Frank Gutch Jr: On the Road With The Lisa Parade and Maxine Dunn (Plus Them All-Important Notes)

I took a drive yesterday.  I had been sitting in front of the computer screen too long and accomplishing little of anything at all and I needed a break.  Usually when I hit the road I take music I need to hear for writing reasons but this time I needed time to myself.  I grabbed one I had the urge to review by Town Mountain which when I pulled open the CD cover discovered was minus the disc.  I had left it in my computer player at home.  I have lost more than one disc that way.  The other two were there though and I had heard neither all the way through for over a year:  Lisa Parade‘s Finding Flora and Maxi Dunn‘s Edmund & Leo.  I couldn’t wait.

Frank Gutch Jr: I Got Blistuhs on Muh Finguhs!!! (Plus Notes)

… and I’m looking for trouble because that’s just what you have to do sometimes.  Tributes and covers are sucking the soul right out of me and probably out of the goddamn entire world but you soulless bastards have no clue!  This whole I-got-to-see-the-best-bands and there-ain’t-no-good-music-anymore attitude is killing the listening floor (screw the dance floor) and I’ve had it up to my neck with the I-don’t-like-today’s-music-so-fuck-you memes on the social media and threads in the forums to the point that I’m thinking hell could not be a worse place to live— at least compared to this musical rotgut of a world we live in today.

Frank Gutch Jr: No Small Children Smoke Portland Oregon’s Slabtown; Johnny Mabbott and The Doors Tribute— Slapdown at the High School; Highlight Bomb— Well Hidden, But Why? plus Notes…..

After last night’s No Small Children gig, drummer Nicola B made a statement I have been waiting to hear for the past couple of decades.  Remarking about the previous night’s show in Seattle at The Central Tavern, she said that they had “turned the room.”.  Basically, it means that while, at first, no one paid much attention, by the last song, everyone was on board.  Even dancing, she said (quite enthusiastically, I might add).

Frank Gutch Jr: 50 Albums Which Impacted My Life— Scratch That. Plus Notes…..

My original plan was to list fifty albums which totally bowled me over and, in a way, took me in directions I never would have gone— until drummer/writer Bobby Gottesman derailed that idea for what will inevitably be another romp through who knows what to an end which could as easily be a train wreck as a party.  Gottesman published a short piece about the old farts in music these days and the blanket idolatry they are afforded in spite of arthritic hands and the need to step behind the stack of amps to hit the oxygen mask, not to mention the voices which on the whole are maybe one-tenth the strength and accuracy of what they were in their prime.

Frank Gutch Jr: Hot Damn! It’s The Hot Toddies!!! Women Who Rock, Part One— Toddies, No Small Children, and Shade….. Plus Notes!

You can’t blame me for being a little pissed.  I just found Stone Darling last week and was looking forward to following them from that point on when what do I surmise?  They’re not really the band that they used to be!  Yeah!  I scour their Facebook page and figure, hey, I’m going to move to the front of the line only to find that there is no line!  They’re playing every Monday in August at The Satellite in L.A., it says.  Yeah, in 2011!  They’re rocking The Echoplex, same city, on April 7^th.  Again, 2011!

Frank Gutch Jr: Up-and-Comers for 2013, Why All the Covers, Mental Tracks, and Notes…..

Remember when I said 2012 was the best year ever in music?  2013 is even at this early date biting  2012 on the ass.  Artists are lining up with what I am sure is going to be a run and a half of outstanding and, in some cases, mindblowing offerings.  Rather than wait and write about them pretty much after the fact, let us dig in now in a sort of anticipatory way, shall we?

Frank Gutch Jr: It Has Barely Started and Already 2013 Is a Kickass Year…..

In fact, this may damn well be the year I kick the bucket.  My life has pretty much been music, or music at its core, and it has never been better and I have to say that this next year promises to be the best yet.  Ever have that feeling that you can’t lose?  I not only have that feeling but am overwhelmed by it, politics be damned!  So pardon me while I crawl into my hole and surround myself with a future major labels only dream about.  Pay attention.  There will be a quiz.

Frank Gutch Jr: Sometimes it’s About the Music and Sometimes it’s ALL About the Music….

…and today, I’m in the ALL state of mind.  What got me into this mood were two CDs I received in the mail fairly recently:  Winterpills‘ All My Lovely Goners and Lisbee Stainton‘s Go.  I am reluctant to say that I receive albums like this all the time but the truth is, I do.  Maybe not this good and maybe not with regularity, but I get them all the time.  There is so much good music out there that I can’t even begin to keep up, and that’s with my ignoring the major label, who hardly need my help to spread the word.  Are these two special?  They must be because I don’t think I’d feel right if I didn’t write about them quickly and in depth.  This is the quickly.  I shall save the in-depth for reviews.