Kosher Fest - Saturday 5/27/17 - Long Live the Hut!

"Punk rock was my first girl / she left me a scar so I have her still" - Beulah, Silver Lining

I was a late bloomer in just about every respect.  Maybe it was just classic middle kid, ultra-geek (before it was cool, man!) syndrome.  Maybe I shared some of the genes that made my future son autistic.  But in life, in love, in pretty much all the social norms, I always lagged behind.  I was pretty much a grammar school kid in high school (you should see my yearbook photos!), a high school kid in college, an undergraduate in grad school.  It's probably why I now live my "adult" life like I'm still in college.

Even in my musical taste, I bloomed late. As a kid, I mostly listened to guilty pleasures like Boston, Styx, and Foreigner (hey, I was from da West bank of NOLA!).   But I'd listen to some weird stuff, too.  I'd spend hours perched over the turntable (before that became UN-cool, then cool again!), headphones on, absorbing Yes's Tales from Topographic Oceans; the definitive bloated prog-rock mind-bender if ever there was one.  Maybe most girls thought I was from another planet because, in my mind, soaking in 25-minute prog-rock movements, I quite literally was.  

But, musical or otherwise, punk rock was my first real "grown-up" passion.  In college I started to get into British stuff like Dave Edmunds and Elvis Costello, and that grew into love of American bands like the dBs, Let's Active, Game Theory, Descendants...  hmm...  seems the more off-the-mainstream-path I get, the better the music gets!  When I first I heard the Pixies "Gigantic" on KLSU (in Baton Rouge), I decided then and there to become a DJ.

Make no mistake, this musical passion is the main reason why I took 7 years to finish a PhD.  Years of deejaying, way too many shows, hosting the local music show, publishing a zine, starting a proto-website... it's really never stopped.  Zine-ing grew to the more acceptable adult past-time of an indie newspaper column.  This continues today into the humble blog you're reading.

But it's always been about punk rock.  And while that loaded phrase has as many definitions as there are people you ask, to me it's always been simply about any music that's different and breaks norms.  About artists that pursue their passion for the simple sake of it.  But beyond music, about voices that speak loudly and challenge the status quo.  Indie-alternative-underground-college-punk-whatever music has always been to me at its core, about free speech.  And I've always been passionate about experiencing and promoting that.

Okay, to the point.  In my mind, the purest manifestation of punk rock is (and perhaps always has been) the house show. It is the epitomy of that most punk of ethics, DIY.  "You don't need to tell me how to do this.  I'M gonna do it!"  Sometimes, even the most podunk, backwoods of towns can have the best ones.  Desperation breeds creativity.  At once angry and ebullient, lashing out and life-affirming, house shows give voice to the silenced, a place to the dispossessed.  A good house venue is more a home than any club could ever be.  Well, maybe a little because they usually ARE  homes :).

And there have been few house venues as welcoming as the Kosher Hut.  More home-y and familial than the buzz-iest club, the Hut's been a place where all are welcome... even this old dog.  But it's still punk as fuck.  Really, to me, those two things have always been one and the same.

The Hut's raised tons of dough for many worthy causes, all while providing one helluva great time.  Whatever Brains blew the lid off that joint.  Zack Mexico got naked.  9192 brought smooth raps.  Synths jammed, radicals screamed, horses played...  all in all, it's been weird and wild fun.  

And this Saturday, Kosher Hut's calling it quits with a blowout "show".. I say "show" because it's much more than that.  Kosher Fest features a line-up of  a dozen or more for day parties, on two stages.  Then at night, they'll have a Hopscotch-worthy line-up:  Lonnie Walker, ET Anderson, Acid Chaperone, Jenny Besetzt, Ghostt Bllonde, Zensofly, and Oak City Slums!  Killer.  But the day party line-up is no slouch either:

 

The whole shindig starts early (1:00pm) and goes on into the night.  I hear tell there'll be a BBQ food truck there, and there's even talk of a slip'n'slide!  But there'll be non-stop great music, all punk in spirit, though greatly varied in genre & style.  And that's punk, too. So come say g'bye to one of the great house venues, and have a good ol' time.  As for where... as they say, ask a punk. 

This is so big, they should just go all the way & sell out.  Maybe my great MS Paint skills could snag some o' that corporate $$! :)

Hopscotch Pre-gaming: "Kosherscotch" 2016 (Kosher Hut, Raleigh, NC, 9/7/16)

Last Wednesday night -- All Hopscotch Eve -- veritable Raleigh house venue the Kosher Hut ushered in Raleigh's 7th annual Hopscotch Festival early with what I took to calling Kosherscotch.  They put together one of the most stunning "club" line-ups of any venue all weekend.  It featured bands that would go on to play at least 7 count'em 7 Hopscotch day party or nighttime club shows.

First there was Hotline, locals that are sounding a whole lot more bad-ass and funky lately.  Coming into their own with their new, post-Oulipo, sound (which was good enough as it was), Hotline now just seems to be locked way more into a groove apropos of frontman Ryan Trauley's soulful vocals.

Hotline...

Secret Guest, from Charleston SC, would go on to wow me twice more with great shows at Kings and the Baxter.  This night, they introduced me their very fun stage show, one that would prove through the weekend to consistently end up with pieces and parts (and people) flying all over the place.  I walked out the room thinking "Pavement-on-steroids", which is kinda true from a song structure (or lack thereof) standpoint.  But they have a little bit of surfiness and a darker, psych edge going, too.

Secret Guest...

I had witnessed a memorable show by Sarasota's Pleasures at the Hut a few months back.  Just as good this time, their music also has that dark-psychy thing going (kinda becoming a favorite in my live music choices lately), but with more of an ambitious, jazzy aura and mysterious distorted vocals.  I missed their day party show Saturday at Deep South, but heard some ranking it among the best of the festival.

Pleasures...

Another SC visitor, ET Anderson from Columbia, really wowed me.  Like a soul man run through a Mothersbaugh filter, slow grooves quick change into angular pop at the drop of a hat.  ET Anderson is maybe my new favorite live band, or at least have pulled into a tie with Zack Mexico (not surprising as they've toured together as the mind-melded "ET Mexico").  These photos aren't the best of them... I'll post better ones later from their Hopscotch-proper show at Deep South when I get the Saturday night coverage up.

ET Anderson...

Speaking of Zack Mexico, the Outer Banks musical berserkers have developed a rather large following around here.  I can't really say much more about them that I haven't said before... except their late-night "Lime in the Coconut" cover bubbles up from my one-too-many-beers / too-late-a-night addled memory every now and then.  As best as I can remember, they didn't finish until around 2:30am.  I'm surprised I made it to the Friday day parties, much less the rest of the weekend.  More on that later...

Zack Mexico...

Let's make Kosherscotch an annual thing, guys!

Whatever Brains / Alex G / Silent Lunch - Kosher Hut, Raleigh (10/3/14)

In July, I wrote here that at the last Mattress Fort show in Raleigh, "Someone asked me if I thought this could happen again, if someone else would start up a good 'unofficial' music venue.  Of course they will.  They always do.  It’s irrepressible."

Well, Raleigh proved me right... in about 2 months no less.  The Kosher Hut is a little house venue on the edges of NC State, and if their second show was any indication, they may already be outgrowing their rather impressive quarters.  Hint:  don't book Pitchfork buzz bands too often.

The show was set to be Raleigh's Whatever Brains and Durham's Silent Lunch... an older band I've only seen once and have been dying to see again, and a newer band I'd only seen at their first show and wanted to see how they're coming along.  Already two great local bands, and then Alex G got added (sometimes referred to as SANDY Alex G to avoid confusion with this Alex G).

The room is a great one... spacious and colorful, probably someone's "man cave" in another time, now co-opted for more creative uses.  It's decorated with wonderful, visually colorful, emotionally dark paintings.  There's tons of space for bands and audience.  Here's a couple of shots before the crowd filled in (and boy, did they fill in).

Silent Lunch kicked in first with their three-piece old school punk.  Singer Emily O'Sullivan's aggressive warble is arresting, and you're a little afraid of her as she screams "You're DEAD MEAT" in the revenge tune from their debut EP, Late To Bloom.  But while they definitely harbor an affinity to SST/K Records punk/indie catalog, there are little melancholy melodies buried in the noise, and some nice surfy guitar and harmonies (of course, there were with those bands, too).  I'd say Silent Lunch is coming along quite nicely.

Silent Lunch...

Now, Alex G, I hadn't yet listened to.  But hearing how he was this up-and-coming wunderkind, I checked out his new album, DSU, on bandcamp.  I really, really like the sound of this Alex Giannascoli from Philly.  He writes a great song, and while I haven't listened a whole lot yet, I know I'll be doing so in the future.  I've got as lot of catching up to do... he's already put out 6 albums and he's barely out of his teens.  I love the down-beat, off-kilter melodies.  I hear some Big Star, Built to Spill, Brian Wilson... all the good "B" stuff.  A little Elliott Smith, too.  What sounds on the surface like pretty stripped down instrumentation is layered with all kinds of unexpected twists from piano, banjo, bells, strings, and other assorted tools.  See this band next time they pass through.

Alex G...

Maybe it was the 100% humidity imparted by the pouring rain outside that, I'm sure, most of us were unaware of.  Maybe it was the sardine can-like environs.  Maybe it was the punk juice flowing from everybody's pores. But it got darker and foggier as the night wore on (okay, maybe Whatever Brains brought a fog machine, but that didn't start 'til their set).  You could track the weather with one look at the mirrored stage backdrop...

Now, it's hard to describe the sound of Whatever Brains... intense, punk, electronic, techno-on-steroids.  Scary, as the Facebook page for this show had earlier described their sound.  They're truly unique, but I always think of probably the best band out of little Pensacola, Florida, when I used to publish a zine there:  Neutronic.  They had the hammering, punk guitars complemented by screaming vocals and heavy electronics. But Whatever Brains can't be derivative of them; nobody's ever heard of them.  I'm just glad someone has taken up a similar style and taken it beyond, because it's great!  This, my ashamedly only second time seeing them, completely lived up to my expectations from  their Hopscotch set a couple of years back.

Whatever Brains...

Look on the Facebook page soon for more Whatever Brains photos from this show.  I took way too many of them to post here.  To me, with the light show and fog and darkness, they look like... I don't know... ghosts.  Filled with lightning.

"Ghosts filled with lightning."  Now I think THAT's a pretty good description of what Whatever Brains sounds like.