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Links
SMASH!
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Concerts, June - July 2002
Link Wray Live at the Montage Grille, Rochester, NY July 9, 2002 (9:30
pm show)
Link, ladies and gents, is the one who showed the masses how to play
the cool way. Back in the 50's, he struck the chords heard 'round the
rock and roll world with his blistering guitar and non-chalant attitude.
It is only a shame that he is not more well known, but popular culture
is funny, and it seems that all of the great ones are the ones who get
lost in the shuffle. However, you mention him to anyone who is
someone-rockabilly cats, garage rockers, mod hipsters, or glam-
punk trash dolls, and they will sing the praises of Link Wray. This
particular show was like a who's who of Rochester's music elite- cool
people definitely in the know- but I'm not here to talk about that. If
you want the list of who was there, e-mail me. I'm here to talk about
the sheer glory of this show. One of the first cool songs I ever
learned was Rumble and it was taught to me by one Gregory Townson
of Essentials-Salamanders-HiRisers fame. It was raw, powerful, and I
loved it. Pretty much like the show that Link put on this particular
evening. Sure, Link may be 73 years old, small and fragile, but the
fact of the matter is, he's still out there doing the stuff that
gave him a name. And when he was on and in the groove,
Link rocked like it was 1959 and he was out playing at a demented sock
hop. His guitar blistered and twanged out Rumble, Run Chicken Run,
Raw-Hide, Big City After Dark, Batman, The Black Widow, The Swag, Ace
of Spades, etc. as he choked the neck and bashed at the strings
with an elegant ferocity and cool ease that no one else can come close
to emmulating. The cover of the Nelville Brother's was stark and bleak,
yet performed with wonderfully intense underlying emotion.
There were lessons to be learned by everyone in that room.
Wrong note? Who cares. Broken string? Let the band (who were great)
comp and break out the other guitar. There's bound to be flaws, it's
pure, intimate music. Not some psycho-sick pop group stage circus. And
that's the beauty of it. Everyone got to see pure Link, with no fillers
or additives. Just the way it should be.
The Realistics at the Bug Jar, Rochester, NY June 29, 2002 and at The
Continental, Buffalo, NY June 10, 2002
I must say that the Mooney Suzuki tour with cool bands, whether it be
the case of them getting asked, or them doing the asking. The Realistics,
like the Moonies, are from similar stomping grounds in NYC- the bands
have known each other for a while. They play a great blend of all the
'cool' music- and instruments for that matter- that you should know
about by now, and if you don't, that's nobody's fault but your own.
Live, they put on a wonderfully energetic and entertaining show that
highlights their fairly solid, ear pleasing tunes. The band can go
from full out trashy-poppy stompers like Turn it Around and
It's Alright, it's Okay to the more mellow soul-infused yet equally as
impressive Angie and Should've Known without
breaking the groove at all. The latter two songs feature some very nice
vocals by Dennis- any guy who can sing higher than me without going
into a nasty falsetto rocks. Seriously. Both of these shows managed to
win over converts in the audience, and rightly so. What the Realistics
churn out is hot stuff- the band is definitely worth giving your time
to check out, so make sure you see them when they head back over here again.
Garage Pop Benefit for Rock and Roll aka Garage Pop # Way Too Many
featuring the Purrs, the Grinders, the Bloody Hollies, and the Quitters
at Mercury, Rochester, NY June 21, 2002
Woah, man, woah... Is it right to have at least one member from just
about each of the bands playing going after you?... White trash
bitches are REALLY SCARY... Dancing is wonderful... I think I need to
go Mod more often...
The Purrs have been becoming quite the players over the past few months,
which is always a good thing, right? I must say that the last couple of
times that I have seen them, I've enjoyed their sets much more than I
did previously. They have a bonded aspect that comes through much better
than it did in the past, and the kick that they get out of doing the live
thing is also more apparent in their performance. I don't think anyone
can NOT like them, even a little. Throw the Headbang song into the
equation, and you've got yourself a mighty fine time...
The Grinders followed the Purrs, and since it was Todd's birthday, it
was more of an 'event' than usual, ha ha. I discovered at one other show
that isn't documented since I can't remember too much of it (no comment
...) that the Grinders really do play loud, drunk rock. They play better
when they're drunk, and if you're drunk, it's GREAT. Not that you can't
dig 'em sober. So the Grinders did what they do best, kicking the asses
of everyone in the joint with the suspect tunes that manage to convert
the rock and roll teetotalers. Todd even managed to look cool and
manly in his Super-Duper-Extra-Tacky-Birthday-Crown made by yours
truly. If you missed out, you suck.
The Bloody Hollies were second to last introducing a second guitarist-
formerly their bassist Nick- to the Rochester audiences. I had seen
this line-up about a week and a half prior when the Bloody Hollies
opened up for the Mooney Suzuki and the Realistics in Buffalo, and I
liked the fuller guitar sound and bass drum that largely took the
part of the bass line. Kinda confusing in print, but when you see it
live, it's a great combination. This Rochester show was solid like the
B-lo show was, filled with many new songs (at first I thought I was
going nuts and didn't recognize the old ones) and the tried and true
classics as well. The Bloody Hollies have also been gelling more over
the months, and they too, are proving to be a very cool band to see
live. Check them out.
The purveyors of it all, the Quitters (aka the MTV mavens) themselves
closed the evening out. I know I've said this before, but I'll say
again that the Quitters are one of my most liked bands in the scene
with all of their catchy quirky power pop with a twist of Pleasant
Dreams era Ramones glory. The band provided the people with the
dosage of goodness that they all needed in order to fuel the insanity
that managed to ensue during the Quitters set- headbanging, body lifting,
spinning, and in my case, "snagging" (for the evening at least) and
swing dancing (!) with a certain Bloody Holly who's currently in Poland
for the next month... go see the Quitters and end up happy, in any and
all senses of the word. I did.
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