Dirty water

The River City Tanlines may have one of the stranger band names about, but their scrappy Joan Jett-meets-the-Nils-on-meth rock racket is a wicked treat. They didn't have an opening act for their Dominion show Nov. 9 (contrary to my "mystery opener" blather) - they just hit the stage at 10:30, rocked for about an hour and walloped out their set in tough chunks of rocket fuel rock'n'roll, breaking only for Alicja Trout to introduce the songs. The only hitches - bass player T-Money's vocals seemed to be either way down or missing entirely from the PA mix, and there was a longer than usual pre-encore break to deal with technical difficulties.

Alicja Trout is a frenetic and fierce guitarist - and does she look good in purple!



Terrence "T-Money" Bishop bends it.



John "Bubba" Bonds hits it.



And now, some more Alicja pictures!



There was a hockey game on the telly, as per usual ...



She was bouncing and shaking all about. She really is a wired live performer.



More Trout and T-Money!



Memphis rock action!



Considering the short notice and Wednesday night, the crowd was pretty good. I picked up the band's new CD on Dirtnap, which compiles their singles to date with a few extras, and it's cool.

• Show reminder: A busy night, with assorted oddities - Mad Happy, zef noi$e, the always-entertaining B.A. Johnston and Ladymilk - at the Avant-Garde Bar; Maximum RnR and Sack Lunch at Zaphods; The Soirée, The Golden Seals and The Soft Disaster at Irene's; finally Union Made, Final Four, The Rookers and The Sewer Rats play a Canadian Legion benefit at The Dominion Tavern.