Jimmy Gestapo from Murphy’s Law, shot before the advent of color photography.
Veteran hardcore punk bands are an odd thing. I’m thinking about the bands you listened to twenty years ago. The ones where you see their name in the concert listings and think, “They’re still around?”
Those type of bands are just not mainstream enough to land endorsement deals, multi-album recording contracts, or other obvious means of sustainability. It’s almost as if the doggedness and passion of their music carries them through hard years on the road.
Murphy’s Law, the hardcore band formed in 1982, pulls into The Grand Victory tonight (6/24) with just one remaining original member, but with the gravitas of a cultural mainstay. They’ve appeared in one of artist Matthew Barney’s Cremastermovies, and been featured in both Grand Theft Auto IV and Backyard Wrestling 2.
In another generational disconnect, Greenpoint metal institution St. Vitus puts on its grown-up clothes this weekend and hosts, of all things, a metal-themed flea market during the daytime. It’s your chance to engage in a little friendly haggling over the price of a replica blood-stained corpse. DJ Hellspell will establish the ambience. Continue reading →
Waking up at 4 AM this morning, I fumbled around on my iPhone for podcasts to kill time until dawn. Garrison Keillor’s show came up first.
Keillor always ends with a poem, and on this episode it was Route Six by Stanley Kunitz, that follows the poet’s summer road trip to Cape Cod with his wife.
To get everyone into the spirit of our own quickly approaching day trips to the beach, I match the mood of Kunitz’ poem by quoting it alongside this weekend’s best live music. Continue reading →
This past Sunday, Greenpoint metal bar St. Vitus hosted Speed Metal Dating. Two ladies on our Greenpointers staff went to check it out and potentially meet the metal men of their dreams (or nightmares?). Here are their stories. Continue reading →
Some of you may be old enough to remember the Reagan-era “this is your brain on drugs” TV ad, the one that shows an egg frying in a pan.
I can now personally report to you the effect on the brain of three straight days and nights of manic sun-baked body-slamming and the occasional 3 AM audio epiphany that you will encounter at the Northside Festival music series. To continue the frying egg analogy, my brain at this point, is kind of like a ridiculously tasty three-egg omelette oozing melted cheddar and mushrooms. It’s a happy sensation.
OK, before I go jump a school bus and drive that thing to Tampico to go hurl empty beer cans at a ranchera band playing on a chicken wire-protected stage, I have a final obligation to you my readers to guide you to the best bands playing on this, the final day of music. Continue reading →
There is a spirit of cautious optimism in our neighborhood this week. Ice has disappeared from the sidewalks. There are fewer sightings of G train commuters cobbling together bus and Uber rides after unannounced service delays. In fact, some have even suggested that the G is a more reliable train than the neighboring line to our south. It’s a great time to celebrate with some notable live music.
Doom crew Belus stitched together this week’s thunderous(-ish) mix. Prepare your eardrums for some heavy-lifting and scope the playlist after the jump.
