Doors are at 9, Show starts at 10, come mention that you loved my article and get some free gear thrown in with a purchase of “All Things That Are Good” available for $5. Hope to see you there! 

-Sam Rozell (Nearly Flightless)