I was in a Borders store many years ago on my lunch break looking at music magazines. And that was when I noticed The Big Takeover for the first time. At the time I was a big music fan who was getting a little bored with music. And there it was--Issue 42- Radiohead. To this day like Bilbo Baggins and his "precious" in The Hobbit , I'm still not sure whether I found the magazine, or the magazine found me. Embarrassingly, I was ignorant of Radiohead, dismissing them as some over hyped big label flavor of the month band. But, there was a blurb on the cover about Stiff Little Fingers the phenomenal Irish punk band, who I have been fortunate to see a few times. Got home, read the magazine for 2 days straight. (Love Radiohead--The Bends most listener friendly-Ok Computer- somber soundtrack album for the end of the millennium.) A great magazine, intelligent, loyal to the music, great enthusiasm. And the magazine is so loaded with content (to the uninitiated, be prepared to read a lot) On his recommendation I got the self produced 2nd album by Whipping Boy that I had to e-mail the guitarist of the band to obtain. But he would just as equally laud a big name major label act if they created a worthy product. And he name checks artists who maybe don't have a project to push at the moment, but deserve their due, to not ever be forgotten. And in this society things get forgotten in the blink of an eye. You only have to look at the current political situation in our country to appreciate this. I really have found out about so many bands that I would have otherwise not known about without this magazine. Bands like Glide, Mutton Birds, Leatherface, Gene, Pointed Sticks, The Saints, and many many more. One of my favorite things about the shows were how many musicians came on stage and said that the Big Takeover was the best music magazine in the world; and while such statement are opinions, I think such opinions are not hyperbole.
Anyway, I get in the door of Bell House. Nice venue, decent selection of good domestic beer, performance area sort of barn like. Who strolls across but the editor himself--he's sort of looking at me, thinking, should I know you? He's had so many minions working for him and interviewed so many musicians over the years that I could have been one for all he knew. But my brain was baked from sitting in bumper to bumper traffic and I am an unpeople person to some extent, so I went to front bar and drank instead of some awkward "I think your magazine is cool" banter. But I guess I really am a believer--when Jack mentioned on his website that the shows may sell out, I truly like to believe that I live in world where things like this do happen and I made sure I got tickets well in advance.
Maybe someday this show will be the fodder of babbling cool people, like the Sex Pistols show in Manchester, which you would think must have been held in a soccer stadium instead of a university hall. Yeah, she was at Bell House, I was there, Diddy was there. There was a good turnout, no Justin Bieber level of hysteria. But I have to say that I do feel like a lucky punk. There were some great great performances and I love it when I see something great that I'm ignorant of and get completely floored. It's happened many times before so I keep my ears open and not just music. Flower is a NYC band I've heard of who I know has a member who is in Versus, but I don't know their music. They were absolutely great, and that was the first band on! That was definitely a highlight in a festival with a lot of highlights. They have been defunct for 16 years supposedly, but I hope they do more things because they certainly didn't appear to be rusty or worse for wear. They were had a nice intense squall to them. I think they have an out of print CD with 2 of their albums compiled on 1 which I really have to get.
Another highlight (mildly stated) was the final band on the bill the legendary Avengers, without a doubt one of the greatest and most exciting punk rock bands ever, one of the greatest American groups ever to hit the stage. I was supposed to see them a bunch of years ago when they reformed for an East coast tour with some bands on the Lookout! label. That day there was a monsoon and there must have been a foot of rain, flooding everywhere, and I just could not get down there. But finally on Friday I got my very delayed gratification. I had noticed the guitarist Greg Ingraham wandering around the bar, having no idea who he was. But its an intangible thing, but my spider senses noticed the intense rock aura. Some people just have this. Like at a hockey arena when you see a guy walking around with an average build who's legs just seem to big to fit in his pants. You know the guy is a player. The Avengers guitarist is a Punk rock guitar hall of famer.Hear him play for 10 seconds and you would concur. Such intensity. Penelope Houston is everything and more, a completely engaging intense singer. The whole band played with ferocity and chops and the crowd was loving every second of the set. The band is one of the most unknown and under appreciated rock bands that I know of, but music every fan of challenging rock and roll should own. Unfortunately part of the problem is that the "pink album" is not readily available, though I believe the Avengers website has CD-R's of the album. Seeing the Avengers is definitely one event I will never ever forget and made me very very happy. So a belated thanks, Jack.
More on the show in the next posting......I have a lot to say about a mighty mighty band from Seattle that made the Haj to Brooklyn and should be a household name.
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