Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Summer Maxwell's Mania
That guy from Jersey City who is nestled comfortably between Trio and Triumph The Insult Comic Dog in my iTunes library is swearing that this Saturday, July 2 at Maxwell's will be the last time he plays out until the fall. Hmmm, we've heard that sort of talk before, Tris—not that we're complaining about you gracing us with another local show. This'll be another "very special episode" of the Tris McCall Show, with local rockers Cropduster (now actually known as The Brokedowns) backing him up instead of his standard big band. Sure to be the most balls-out rockin' Tris show you'll ever experience.
Saturday's show is also another one of Andy Gesner's Artist Amplification events. Andy is a longtime supporter of the Jersey scene whose shows and compilation CDs have featured a who's who of cool Jersey rockers. For this edition of Artist Amp Live, in addition to TrisDuster, Mike Tichy is playing. Tichy's narrative style is radically different from The Mooney Suzuki, the NYC garage punkers for whom he played bass in their pre-Matrix days. (I'm not dissing The Matrix, merely explaining.) I saw Mr. Tichy do a fine set at The Goldhawk in early 2004. We talked for a few minutes that night, and the guy couldn't have been nicer. Rounding out the bill are Skyline Rodeo and Meet Me In Montauk.
Jim Testa and his legendary Jersey rock zine Jersey Beat are also putting on a big show at Maxwell's on Thursday, July 21. The most rockin' Secaucans I've ever seen, The Wrens, will headline, so you know it will sell out. Also playing are The Milwaukees, who I saw once at The Budapest in New Brunswick sometime in the late '90s, and The Amber Jets. The show is $10, and it's a Jersey Beat benefit. It's all ages, and tickets are available at the usual Maxwell's sources: Tunes (225 Washington Street in Hoboken, no website), Other Music, and Ticketweb.
And check out Testa's priceless rant about CBGB, which Gawker picked up, thanks to the eternally vigilant Señor Snitch.
Other Maxwell's hotness in the next couple weeks:
Tuesday, July 5: The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, Ribeye Brothers
Rockin' Swedes I've never seen live before, and stompin' swamp rockers including some Monster Magnet guys who rocked the back room a couple months ago.
Wednesday, July 6: Barbiana Complex
I'm not going to come up with a better concise description of this Hoboken band than Chuck Eddy of The Village Voice, so I defer to him: "Thick, sprawling, psychedelic fuzz-goth with an echoing, incoherently poetic but still rather gripping Sugarcubish female voice up front."
Thursday, July 7: Bettie Serveert
Go Dutch.
Tuesday, July 12: The Spinto Band
As recently hyped by Sarah "Ultragrrrl" Lewitinn, which means they'll probably be huge in a few months.
Thursday, July 14: Dungen
Already sold out—glad I already bought my tix to see the Swedish rock wünderkind.
Friday, July 15: Holly Golightly, The Woggles
I've seen both at this venue before; I was bored by the former, awed by the latter.
The club seems to be in the final stages of its recent external facelift. Not sure how I feel about the words "bar" and "grill" on either side of the club's name, but both are technically accurate. More fitting words would simply be "rock" and "roll." I'll try to snap a pic of the new facade and get it up here soon. In the meantime, go rock there.
