Gold blade

I foolishly forgot to go to the CKCU 30th anniversary show Nov. 18 a half-hour earlier than I played, and literally raced down the stairs as The Golden Famile played the last few bars of their closing number. Just enough time to snap pictures of Darrell Angus and Casey Comeau.

Okay, you can sort of make out Ryan Hough in this picture of Darrell ...



I think Casey should trademark her tattoo.



Anyway, they sounded darn fine for the 30 or so seconds I heard. Up next were The Weapons of Mass Seduction, who put on a great show. I think Jake Heartbreak was extra antic and The Duke sounded great on his new Danelectro.

Here's Jake!



Here's The Duke!



Here's Bill - who pointed out that Barrymore's backdrop was looking a lot like Bumpers' (RIP) stage setup.



Jake twists between shouts ...



... jumping off Bill's bass drum.



When Stephen Harper becomes prime minister, this sort of thing will not be allowed!



Nor will this!



Seductive rock action!



Photographer-biting action! Maybe Aaron Mackenzie Fraser will put the close-up on his swanky website.



Jake goes down!



The trio ended with an a capella version of Up Jumped The Devil.



This was the band's best show yet, I think. Some people in the audience were playing air guitar - I think they were joking, but it still has to count for something, right?

• Show reminder: Clark and Nathan Coles Outfit perform at Zaphod's.

In the flesh

Ah, the mighty Fleshtones! They had their genesis parallel to the NYC punk scene, and have been high-kicking their way across stages ever since. They still have 75% of their original lineup (longtime bass player Keith Fox joined vocalist Pete Zaremba, guitarist Keith Streng and drummer Bill Milhizer for 1992's Powerstance). They covered Led Zep's Communication Breakdown as well as The Troggs' You Look Like A Woman.

Your Fleshtones, in a very rare moment of repose.



Zaremba prepares to lead the boys into the audience.



It's not a Fleshtones show without Strengarobics!



Bill sings! This was one night where he didn't bring his tom out into the audience; at their Dominion show they all went out into the street to grab some extra show-goers.



Keith bends it.



Zaremba kicks out the jams! (While playing his Farfisa simultaneously, of course!)



Streng and Fox pull the old you-play-mine, I'll-play-yours trick, also much loved by The Sadies, though the latter don't do 360 degree turns at the same time.



Just how hardworking are the Fleshtones? They also adjust their own lighting!



To the bar!



Some dual percussion action.



Keith Streng has magic shoes for jumping.



Okay, now it's time to run around in the audience!



Bass action!



More Fleshtones rock action!



Audience dance action!



Back to the bar!



Take it to the bridge!



Proteus on stage!



The turnout was decent, but a lot of people missed a killer show.

• Show reminder: Blackball, Nothing Comes to Mind, Moonlit and Meracus play a free show at Zaphod's.

Glad to be back

I was searching through the voluminous National Capital Rock archives for pictures of the last Glads show, only to find there wasn't one - or at least, not a contemporaneous account. The only gig they've played since I started NCR up was at Zaphod's April 8, and I missed that since I went to see Big Jeezus Truck instead. The band went on a summer hiatus while frontman Patrick Shanks recovered from a broken arm, so there's been a drought of Glads-related activity. But the band was back with a bang opening for The Fleshtones at Babylon.



"Merle Knurling couldn't be here tonight, so here's a cover of one of his songs."



Tim on drums.



Jim and Nathaniel rock on out.



More Glads rock action!



Jim sings!



Unlike other bands that only have music, stickers, shirts and buttons, The Glads had a kissing booth - with a very dedicated staff.



Hooray for The Glads!



The Glads' next show is at Irene's with Last Voice Heard and Harshey Dec. 3.

There can be only one

The Immortal Lee County Killers put on a typically amazing show, more than making up for the unfortunate absence of Thee Shams. R.L. Burnside's Going Down South and a Jerry Lee Lewis- Pink Floyd medley came near the end of the show, along with an a cappela version of Leadbelly's Ain't Goin' Down To the Well No More courtesy of J.R. (who also sang a couple of other tunes, including Bob Dylan's Don't Think Twice It's All Right and his own composition about Mick Jagger's moves). Sonic Angel and tunes dedicated to folks like Robert Johnson and cool drivers also featured.

Cheetah sings the blues, Tolku the Drifter drums, and my camera flash eradicates their backdrop projection.



The Rev. John Wesley Meyers ... so that's what he looks like under the hair!



The Drifter preps for his lounge act.



Great jumpin' cats!



Smoking fingers.



Some one-handed drumming from Tennessee's biggest Trailer Park Boys fan.



And that scintillating backdrop.



It doesn't seem so long since their show at Irene's during Bluesfest (also great, of course) ... that's because they're so memorable, I guess.

• Show reminder: Rhume, The John Henrys and The Empiricals help CKCU celebrate its 30th anniversary. The Pop Shove Its return, along with The Double Pumpers and Paperjack at Babylon.

Radio, radio

I had planned to post on The Immortal Lee County Killers' excellent Monday show, but while I have enough photos to round out a post, the fact is there's a bunch of stuff still at the photo lab so you're just going to have to wait. As a teaser, here's a picture of Chetley "Cheetah" Weise in mid-blues-karate-kick jump.



Also at the developers: Hot Glads action, hot Fleshtones action, and even hot girl-on-girl action! And now on to the real business at hand: CKCU's 30th anniversary. The Black Keys, soul-shouter Nathaniel Mayer, local garage crunchers Weapons of Mass Seduction and back porch magi The Golden Famile will perform at Barrymore's in celebration of this momentous event (on Saturday, rock-pop mavericks Rhume, country rockers The John Henrys and sophisticated stars of surf and screen The Empiricals will also celebrate said anniversary). Happy birthday, CKCU!

• Show reminder: Didn't buy a ticket to CKCU's 30th? Fortunately, there are other gigs about town ... I've seen some listings declare that Shalabi Effect and Daiquiri are playing Avant Garde Bar next week(?), but the weight of opinion- including the AvGab's own website - seems to lean toward a Nov. 18 date. That's tonight!

The late show

The Soiree finished up the night with more of the same intelligent pop as The Soft Disaster. Their tunes reminded me of Jim O'Rourke's pop output. They hope to have a recording out in the spring.



Mike Armstrong is the newest member; he plays guitar most of the time, bass (as you can see) and some piano on the album. There was no piano to be had so he just used a shaker.



Matthew Arnold also plays bass and guitar, along with some singing.



Eric Roberts drums.



Lastly, Bryce Colebrander, sings, plays guitar and bass ... lot of that going around.



Singalong action!



Pop action!



Bryce shows off the rock moves.



They're playing this very evening (Wednesday, Nov. 16 for those of you tuning in late) at The Aloha Room.

• Show reminder: The Fleshtones and The Glads play Babylon tonight. The Fleshtones put on amazing sets at Bluesfest 2003 and The Dominion and no doubt shall do so again. Cancer Bats, This Is Hell, Disco Tigers, Contra and other bands play Cafe DeKcuf.