08/26/16 @ The Chameleon
"There's a lot going on... We push back the coming dawn. In the gritty, shitty... Lining the dying streets are definite feats of heart and art–of grandiose moments that the truest true are quite pretty... Encompassed in raw beauty and smothered in the bosom of a Queen-in-Exiles' passion and loins is the sound of a Lo-Fi City."
...!
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Lil' Billy Catfish (L) with Broken Werewolf Weven Stalls (R)
photo provided by Billy C.
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There's
a certain cruelty of life that you can't escape. No matter how fast you run,
how deep you dig or how far you motorboat away from troubles, life finds you there.
Cincinnati Punk-band DEAD FLOWERS said it best with song stating: life is a hard fucker. Yes, hard and quite a fucker
indeed. Those early millennium words still ring true to this day, as perhaps
they always will. It's funny how you spend an entire evening where you don’t
drink a drop, or take any drugs... You even refrain from gorging yourself
late-night bags of Ranch flavored Doritos with Diet A&W Root Beer, or sacks
of White Castles... Ice water is your poison for an evening and still... You wake-up the morning after
performing MC duties for the Release show for LO-FI CITYS 3rd helping of
fruit salad full of greatness in the form of a compilation representing a mere
fraction of this zones crooners, movers and provers... Every Queen’s reign
needs a soundtrack and Lo-Fi City provides in kind.
Still,
life insist on manifesting itself as a hard, mean sadistic fucker that laughs cruelly
in your face, kisses you on the cheek and buries a jagged dagger in your back
at the same time. Everywhere you look: land-locked naval battles within a
landscape of muddy rivers, mattress outlets and cell-phone stores, is a city
elbow-deep in addiction death-tolls, pop-up thunderstorms and praise for the
skills of fine-fine-fine wobbling fruit who may or may not be drunk, stoned or
perhaps both or just really great fucking dancer! In what I can only describe
in comparison as a tragic Shakespearean twist, I awake the following morning
with a hangover!!! You know, a 'life hangover' resembling an old-fashioned
traditional alcohol, White Castle hangover of the classic variety…. Life is a
hard-fucker. Never forget that.
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| Self-explanatory photo provided by Lil' Billy C. |
I
find personal comfort in arriving early to functions and finding surprises and
low-hanging fruit like Lil' Billy Catfish firmly in place waiting and dangling his finger from
where a pecker would be poking out of his jeans if, in fact, he was that
certain kind of fruit) accompanied by The Broken Werewolves, single-fisting golden whiskey
standing in The Chameleons performance area smiling. That’s why its called
Fruit Salad you know–Because ('as Nanny's Chris P. would soon find similar
enlightenment) all the fruits (people) are mixed together in one container (the
world). That’s why it’s called Fruit Salad.
Later,
it would be brought to my attention by a friend-fruit concerning my liberal use
of 'little' in referencing Lil’ Billy Catfish: "I think he dropped the
'Little' from his name a while ago,” the fellow fruit said. I responded with
the confidence of a level akin to a successful retail fruit-department manager
"Good for him, but to me he will always be "LIL' Billy
Catfish!"
Why
you ask?? Why do you, the desperate Thwart reader ask this? Please note: If you
are reading Thwart, you definitely fall into the desperate category. Desperate for something... Anything… If you care to acknowledge it or not…
Your desperate (get use to it-its kiss or kill) there are lots of media-options
for all kinds of different fruit salads out there. You got this deep into this
Thwart-related piece of literature... You are obviously searching for something
deeper, something with more meaning... You are searching for girth. Life, the hard-fucker, has brought you here to Thwart.
You are a victim and hero at the same time. Relish this opportunity. Good for
you.
Being
completely honest and rather artistic too, I must clarify, I found Lil'
Billy at the Chameleon standing doing that dick-thing, drinking alone, in a vacant room, lit with LED
lights (his observation-not mine) smiling. Conceptually though, Lil' Billy
wasn't 'alone' he was accompanied by The Broken Werewolves, his broken Werewolves. Billy is much
more than a musician, he is an 'ArtCon', a performer of music as a conceptual art
form. Dare not ask, "Who are the Broken Werewolves Billy?" Because
like it or not, YOU are a broken werewolf! You are there, with Billy, just
trapped in human form. Billy sings songs with you, about you. Celebrating his highs and lows–your highs and lows–both in a
cacophonous chorus of smiles, spirits and yellow-ledger warnings of the
bourgeoisie declaring his one-man micro-nation aka 'Dressing Room.'
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Weven Stalls Sculpture/Question by Ryan Gelatin
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Joined
by fellow ArtCon Weven "Pussy Steve" Stalls wearing a fragrant
Carnation in his hair, Lil' Billy Catfish and all of the present Broken
Werewolves played a great set of folk ArtCon ballads calling the world out in
all its hypocrite red-tape terror-fanatic mess. If the world is flat-out-fucked
as Mudhoney solidly stated on their 1989 self-titled release, then Lil' Billy
is a prover of that on a continual basis while Steven Walls erected a du
moment living
barrier of loose Chameleon tables and chairs following an Andy Kaufman inspired
message to the room saying "Can I ask you a question?" Which was
followed by all the rooms’ mixed-up fruits loudly screaming, "YES!" in
answering…
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| Sleepy Drums (L–R) JB, Michael H., Lo-Fi Jonnie photo provided by Rob S. |
Wevens
sculpture was the question that still remains unanswered and to this day Lil'
Billy Catfish and Stalls maintain lifetime, individual bans from The Whispering
Beard Music Festival.
Lo-Fi
City 'house band' Sleepy Drums erupted next. Spreading their brand of
Blister-Pop, a
genre coined by Midwest punk pioneers The Embarrassment (circa
Kansas 77-82), Sleepy Drums played as if they were a Jovian moon on a decaying
orbit heading straight for Jupiter’s infamous anticyclonic great red
spot–playing every song, every note how it should be played–like it was their
last.
Sleepy
Drums were joined mid-set by a host of '+ Friends' including Danny H. for a
couple oldie but goodie jams by Jetson Maneuver which, according to post-show digging with
Lo-Fi Jonnie himself, existed from 2001-2002 featuring 'Lo-Fi' on guitar/vox,
Danny
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| Sleepy Drums with John H. photo provided by Lo-Fi Jonnie |
Hall on guitar/vox with Andrew Wisenberger on bass and Steve Anderson on
drums that lasted for roughly a year and eventually beget two other bands
called Kindl and Shizer 9... More '+ Friends' action included the
infamous Rob 'Roller-Coaster' S. for a hearty rendition of "Dead
Flowers" by Lo-Fi City 3 contributor Sack Lunch and yet more surprises in this
late-night bowl of Fruit-Salad when Alessandro 'Midnight Dro' C. would
step-forth into the ever rotating Sleepy Drums (and Friends) banner for a brief
reunion of the late Dinosaurs
and Thunder.
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| Nanny (L–R) Aaron W., Eric Eric, Midnight Dro, Chris P. photo provided by Lo-Fi Jonnie |
Adding
Guitarist Aaron W. to their line-up, Nanny gloriously kept it weird. Falling somewhere in the
hinterland in-between Eno, Neu!, and Roxy Music–the Chameleon crowd were once
more pulled away from either the Chameleon patrons on the rear smokers deck
ogling the boringly modern box architecture of whatever was built next door
(conclusion: "They really got it all figured out") or the bars TV
viewing of The
Big Game to
witness a set of ethereal, melancholy semi-analog/semi-digital danceable jams,
not only capturing but adding to and furthering the pre-determined ArtCon
aesthetics that salads like Nanny cultivate.
On
multiple-faceted levels, Nanny proved it as a whole and ad individual
fruits alike.
Rounding
out the night was a brand-new band (well, to me they are new) that I purposely
neglected to listen to provided Bandcamp clips called Fun Machine who I instantly look a liking to
despite how great they'd end up sounding like.
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| Fun Machine (L-R) Brandon, Chad and Zach. Photo courtesy of their Bandcamp site. |
One
of those reasons why is because early in the night, I already filled by 'new
friend' quota. Ever since seeing my first punk-show (Fugazi in Dayton during
June of 1991) I have taken it upon myself to break out of introverted roles
where I would actually pray for invisibility and in this new scene (which I
really wanted to enter with a fresh-start including a new name–Shawn Abnoxious)
and wherever I was at–try and meet someone new. Instead of shying in corners, I
committed myself to embracing the punk-scene. Now, more than 25 years later, it
comes totally natural to introduce myself to new people and talk about
something–anything. I had already met a videographer capturing vidz of all the
bands named Jesse S. "Oh, you two already know each other?" inquired
Jonnie Lo-Fi when he seen Jesse and I talking-up the antics of Weven Stalls
earlier. "We know each other... Now!"
On
the night of the 26th, as I was ogling the boringly modern box architecture of
whatever was built next door to the Chameleon coming to the conclusion that the
buildings architects really got it all figured out, the members of Fun Machine
ambushed me! Knocking me off-guard by introducing themselves to me! The Horror! The
Horror!!!*
In
my 25+ years since my first show, there are people that I have met which
(viewing in hindsight) that I would instantly connect and bond with on a
variety of levels. People that would ultimately make me a better person for
knowing. I think knowing the fruits in the fruit-salad that is Fun Machine
makes me a better person!
By
time they would settle in as the night clean-up position of an already stellar
night of performances, things could only get better–which it did! Fun Machine
played from a perch of confidence that very few bands exhibit. Fun Machine had
a plan... A purpose... Like Dally, Fun Machine were jazzed up for the rumble** Whether
or not there were meetings or pep-talks before hand, I am not certain of, but
Fun Machine delivered-in-full. I didn't even see them play from a set-list!
Their set was played as-if a calculated, well-timed Gulf-War 2 shock & awe
cruise missile attack. Precision was a concept that Fun Machine wielded with
optimum results.
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| 2015 release by Fun Machine available from their Bandcamp page. Cover artwork by Robby Loudermilk. |
Playing
jerky, vocal-driven angular punk bringing to mind the aforementioned
Embarrassment and playing with an intensity reminding me of WU LYF, The Rakes,
Mountain Goats and even The Strokes at times (yeah, I still like the Strokes).
I held onto every note the Fun Machine spat forth as they maintained a high
interest level from me until their sets conclusion.
Then
I left without goodbyes or farewells to anyone. It’s my thing. No harm needed
but I appreciate a good quiet and sudden slipping-away myself and try my best
to emulate that personal fondness myself. I traversed to the northern zones of
Cincinnati homeward and as I promised earlier to a hippy named Brian M. who had
apparently found his shoes sometime between then and now, I threw Wevens Carnation out the window as I hit Cincinnati's
northern suburban zones hoping for the same results as when birds eat seeds,
carry them elsewhere and deposit them via their droppings (shit) to spread
fauna from place to place. I wanted to spread the ArtCon sentiments/infections
of Weven Stalls northward to infect the new asphalt, Chopping Strip Mauls and
manicured lawns of unsuspecting masses. The gesture was purely symbolic but I
really strive for artistic thinking amongst my zones habitat Art Now! Art Often
Or Else.
Actually,
this writing that you have just read serves the ArtCon droppings and the ideas/concepts within are
the seeds. Like it or not, you are
infected. Good luck to you.
I
travelled to my zone... Correction, my safe suburban zone... Really though, concepts such as safety is relative. Safe no longer
really exist anywhere does it? Think about it... I made myself two thick
peanut-butter sandwiches that I washed down with a new batch of Grape flavored
fitness drink while I watched an episode of History Channels Ancient Aliens... Firm in my earlier statements
and beliefs that we are all fruits in the greater bowl of fruit salad of life
that is hard, mean fucker.
...!
Video
(aka "VIDZ") of the night by Jesse S.
Pt.1
Pt.2
...!
Lo-Fi
City
https://loficity.bandcamp.com
Lil'
Billy Catfish & The Broken Werewolves
https://brokenwerewolves.bandcamp.com/album/old-songs-that-got-us-here
Sleepy
Drums (+ Friends)
https://loficity.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-imagination-pt-1
Nanny
https://nanny.bandcamp.com/
Fun
Machine
https://funmachine.bandcamp.com/
...!
*
obligatory Colonel Kurtz/Apocalypse
Now! reference.
**
obligatory reference to S.E. Hintons The Outsiders.