Another Carnival

What an amazing Carnivolution it has been, the 2009 season certainly has been one to remember. Under the big top (really a huge tarp) due to a threat of rain for most of the nights the seasonal event (held on Second Fridays) at the Ellen Powell Tiberino Museum hit new highs (or lows,  if you don't enjoy seeing someone stapling money to their testicles.) The Hydrogen Jukebox were a bit stripped down, they no longer had a horn section but a guest guitarist sat in on a few numbers and a fire-breather performed alongside the band during their last set for many of the shows. The Radar Men returned for this season and incredibly were able to vary their performances even though they were restricted by the same DVD and drum tracks they used last season. The Sideshow featured an exciting and en"gross"ing (literally gross) plot that wove through the six episodes involving the rag-tag band of puppets and freaks on a journey to Menstraila and back. New characters featured a villian who resembles Mickey Mouse but wears a tutu, football pads and McDonald's-style golden arches, a queen covered in tampons and denizens that had heads shaped like various body parts. Many new guests and friends of the Squidling Brothers performed including fire-breathers, stongmen, acrobats and burlesque dancers. Betty Blommerz, missing for a few episodes, was "reborn" for the final show. I attended the most times (4) of any year and really enjoyed it, hanging out with my childhood friend Elisha and new friend Heather. Below are my best pictures for the whole season:

 The Hydrogen Jukebox

The Radar Men

The Sideshow

JAB and Mugg's

JAB performed at Muggs in Doylestown, a bar I've never been in before even though I drove by it many times. They have no parking lot, I accidently pulled into the dealership next door, so I ended up parking at the bank across the street. The section of the bar the band perfomed in looked like someone's basement and there was a divider and posts seperating them from the bar so it was hard to take pictures of the whole group. It was better than before, John Neumann told me the bands used to perform in front of the front window. There were also couches there so you could sit right up in front if you wanted. They sounded great, Eric sang lead on "Gimme Some Lovin'" and they also covered "Heaven Beside You" by Alice In Chains but Andy never played any harmonica which was unusual to see a JAB show without it.

Check out the entire set of photos from this show on my Flickr page!

Another King Is Gone

Michael Jackson's death last week brought to mind everything that changed when he exploded as a solo artist in the '80s. He integrated MTV and brought Hollywood directors to music video. The world premier of each of his videos were on major networks and was destination television. Everyone had to have his albums. "Thriller" is the highest-selling album in history and always will be. The title track still freaks me out today. Even when he wasn't on top of the charts he was still in the news, for better or worse. However, even after all that exposure we never really knew much about him. For many of us who grew up in the '80s and '90s, he was our King. We tried to sing like him, to dance like him. Every other solo pop artist had to follow his lead. There will never be another like him since the music and entertainment industry is so fragmented, no one can draw the crowds and get the album sales that he had. Let's enjoy his life and all the tributes to him that have been done and will be done. Maybe there will be a large concert like there was for Freddie Mercury. Even if we disagree about his actions and personal life let us agree that he was an interesting and unique person and we'll always remember him.

A Quick Switch Works Out

Victor Victor Band

For a while I was wondering when I'd be going to John and Peter's again, but a few weeks before I had noticed on their MySpace that they had scheduled Dave Devlin for a Thursday night show. The weekend before Dave confirmed that he would be there through his newsletter. So I came out for what became for a reunion show featuring the Brothers Gruff, Parker Barrow and the exciting Victor Victor Band, (Dave's new band was supposed to play but they broke up a few weeks ago.) Dave's fiancee Christy came out to the show for the first time since The Stand release party in 2006. I had to head over right after work so I missed the first few songs of Dave's set, the band hadn't rehearsed before this show but they are so tight I really couldn't tell the difference. His mike went bad during the set, it took another song or two but he finally switched to the other set-up one during a break in "Bomb". Parker Barrow, who referred to themselves as a cover band for this show, had a slightly different line-up. They were a quartet with singer Nick handing off bass duties, leaving his Hofner at home, and a different drummer. Since they had a shorter set than usual they just played covers of the Beatles, Johnny Cash, Beach Boys and the Animals. The closing Victor Victor Band was the real highlight of the night. Actually a married couple, husband Jamie sings with plenty of fire and plays guitar like Jimi Hendrix (also with an upside-down Stratocaster). Wife Danelle plays drums and keyboards, sometimes at the same time, with a maracca taped to one of her drumsticks. At first glance they seem like the White Stripes, but both have equal contribution to the group. I took a few videos of Dave and the band and you can view them here and on my MySpace video channel.

Check out this video: Dave Devlin - Perfect (Live)

Dave and The Gruff together again

Parker Barrow

Birthdays and New Editions

This was a very special night with the Pheromones. New parents Jessica and her husband Donnie were in town for the holiday and it was also a night to celebrate Adam's and Brian's birthdays which are close together. Tommy was back on bass and Seven Day Sunday, a band which are friends of Brian's, was opening. The groups traded off throughout the night, performing two sets each. Seven Day Sunday played mostly '90s covers but those were done very well and guitarist played some amazing solos. The Pheromones played two new covers, "What I Like About You" and The Killers' "All The Things I Have Done," a favorite of Linzi's. Brian wore a wireless headset so he didn't have to set up a mike for himself. After the Pheromones' first set Brian's wife Sheeva brought in cake for the birthday boys. "Hillbilly Hellbeast", usually a good song for the band, kicked off the second set but was derailed by crazy mike feedback and Brian loss of the beat. After the Pheromones' second set Brian came up and jammed with the guys from Seven Day Sunday, showing off his guitar skills. He is very good guitarist but means more to the Pheromones as their drummer. Also, see the video I took of the band above, it was my first one since the summer after high school and is not too bad for a still camera.

The band, with Tommy sitting in on bass once again.

 Check out the entire set of photos from this show on my Flickr page!