There’s a great big ol’ eyeball/ rolling off the white-washed fence/ Under shooting stars, falling/ falling under purple crumpets/ There’s a rock with a big tongue/ licking me on my earlobe/ floating in the midnight sun/ up in the purple arctic circle/ Mongolia!/ I long for you/ Mongolia!/ In my flying saucer/ I am searching for you.—“Flying Saucer Over Mongolia,” by Dogbowl from the album Cyclops Nuclear Submarine Captain.Dogbowl is the nom de plume of surrealist rocker/novelist Stephen Tunney, who also worked on King Missile. The song itself represents a type of rollicking psychedelic pop popular in the early 1990s. It also reminds me of why I like rocanrol music so much; the whimsy, the seraphic joy and elusively beautiful melodies created by Tunney and his clarinetist are labors of love, much like este columna. My attachment to live, local music is also reflective of an on-going search for the comfort and wonder that can only assuaged by new and weekly aural discoveries. So, here is the fuel I found this week, here is what powered by personal flying saucer over the Duke City as I rejoiced and rocked out. Join me if you dare; the ship is boarding as I write.
Show Up!: Friday
Vasillus
Joel Lee
Townie Productions, led by psych-master Colin Roxford—who also happens to play a lean and mean guitar for shiny stalwarts Sun Dog—is well known for subverting the local musical paradigm by supporting and presenting some of the most damnably challenging and listenable tuneage in this little burg by the big river. On Friday, Oct. 20, get a load of what I mean at Sister (407 Central NW) when the organization in question presents a showcase of some of our state’s hellaciously heroic musical acts. The bill features a performance by visionary multi-instrumentalist Heather Trost, whose artistic associations with partner Jeremy Barnes, Stereolab founder Laetitia Sadier and dreamy do-gooders Deerhoof have yielded some of the most potently poetic music to come out of these parts in ages. Additionally, sets by sludgy, dream-time Taos trio MIRROR TRAVEL, queer obsidian soul-seeker Vasillus and percussive performance experimentalists Euth Group guarantee this will be the show of the month. Look, it’s only five bones to get in; you just won’t be the same afterwards as you head home filled up with serious sonic substance handmade in Nuevo Mexico. $5 • 21+ • 8pm
Show Up!: Friday Part Ii/Saturday
SHREWD
There’s two variations to this year’s annual Night of the Living Cover Bands at Launchpad (618 Central NW). The Friday night, Oct. 20 iteration has local luminaries like Nitekidz portraying The Runaways, Anesthesia performing as Static-X, the Silver String Band doing their thing as Talking Heads, Merican Slang as the Red Hot Chile Peppers and Bellamah as Journey. But wait, it gets amazeballs on Saturday, Oct. 21 when SuperGiant dons their golden god costumes in order to be just like Led Zeppelin while The Ground Beneath apes Black Sabbath, SHREWD becomes Iggy and the Stooges, Burque Sol inhabits the soul of Santana and—get this—Nizhoni Girls do The White Fucking Stripes! In the words of SCTV’s Count Floyd, “that sounds pretty scary, eh kids?!” Well then, have fun, get frightened by verisimilitude and rock the hell out for only $5 in advance and $8 at the door each night. The crypt opens at 8pm for creepy concert-goers over the abysmal age of 21.
