Dally 09

Waking up and feeling a nice balance of sprightly steps and headache harangue…Another Dally come and gone, mingling jazz, hip/hop, folk and rock, (though not too heavily tipped on the electronic side). At any rate, tireless local music enthusiast (and singer/guitarist of a rock group baring his last name), Frank Woodman, grasped my shoulder after I asked him, how he was doing…

His eyes flared with a fiery tone equaling his orange beard, took four enclosed steps to reel himself around in a circle, “Do a 360,” he said, “Look at all of this, and all these people. That’s how I’m doing!” I had just gotten there and sipped a bit of Ghettoblsater, trying to take it all in slowly, having already been bombarded by blaring amps, shuffling sardines and pyrotechnics from the Theatre Bizarre camp, and I smiled at his response, but waited for him to elaborate – at which he touched on something that had been nagging me since August. “You know, sometimes you get a little tired, the same shows weekend after weekend – but then this comes around,” he hunches his shoulders and raises his hands like a Baptist Minister provoking his flock,” and it just renews everything. This is great.”

Casually spat on-the-spot reviews or observations ranged from huffed excitement, to a mélange of casual shrugs neither disappointed nor blown away, to some noting that the line up could use some bigger acts. Well, from one end to the other, Will Sessions was stellar at the hip/hop stage and so was lesser known Ypsi-based psyche rockers Dune Buggy Attack Battalion.

I conferred with JR from Jesus Chainsaw Massacre, diagnosing the body of the scene, (at that moment, the body laid out before us upon the grey pebbles of the alley in an inebriated state, drifting from tent to tent, each grinning social butterfly face getting sillier), and we lamented that it felt like a rift was forming between the more, forgive the vulgarly simple words, “pop” or “poppier” rock bands and the, well, uh, more avant-garde, rougher, punkier, noisier bands…

Be that as it may, I could only go back to the same old crutch of an argument that – scenes go in circles. And if there is a rift between the pop and the weird, and if the tacit suggestion from any other floating comments were that the Dally needed more of the big top pop – then I’ll just keep drawing a circle in the air with my index finger. The same way that the Babyboom generation slowly subsides, retires from the workforce and disappears from legislative and corporate power (however painfully slowly) to make way for the weary Millenials and still-lingering Gen-Xers, so does a scene eventually turn over – and bands like Oblisk, Oscillating Fan Club and Blasé Splee (who held headlining/late-evening slots last night) start rightfully taking their place once held by those big-top pops.

It’s the same old song.





























(Notes: Oscillating Fan Club continue their impressive flair (and taste) for covers, bringing out their interpretation of The Who's "A Quick One While He's Away" - which follows past sets of Love, Television and 13th Floor Elevators - but one of their latest originals shows the guitar-heavy psyche rockers at their poppiest...and, forgive it, most Beatlesy-in slight-saccarine pop goodness, yet. - The fine country/folk-rock of Jennie and the Sure Shots brought on the twilight nicely - everything could use more banjos - but then, the band changed their name to: Lac La Belle (named for the city in the U.P.)















Other Notes: - Alex, singer/guitarist of notorious local pop band, The Decks, was attempting to snort his beer as a means of scaring a cadre of little old ladies - only after he'd rattled their nerves about the upcoming health care reform and it not boding well for "old people." After snorting half the cup, he tauned, "And I vote!" to their nervous shrieks.

One can only imagine what the live show is like - and you can find out - when they play October 3rd, for John Sinclair's birthday show - at the ...Bohemian? Bo-House? Bohemian National Home? ...anyhow, 10/3 - (or 10/9 at the HalfAss Music Co-Op if you live in Ann Arbor). More info on their myspace.

Other Upcoming shows:
The DIY Street Fair (at Troy St and Woodward, in Ferndale, between the W.A.B. and Emory Bar)
Friday:
The Hard Lessons / Bars of Gold / Serenity Court / Grande Nationals / Octopus / Lucero

Saturday:
Lee Marvin Computer Arm / Johnny Headband / Great Lakes Myth Society / Child Bite / Zoos of Berlin / Javelins / Computer Perfection / The Copper Thieves / The Swamp Sisters / Gorevette / The Dial Tones / The Summer Pledge / The Blueflowers
Curare IV Festival (after-party in The Loving Touch), with:
Steve Barman / Pigeon / Oblisk / DevilFish / Glass Orphans / Heroes & Villains / Oatmeal / High Speed Dubbing

Sunday:
The Hentchmen / Friendly Foes / Champions of Breakfast / Pinkeye / Dan John Miller / The Sisters Lucas / Motherwhale / Mick Bassett & The Marthas / Darling Imperial / Blasé Splee / Allan James and the Cold Wave
http://diystreetfair.com/main-stage/

also:
9 / 17: Macrame Tiger – Marco Polio and the New Vaccines – Kurtybird - - Lager House
9 / 19 - 9 / 20 – Paul Green School of Rock residency - - Crofoot
9 / 24 - Book Party at the Emory - come drink, and discuss (metro-Detroit-set novel) "MiddleSex"