Who’s Playin’ What – Wait! Too Much to Report, from Denver and LA Punk Legends to Hobo Heroes – Just GO!

Who’s Playin’ What – Wait! Too Much to Report, from Denver and LA Punk Legends to Hobo Heroes – Just GO!

June 22, 2012 Off By Billy Thieme
Choosy Mothers choose Denver.

Choosy Mothers choose Denver.

As usual, when the summer rolls into its own – and as of this writing this one’s only one day old (but that day’s holding in enough heat for a friggin’ month of ’em….) – Denver plays host to more and more bands from out of town, and the local scene takes a boot, too. There are so many things to go and see over the next two weeks, we’re seriously considering just letting the heat evaporate us, so we can be a mist traveling through town, visiting all the venues we can each night – and a few of them simultaneously.

Or – that could be the heat getting to us.

In any case, from a surprising visit from Black Flag and hardcore guitar hero Greg Ginn – at Bar Bar, no less (and, rumor has it, FREE) – to what promises to be a stunning Larimer Lounge set with Thurston Moore (he’s stopping by Boulder, too, but who wants to drive that far?), to the dueling summer showcases – Westword’s (This weekend) and The UMS (in late July), there’s definitely no shortage of places to get your fix of good music.

So take lift the needle off your new Bieber disc (say, does he even know how to play any of his own vinyl? Does his stuff come out on vinyl? Nevermind – don’t wanna know) and get outside to see and hear some good music.

Here are some our recommended threads coming up soon:

Choosy Mothers! with ’57 Lesbian – TONIGHT – Friday, June 22, 2012 – Lion’s Lair

Denver’s own Choosy Mothers! are rocking again, and tonight’s your chance to get a real, live taste of one of this never-ending scene’s early monsters. Add an a set of punky trash from ’57 Lesbian, and another from locals the Geniuses (featuring Rich form another Denver punk rock legend, Boss 302), and you’ve got a possibility  of actually seeing the venerable, Lion’s Lair crumple up “Poltergeist”-style – with you and everyone else inside – and re-appear again in the exact same place, only 30 years earlier. Sounds worth it… and if that doesn’t happen, we guarantee the music will be enough.

And again, Saturday, June 23, at 3Kings Tavern, with Black Lamb, more, for a great Denver cause

Phil "The Fan" at work behind the scenes.

Phil “The Fan” at work behind the scenes.

And, if one night of Choosy Mothers (and even more Denver Punk Rock) isn’t enough, there’s another opportunity this Saturday night, June 23rd, at 3Kings Tavern – a benefit for local superfan, collector and Denver Scene Superhero, Phil “The Fan” Hamon III, who was taken from us on June 26, 2011. We could get into a whole slew of praise for Phil – he certainly deserves it as one of Denver’s memorable fixtures, and a indefatigable supporter of the scene – but we’d rather you read about him yourself, HERE, HERE and HERE.

To honor Phil’s never-ending contribution, Denver Punk Scene and 3Kings tavern are throwing a fundraising party to give Phil’s immense, incredible collection of musical memoribilia a home on the web, so the world can enjoy it. Go and get a taste of what we’re talking about in the Phoenix Gallery (downstairs at 3Kings Tavern), and help celebrate the life of this beautiful fan. Besides another scorching set from Choosy Mothers!, the lineup features local sludge kings Black Lamb, Supermodified and Hopeless Jack and the Handsome Devils.

 Local hearbreakers Slakjaw join the Gromet for a night in Arvada

Gut-busting heartbrake, put to music.

Gut-busting heartbrake, put to music.

Also this Saturday, June 23rd, local jugband-cum-pub-rockers Slakjaw will share a stage at Arvada’s Rockabillie’s. You won’t want to miss this – Slakjaw plays a kind of gut-busting fair that transports you to oil-can fires in the middle of abandoned city lots, or beneath railroad bridges. In this heat, the cold memories should be welcome! Get out an cut a rug with them, and the Gromet.

 

Legendary Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn throws a free show at Bar Bar, Tuesday, June 26

Greg Ginn may be changing music a little... for the better, again.

Greg Ginn may be changing music a little… for the better, again.

Stepping a little outside of his foundational visage as an iconic Black Flag original member – and hardcore bedrock creator – Greg Ginn is experimenting with some really fantastic electronic stuff. He and his electronic setup The Royal We will be hosting Bar Bar on Tuesday night, June 26th, at 9 PM (he’ll likely be on closer to 11 – since it’s a school night for all of us older kids). local openers Faces Under the Mirror will start up around 10.

These new songs are long (most seem to clock in above the 8-minute range), droning meditations that still carry the root of Ginn’s Coltrane-esque aesthetic. Whereas the Black Flag tunes had a sense of nihilist urgency to them (if that even goes together, it’s in Black Flag music that you’ll find that paradox), his electronic meanderings portray a calmer, more fluid and passive feel. But they never feel the least bit dishonest or masturbatory (something a little too easy to fall into in the electronic arena. Get out to Bar Bar and check this one out – if not to see the next step of evolution for one of Punk Rock’s most important figures, then to groove into these soundscapes and lose your mind again for a while.

More to come later this week…

There’s simply too much to cover in one missive here, so be sure and check back later int he week to see more additions to our list of what to do in the first weeks of summer. Hint: UMS, anyone?

 

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  • Billy Thieme

    Aging punk rocker with a deep of all things musical and artistic, enough to remain constantly young and perpetually mystified. Billy has journalistic dreams, but of a decidedly pastoral, Scottish nature.