Once Gonerfest hits its first full day, as Gonerfest 20 did yesterday, pacing is everything. Is this not what the immortal Keith Richards taught us? (Keith’s other bit of advice? “Always insist on medical grade product…”). And one could not possibly see all the bands present. Yet, all pacing aside, there was a large turnout for the day’s opener, Memphis’ own Optic Sink. We took a deep dive into that group’s new album earlier this week. Now it was time to hear how it would translate to the stage.
Optic Sink (Credit: Alex Greene)
A host of fans were curious, braving the blazing sun to see their 1:30 p.m. set. And while many lingered on the peripheries of Railgarten, clinging to the shade, just as many stood defiantly in the open area before the stage, just to see this one-of-a-kind band up close. And it was clear they were knocked out.
With Keith Cooper added on bass, the group has ramped up their stage energy considerably. Also contributing to this was Natalie Hoffmann’s increasing use of guitar in Optic Sink. And Ben Bauermeister’s increasingly imaginative drum programming ties it all together. As Hoffman alternately strummed or played synth, the rhythms marched on. And the crowd was primed for dancing, doing the Ratchet, the Twitch, and the Energizer Bunny as they baked in the sun.
Other bands kept them moving, and from that point on it was clearly “Aussie Day” at Gonerfest, with Vintage Crop, 1-800-Mikey, Tee Vee Repairmann, C.O.F.F.I.N., and Civic all hailing from Down Under. Many raved about 1-800-Mikey, but for my money Tee Vee Repairmann was the afternoon’s real shot in the arm. Both brought an intoxicating pop sensibility to their punkish underpinnings, but it was the latter band that has “hooks a mile wide,” as the Gonerfest program guide notes.
C.O.F.F.I.N. and Civic, meanwhile, demonstrated the heavier side of Down Under. I sat with friends as the former band played, parsing out their influences. “There’s clearly some AC/DC going on there,” said one. “Yeah, but I hear a bit of Southern Rock in their riffs,” said another. Both were right, as the band, sometimes verging on hardcore, steamrolled all over us. The raw power went to our heads, or was it Memphis Made’s special Golden Pass Gonerfest brew?
The day was not without its hiccups. After a captivating start, local post-punk heroes Ibex Clone were only able to play six songs or so, after which singer Alec McIntire was heard telling the band his voice was shot. Furthermore, the Skull Practitioners were delayed in even getting to town, hailing as they do from that land of sudden flooding, New York City. This left a hole in the afternoon lineup, gamely taken up by the New Memphis Legs, featuring Goner’s own Eric Friedl. Though they were more of a presence a decade ago, it clearly came back to them like riding a bike — a very noisy one.
Sweeping Promises (Credit: Alex Greene)
By the time Sweeping Promises appeared, after much buzz and anticipation, the crowd was pressed up to the stage, and their sparse, dynamic drive with hints of angular melody and otherworldly vocals from singer Lira Mondal drove everyone mad. With one of the most identifiable sounds in in recent memory, echoing the odd niche that Lene Lovich occupied many decades ago, they were also incredibly propulsive after extensive touring recently. Caufield Schnug’s guitar lines were thin and reedy, a perfect complement to Mondal’s overdriven bass. A power trio, yes, but not in the conventional sense.
For a power trio with an emphasis on power, one needed look no further than the delayed set by Skull Practitioners. With current Dream Syndicate guitarist Jason Victor backed by only bass and drums, they managed to conjure up the biggest sound of the night, specializing in heavy rock with some tasty feedback-swathed soloing from Victory. Between songs, Victor was so amiable that you could have introduced him to your mother, expressing gratitude that their delayed flight had not squelched their Gonerfest dreams, but only deferred them to a later, shorter slot before the evening’s headliner.
That, of course, was The Gories. As emcee Dane Perugini said in his introduction, “If you don’t know who they are, what the fuck are you doing here?” As the group took the stage, Mick Collins, Danny Kroha, and Peg O’Neil were not as jittery as they were when they first played the Antenna Club over 30 years ago, with reunion shows making consummate professionals out of these erstwhile garage-dwelling guttersnipes, but the same energy was there once they launched into “Going to the River.” The two guitars over O’Neil’s soulful thumping hit the crowd like a cool breeze. The sonic palette of the group was far more minimalist and blues-based than many of the heavier rock bands of the day, but the interplay between the three was so perfect as to galvanize the audience. The lust-fueled “Queenie,” with its manic, screamed chorus, was a highlight.
“It’s been 13 years since we played Gonerfest,” quipped Kroha, expressing the band’s love of Memphis, instilled when they came down in the spring of 1990 to work with producer Alex Chilton. But they made it clear that they were proud Detroiters, and saluted the Keggs, a much-loved ’60s group “from the wild suburbs of Detroit,” as Kroha put it. “We’ve got a nice little Detroit contingent down here,” he went on. “Toledo is also represented — the Great Lakes states!”
The Gories (Credit: Alex Greene)
Meanwhile, Collins was fiddling with his guitar, which he clawed at through the night like a feral cat. “Man, this thing is still in tune,” he exclaimed. “Incredible! For us it is…”
Decadent bourgeois concepts like tuning mattered little as the band launched into one classic after another, and not only their own classics. They made covers of Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, and the Keggs their own, combining the looseness of the blues with the attack of a Motor City V8 engine. Kroha even rocked a mean blues harp for one number. But it was their cover of Suicide’s “Ghostrider” that brought the house down, as Collins screamed “America, America is killing its youth!” to the wildly gyrating crowd. It culminated in one of the greatest feedback-drenched guitar solos ever heard on a Gonerfest stage. The amp and guitar seemed glued to Collins’ hands as if he was being electrocuted, while the gear at his command howled in protest. And then, all too soon, it was over. The midnight hour approached, the day was done, and as The Gories surveyed the battlefield, the audience before them scattered and slain under the harvest moon.
Standing around between bands during last night’s opening salvo of Gonerfest 20, I saw none other than Graham Burks walk by, decked out in headphones and other comm gear, toting a Sony Handycam. As part of a small army of camera operators making the Gonerfest 20 live stream happen, his exhilaration was contagious: he’d just shot an incendiary set by The Kids, who were clearly not phased by having to play borrowed instruments.
The Kids (Credit: Sara Moseley)
“You bastard!” sang front man Ludo Mariman on “Fascist Cops,” a prescient clarion call the Belgian band released in 1978. The band was hitting on all cylinders last night and conjured up that first wave of punk as if it were yesterday. And Burks, having been in the heart of the action as the band played, was glowing like he’d been playing along himself.
Such exhilaration was common among the camera crew. Another of the videographers, Kim Lloyd, had just finished her shift after shooting the French/Swiss band Jack of Heart, who had a similar old-school punk vibe, with echoes of hardcore but still loose enough to pull off a roaring cover of “You’re Out of Time” by the Rolling Stones. Though discharged from her duties for the rest of the night, Lloyd exclaimed “I don’t want to quit! What a rush!” It’s the next best thing to actually playing in a band at Gonerfest.
Live video production headquarters at Gonerfest 20 (Credit: Chris McCoy)
But when I saw Burks, it was obvious that he was not done, nor was the night. “The next band is going to be wild!” he exclaimed with a manic grin moving back to his post onstage. And he wasn’t lying: next up were Osees, aka Orinoka Crash Suite (1997–2003), OCS (2003–2005, 2017), Orange County Sound (2005), The Ohsees (2006), Thee Oh Sees (2006–2017), and Oh Sees (2017–2019). Their reputation as one of the most explosive bands of the last quarter century clearly preceded them, and they did not disappoint.
But they didn’t quite bring the frenzy from the start, opting to start their set with a sonic wash of noise until the beat kicked in with a vengeance. Featuring two drummers, bass, and synth/second guitar backing guitarist and lead singer John Dwyer, the band is a steamroller that blends punk, psychedelic post-punk, and even hints of guttural death metal. There were plenty of pogo-worthy moments, as the mosh pit made clear, but also slower, stop-time beats that allowed plenty of space for the guitar crunch to hang in the air.
Many flipped birds also hung in the air, as Dwyer saluted the crowd with them repeatedly, always receiving them in return with aplomb. “This one’s for you mom!” he shouted with a jeer, before stepping back and saying sincerely, “Seriously, this one goes out to your mother…”
A barefoot John Dwyer (guitar) with drummers Paul Quattrone and Dan Rincon, (right) and keyboardist Tomas Dolas (left) of Osees (Credit: Sara Moseley)
But he also showed Memphis some love. “This one’s for the Oblivians!” he said before unleashing a volley of solo guitar noise. Apparently, the noise was a little off: he stopped mid-riff and announced “I fucked up!” before launching the tune again. Later he quipped, “We’re one and a half months into a tour…and we’re only getting worse!”
Not that he came off as the humble type. Indeed, Dwyer’s mix of bravado and self-disdain perfectly complemented the pounding machine of the band, who also sported some intricate arrangements and varied textures thanks to the telepathic interplay between Dwyer and synth wiz Tomas Dolas, even as the front phalanx of dual drummers (Paul Quattrone and Dan Rincon) and bass (Tim Hellman) propelled them onward. As it turned out, the Gonerfest program guide was not far off in noting what to expect: “Full mania. The biggest act of the fest!”
Laundry Bats (Credit: Alex Greene)
They were the capstone to an evening that began on a more local note with Memphis’ latest supergroup, Laundry Bats, led by erstwhile Manatees member Abe White “in inimitable Abe-Style,” as Goner’s guide notes. Singing his own songs and playing guitar, he was backed by an enviable collection of superfriends: Jack Oblivian on drums, Alicja Trout on guitar, and Greg Cartwright on bass. Together, they unleashed scratchy twin-guitar rock that harked back to the Golden Age of the Antenna Club. Though all are seasoned pros by now, they exuded a youthful enthusiasm, especially as Cartwright and Jack Oblivian locked down the rhythm. “I’ve never played bass in a band before,” noted Cartwright after their set. “It’s fun!”
Alien Nosejob, the solo project of Ausmuteants’ Jake Robertson, then brought a unique mix of pop-punk that chugged along like a locomotive covered in graffiti. By then the audience had filled in and the crowd surfing had begun. As the night progressed, that and the moshing would gain momentum in the zone in front of the stage, even as hundreds pushed in from the peripheries of Railgarten to get that much closer to the intoxicating sounds.
Inez McLain of Exbats (Credit: Sara Moseley)
By the time Exbats took the stage, it appeared to be the most well-attended Gonerfest in history. The love Memphians have developed for this Arizona band since they appeared at Gonerfest 18 was palpable. Their perfectly minimalist ’60s pop songs by drummer Inez McLain, accompanied by her dad Kenny McLain on guitar, with the bassist and second guitarist chiming in “oohs” and “ahhs” in the background, was like a breath of fresh air. And this fresh air had hundreds of fans dancing and pressing ever-closer to the stage. In the slightly steamy evening, that was the whole night in a nutshell: an audience made up of superfans, hanging on every note, shaking, grinding, and slamming to the beat, thrilling to the freaky harmonies. Gonerfest 20 had begun.
Craft beer changed here in 2013 — and it changed Memphis.
Drinking local a decade ago gave Memphis beer fans two choices: a trip to Boscos or picking up a sixer of Ghost River Golden.
However, that year, 2013, promised to be a watershed, flowing rivers of local beers and new styles to the Memphis market. That promise was delivered.
“Within the next year,” the Flyer’s Hannah Sayle wrote in April 2013, “Memphis will have three new craft breweries.”
And it did. By year’s end, Wiseacre, Memphis Made, and High Cotton began production, raising the total local beer sources to five. This changed the craft beer game in Memphis. This first rush of local breweries opened a gate — but not a floodgate, exactly — to more brands and breweries here. It all led the way to triple the total local beer sources to 15 in 2023.
The 2013 beer boom was good news for the curious craft quaffer. But local beer’s rising tide raised many other boats. It has brought new opportunities for business and development, new tourist experiences, new ways to build community, and new ways to celebrate the city.
“When Wiseacre, High Cotton, and Memphis Made opened that year, that really launched a new era of craft beer in Memphis and paved the way for the vibrant scene that we have now,” Mike Erskine, founder and author of the Memphis Beer Blog, told the Flyer earlier this year. “Prior to 2013 for fans of craft beer, what you could buy in Memphis was really limited. Back then you might head to Walgreens in West Memphis to get beers that are not sold in Memphis. You might travel to Nashville and bring home beers from breweries that didn’t distribute in Memphis.
“So when those three breweries opened in 2013, there was a shift, and all of a sudden you had options for a good, local beer.”
Ghost River and Boscos were well-established in 2013. The Flying Saucer had poured craft styles from other markets since 1997. And other entrepreneurs had stabbed at (and missed) bringing local craft here before. Here’s how Sayle explained it in her 2013 Flyer story:
“Craft brewing entered the Memphis scene in the mid-1990s, when the first Boscos brewery and some other, less successful brewpubs opened around town. Chuck Skypeck [then] of Boscos and Ghost River Brewing Co. recalls a brewery in the old Greyhound station on Union Avenue, a chain brewpub on Winchester called Hops, and the Breckenridge Brewery above what is now The Majestic Grille, which still [at the time housed] all the old brewing equipment. Aside from Boscos, none of these brewpubs lasted more than a few years.
“In the mid-’90s, homebrewing hobbyists and beer nerds, whom Skypeck refers to as ‘old guys with beards,’ were determined to create an alternative to the big brewing industry: Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors. The enterprising ones among them opened brewpubs, assuming the quality product would drive demand and a market for craft beers would build up around them.
“‘The younger consumer was drawn to Smirnoff Ice and flavored malt beverages and froufrou cocktails,’ Skypeck says. ‘I told people that craft beer has to attract the 21-to-25-year-old, or it’s not going to go anywhere. The sea change that’s made craft beer grow now is that the younger consumer is now on board.’”
Cans of Wiseacre’s Tiny Bomb (Photo: Wiseacre Brewing Co.)
Millennials and Memphis Pride
They were and still are. You can tell that by having a look around a local taproom. Much credit is heaped on millennials for craft beer’s rise. For proof, look at a market research paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research, “Millennials and the Take-Off of Craft Brands.”
“Millennials buy more craft beer than earlier generations,” reads the paper. “This shift in preference could overturn a nearly century-old structure dominated by a small number of national brands.”
In 2018, the Brewers Association said the huge millennial generation accounted for more than half (55 percent) of craft beer drinkers. They were willing to try new things, polls found, but they were also attracted to the authenticity of locally made beers over the mass-produced stuff still largely favored by baby boomers.
Young people also loved where they lived and — as the urbanist adage goes — they wanted to “live where they lived.” In the early 2010s, a swell of civic pride gripped cities all over the U.S. Memphis was no different; just look to the Choose901 T-shirt catalog for proof.
Holly Whitfield fueled the I Love Memphis Blog for nearly a decade before helming the digital team at The Daily Memphian in February. The first story she worked on for the Memphis Tourism blog was about the opening of Wiseacre’s Broad Avenue taproom in September 2013. So while she had a front-row seat to beer and city pride for a long time, the movement was “about more than beer.”
“Breweries started serving as community gathering places, venues that can host other kinds of events like comedy shows, markets with Memphis artists, concerts with Memphis music, fundraisers — so, a gathering place for other aspects of culture,” Whitfield said. “They’re family-friendly, and casual, too.
“[Craft beer is] a local product with a local flair. The branding for a lot of breweries is locally flavored.
“Also, craft beer had been thriving in other places for a while so for Memphis to sort of finally have arrived and have our own scene, I think people were proud and happy about that.”
Younger drinkers and their love for the city helped push Memphis craft beer’s success forward. In turn, local beer helped forge a new Memphis identity and breathed new life into some dormant and sometimes “spooky” urban spaces.
Sips ahoy at Memphis Brewfest (Photo: Memphis Brewfest)
Building with Beer
Urban planners might not have predicted that local beers and places to drink them could become building blocks to transform the city. But they did. The New York Times wrapped this idea up in a 2018 story headlined, “From Blight to Bright Lights in Memphis.”
“In a city long known for its crime problem, increased local efforts have transformed blighted areas into buzzy social hot spots, attracting tourists along the way,” reads the subheading. The story referenced Loflin Yard, Railgarten, Broad Avenue, the Tennessee Brewery, Rec Room, and more. All of them — in one way or another — were reactivated spaces because creative planners and developers gave Memphians a reason to go there, and many times that reason was to drink a local beer.
One sultry summer afternoon in 2014, the late Tommy Pacello looked around the packed courtyard of the once-crumbling, then-vibrant Tennessee Brewery and said, “It’s amazing what some string lights and a few kegs of beer can do.” The Tennessee Brewery Untapped event, which centered on a beer garden with local craft beer, drew thousands to the old building that spring and summer. For many, it was the first time they’d seen the building in years. For some, it was the first time ever.
We know now the brewery was saved from the wrecking ball, underwent a multi-million-dollar renovation, and is now the home of upscale apartments. Did Memphis craft beer save the building? Not on its own, of course. But it did draw people to the spot in a way that, say, local ice cream probably might not have.
It’s the same story with Loflin Yard and the south end of South Main. Overgrown and abandoned (save for carriage horses and their stables), the former safe and lock shop was an unlikely destination for anyone, local or tourist. But that changed in 2016 when visionaries reimagined the yard, its barn, and office as a hangout magnet with a laid-back yard, live music, and, of course, local craft beer.
“When I was in high school, I never would’ve thought in a million years that Florida and Carolina and Georgia would be a residential area,” Josh Whitehead, former director of the Memphis and Shelby County Office of Planning and Development, told the Flyer in 2016. “It was one-story, kind-of-cool brick warehouses. But at night, it was, you know, spooky. The street lights were always out, and it was all these dark brick warehouses from a thousand years ago.”
Loflin Yard gave people a new place to go. Local craft beer gave them something to do there. Again, beer didn’t do it alone. But it’s an important ingredient in the special sauce.
Pacello agreed. In 2013, he was part of the Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team. He later led the Memphis Medical District Collaborative. Pacello passed away in 2020. But he’s well remembered as one of the brightest, happiest advocates of Memphis, always finding ways to make it better through urban planning and development.
“There are lots of examples of craft breweries being urban pioneers and becoming an anchor for neighborhoods, especially if they have restaurants or taprooms associated with them,” Pacello told Sayle for her 2013 story. “They help activate the streets and become gathering spots for the neighborhood. Like how Boscos was a pioneer in Overton Square.
“All three of them [Memphis Made, High Cotton, and Wiseacre] have these common patterns. They’ve chosen core city neighborhoods, the key being neighborhoods. They’re not choosing to be buried in an industrial park. It’s a key part of revitalization. Is it a silver bullet? Probably not. But it’s definitely a key part.”
Memphis craft breweries are still creating destinations. They’ve opened their taps in different parts of town, giving even more people even more places to go, and something to do when they get there.
Eric Bourgeois is the marketing director for Packed House, the local-craft-beer-friendly parent company for Bardog Tavern, Slider Inn, Momma’s, and Aldo’s Pizza Pies. His company is a presenting sponsor of Memphis Brewfest, set for September 16th at the Memphis Sports & Events Center.
On a recent call, Bourgeois referenced a Memphis beer map in his brain to point to Ghost River on South Main, High Cotton in The Edge, Grind City in the Snuff District, Soul & Spirits in Uptown, Wiseacre’s OG Broad Avenue location, and Memphis Made in Midtown.
“They’re creating all these different nodes and attractions for people to get out and experience local beer and, maybe, see a part of the city they hadn’t explored before,” he said. “From there, it branches out to the nearby retail and restaurant spots, a lot of which are partnered with those breweries. It’s a good synergy for everyone involved.”
All of this has helped to shape Memphis’ modern identity. The new places to go and new things to do gave a sense of moving forward. It helped give Memphis a new, positive narrative, and that helped push civic pride.
Grind City beers and a seltzer (Photo: Grind City Brewing Co.)
Beercation?
It’s a thing. Google it. Nielsen Media Data said an average American had visited 2.1 local breweries while traveling in the last year.
The Memphis Tourism website has a dedicated craft beer page that brags “our artesian wells produce the crisp water that has been filtered for 2,000 years to help create some of the best craft beer in the world.” That famous Memphis water is soft, and brewers say that’s great to create just about any style of beer they want.
Memphis probably does not rank high on beer tourists’ bucket lists, but many tourists make pints a point once they get here. Memphis Tourism even offers tourists a special Hop Stops program with directions to and descriptions of local breweries.
But Stephen Guenther’s company removes that step and takes beercationers directly to the breweries on the Memphis Brew Bus. It’s an example of at least one new business that began around the city’s craft scene. Every Saturday, tourists load up on the bus for a three-and-a-half-hour-long tour of three Memphis breweries.
“It just really fit a certain class of traveler, like epicurean people who travel for food,” Guenther said of the tourists who board the Brew Bus looking for local craft beer. “[Craft beer] expanded our overall attractiveness to folks coming in. There’s just one more thing to do, especially when it’s hot here. When you can spend a Saturday afternoon with a cold beer on an air-conditioned bus; that’s a pretty good day.”
More sips and suds at Memphis Brewfest (Photo: Memphis Brewfest)
Where to?
Memphis craft beer has come a long way in the last 10 years. But there is room to go further, some say.
A few years ago, Kyle Johnson, an avid craft fan, moved to Memphis from Atlanta, a city with “an incredible brewery scene and overall beer scene” jammed with brewpubs and beer bars. He’s come across many beers here that are just “forgettable,” he said, and beer bars do too little marketing to make the scene seem fresh and exciting.
Breweries here, Johnson said, either have all the same stuff to appease many tastes, or they brew to the tastes of the brewers with little regard for the market. Either way, Johnson hopes Memphis breweries will take more chances down the road.
“More people are coming through this city either via tourism or just moving here in general, and a lot of them have experienced other cities,” Johnson said. “If you take a chance and try something new or possibly ‘out of the norm’ for Memphis, you might be surprised that it’s what the crowds are craving.”
There’s another national craft beer trend that vexes industry insiders and makes outsiders roll their eyes at craft as a “white person thing:” racial diversity. It’s a nationwide issue but is easily seen in Memphis. Just have a look around many local taprooms.
The latest study (in 2018) by the Brewers Association, the industry group for small and independent brewers, showed that more than 85 percent of craft drinkers were white. Minority groups made up the rest, and while that was an increase, it wasn’t enough.
“Given that only 68.7 percent of the 21+ U.S. population is non-Hispanic white, that’s not progress,” the study said. “Minority craft drinkers are growing, but only because the total population of craft drinkers is growing, not because craft drinkers are getting more diverse along racial lines.”
What’s Ahead?
In our 2013 beer story, Sayle called Skypeck “the godfather of craft brewing in Memphis.” He left Memphis that year for a job with the National Brewers Association group.
While he’s not current on the Memphis beer scene, he said he’s seeing the craft beer industry leveling off. Brewers, like many other businesses, are facing the headwinds of inflation. For example, the costs of malt and cans rose by 40 percent recently, he said. This could mean Memphis might not see many new breweries soon.
But Skypeck said the leveling off could just be a market cycle as craft beer competes with other products like hard seltzers, flavored malt beverages, and, now, ready-to-drink cocktails. But, Skypeck said, “Those things come and go, and craft beer always stays.”
In his 30 years in the craft beer business, Skypeck said he’s heard many ring the death knell for his industry, especially when a high-profile brewery closes.
“How many times do you see a high-profile restaurant close and people say it’s the end of dining out?” he asked.
You might not expect to hear a host of original tunes at a tribute show, but David Higgins feels it’s a necessary part of the upcoming Railgarten event, Forever Loving Marley, on Saturday, February 4th.
“We incorporate our originals within the traditional Bob Marley songs. All the artists are going to be doing that at the show,” says Higgins, the guitarist for headliner Chinese Connection Dub Embassy (CCDE). Not only does he see it as being in the spirit of Marley’s creativity, he’s itching to perform the songs of the reggae band live again after several years of upheaval.
For both David and his brother Joseph, who plays keyboards in the group, the worst upheaval imaginable was losing their brother Omar in the spring of 2019, age 37, after he suffered a stroke and a staph infection. Throw in the pandemic, and it’s a miracle that CCDE made any music at all in recent years, especially given that Omar was the founder and driving force of the band. And yet they did, releasing the excellent Crew Vibez album, which marked a shift in their sound, mixing traditional reggae with hip-hop and dancehall. Still, there have been precious few live shows since Omar’s death.
Joseph and David Higgins of Chinese Connection Dub Embassy (Photo: Antonio Hobson)
“We’re gonna put our best foot forward with this music,” says Joseph. “It’s almost like we’re rebranding everything. Without Omar, we’ve had to start from scratch with a lot of stuff. This is the first official show of ours this year. What better way to kick off 2023 than with some positive, good vibes?”
And, as noted, original music. If any band has earned the right to put their own songs side by side with those of Marley, it’s CCDE. “I won’t be bought, I won’t be sold/We will decide how our story’s told,” they sing on “Dem A Callin’ (Flodgin),” and the band is deciding how their new tale will be told even now. Part of that means recapturing their initial approach to reggae.
“Crew Vibez was something nobody had ever heard from us, really,” says David. “And they loved it. We got invited to Afro Punk [Festival] and other places. So we want to continue that sound, but we’ve got to put the live instrumentation in it, too. Our sound is not going to be so digital.”
But the Higgins brothers stress that the Marley tribute is about more than CCDE; several other artists will be performing, including cameos from Kween Jasira and dancehall artist I-Sypha during CCDE’s set. And JParris from the Virgin Islands will bring his band, Carib Vibes, for some authentic Caribbean spirit. But, as David notes, the event will already have plenty of that. “When we do these Marley tributes, it doesn’t even feel like we’re in the Railgarten because we try to put that whole island aesthetic into the look, the sound, everything. From lights to palm trees and tapestries.”
Beyond that, there will be plenty of other local groups mixing Marley with their magic, including Yubu & the Ancient Youth, Black Cream, and Moses Crouch.
Meanwhile, David Higgins is deeply involved in Omar’s other musical legacy, the celebrated hardcore group known as Negro Terror. Given that their popularity once outstripped that of CCDE, carrying the torch of Negro Terror forward has been the greater burden for David, who always played guitar in the group, but now carries the extra duties of front man. But he wants people to know that Negro Terror will live on.
“People want product, product, product, and I felt like I left the fans in the dark,” David says of the time after his brother’s death. “I couldn’t respond to them because we were going through so much in the pandemic, and health-wise personally, I was going through a lot. But I never wanted to stop the band. I want all his projects to continue, especially CCDE and Negro Terror. I want them to keep growing, and I’m in the process of starting Negro Terror up again. I want to tell the fans, ‘Hey, it’s going on, guys! Calm down!’ Not only are you going to get the unreleased material; you’re going to get two new records that we’ve already started working on. With y’all’s support, we can get together and make some new memories, and keep the legacy going in a whole other way. That’s the goal, that’s the dream.”
PreauXX (R) joins AWFM (L) onstage at Gonerfest 19. (Credit: Laura Jean Hocking)
“One thing about Gonerfest,” remarked an old friend who’s seen many of them in his day, “it always brings great drummers to town.” We were bobbing our heads to Nashville’s Snooper at the time, and their drummer was indeed distinctive, helping to elevate the crowd’s dancing to a climax last night.
That could be said of the whole band, of course. Imagine the Flying Lizards with Keith Moon guesting on drums, all buzzed on caffeine, and you’ll get close to the feel of Snooper. Pigtailed lead singer Blair Tramel hit the stage bouncing and leaping from the start, inspiring the audience to surge toward the stage as the mosh pit reached a boil.
Snooper (Photo courtesy Goner Records)
Yet the band was anything but standard-issue hardcore, instead combining that genre’s breakneck tempos and shouted choruses with an eerie sonic onslaught of two noise-weaving guitars, undergirded by a rhythm section akin to rolling thunder, topped by the warble of Tramel’s slightly processed voice and her occasional synth blasts. It was a sound at once trippy and energizing, as the band, largely dressed in workout windbreakers, matched Tramel’s energy leap for leap.
Snooper was a blur of movement at Gonerfest 19. (Credit: Laura Jean Hocking)
The tweaked reality of the band’s sound was augmented by the unheralded appearance of larger than life papier-mâché figures shuffling through the crowd. While not quite feeling theatrical, it was a subtle bit of world-building by the band, as they knocked our conventional world askew and replaced it with a more inspired reality of giant human flies and much more leaping.
Snooper’s larger-than-life puppets (Credit: Chris McCoy)
And yet Snooper weren’t even the closers. Instead, the final band was a beautiful puzzle that inspired swaying, twisting, and head tilting more than any mosh pit. Fred Lane and His Disheveled Monkeybiters brought a bold new approach to the classic Gonerfest closing set, bringing swing rhythms and alt-jazz chops to the festival for the first time. Ultimately, the bizarre left turn the evening took at the hands of Lane et al. was refreshingly unpredictable.
While the crowd eased up from the front of the stage a bit, the Disheveled Monkeybiters turned heads around the grounds of Railgarten, and got many up front moving, as the band alternated from tightly arranged swing stompers with riffs by the three horns, to the honks and growls of freakish free jazz. Presiding over it all with a kind of anti-charisma was Fred Lane, whose Dada-ist mutterings, non sequiturs, and scat singing ranged from the fiercely animated to the awkwardly reserved.
“In my ineptitude/I don’t really deserve to be alive,” crooned Lane, neatly summing up the dark self loathing lurking in his absurdist rants. It did not make for the classic barn-burning show closer that so many festivals offer. As if to extinguish such expectations, the tenor sax player stepped up to the mic and announced, “This is art!” And those of us who listened deeply to the chaos knew what he meant.
It was a set of extreme dynamics, most apparent in the closing moments of the show, when each band member mimicked their own death as they played shrieks of noise and rhythmic fusillades. How to follow that with an encore? Have Lane perform the a capella “Oatmeal,” of course. “I sailed the China seas/In my pajamas on a raft,” he sang whimsically. “I drift into the sewers/In a miner’s hat,” and then a few perfunctory squawks and honks from the band broke the quiet.
“Oh, what a glorious feeling/Oh, what a marvelous plight/To be numb beyond feeling/Senseless, without sight,” Lane’s voice returned, almost sotto voce, echoing in the glorious emptiness. It put a fine point on the group’s darkly humorous ethos, still oddly compelling over four decades after it was cooked up by Surrealist-friendly proto-punks in Tuscaloosa’s fringe art scene.
Incredibly, those two closing set weren’t even the highlight of the day for some Goner-goers. Many were still reeling from on-point afternoon performances by local favorites like Aquarian Blood or Sweet Knives. But the day’s local hero trophy must surely go to A Weirdo From Memphis (AWFM), whose set offered one surprise after another, always topping itself. Starting with the very diggable surprise of AWFM’s live backing band, showcasing the deep ranks of musical talent in the Unapologetic collective, the set accelerated when colleague PreauXX jumped onstage. It all culminated in AWFM’s use of a series of ladders to scale the box car-based stage structure, as he sang and spit rhymes from atop the venue’s giant retro sign, Roller SKATE For Health, towering over the ecstatic crowd.
A Weirdo From Memphis on the roof of the Railgarten stage at Gonerfest 19. (Credit: Laura Jean Hocking)
After that, Sydney, Australia’s Gee Tee gave the fans a rush of amped-up, old school punk with a tweaked edge, as if the young Clash had found a Casio in the dumpster. Their catchy set caused a dramatic upsurge in Gee Tee T-shirts as the night progressed. Then, seeming to go through the history of alternative music, Austin/Melbourne/New York-based Spray Paint took us into post-punk territory, as their twin guitars seemed to redefine harmony and dissonance, matched by the urgent shouts and wails of the singer. And, throughout the day, an added perk of a Railgarten-based Gonerfest became apparent. Through all the textures of guitar riffs, synths, and impassioned vocals, another sonic element was occasionally woven: the blare of the train horn, and the visceral rumble of heavy steel wheels on the rails. That screeching guitar feedback, those gut-rattling beats, all were coming home to the urban wall of noise from which they were born. Memphis AF, y’all.
Gangstagrass performs live at the Hifi Indy presented by IndyMojo Presents, MOKB Presents, Sun King Brewery, Kolman Dental, P.C., and Do317 in Indianapolis, Indiana on Wednesday, May 15, 2019. (Credit: Melodie Yvonne)
Making their way across the U.S. from the East Coast to the South, and then ending in the West, Gangstagrass will finally present their fifth studio album, No Time for Enemies, on their first official U.S. tour since 2020. This high-energy band is hyped-up to show live listeners what bluegrass hip hop music is made of. Coming to Memphis at Railgarten on March 17th, Gangstagrass will move Memphians to the beat of the banjo.
It all started with one man — Rench, vocalist and guitarist of Gangstagrass — and his vision to bring together a group of talented and well-rounded musicians. The band is now made up of five dedicated and synergetic band members based in Brooklyn, New York, and Philadelphia, who continue to prove that thinking “outside the box” can lead to some of the most impressive ideas. The multifaceted band fuses elements of hip hop’s strong beats and lyricism with the rhythmical and lively instrumentals of bluegrass music.
Gangstagrass spends time hanging in Fountain Square for a promo shoot. (Credit: Melodie Yvonne)
Each Gangstagrass member brings a unique set of skills and talents to the team: Rench (vocalist and guitarist), Dan Whitener (banjo) also known as “Danjo,” Brian Farrow (fiddle and vocals), R-Son the Voice of Reason (vocals), and Dolio the Sleuth (vocals).
“When people see or hear us, we want them to already know that they’re going to get quality,” says R-Son, the Voice of Reason, vocalist of Gangstagrass. It’s easy to judge a book by its cover, or in this case, see the name of a band and assume what they’re all about. They’re not just “Gangsta” and they’re not just “grass,” they are “Gangstagrass,” a quintet of passionate musicians who courageously redefine the concept of musical genre.
“Why do we have genres?” asks Farrow. “People often like to define music by genre and categorization,” he continues. “We just come together, collaborate, and create music while trying out new things in the process,” adds Danjo. Though each member comes from a different background, for example, Philadelphian R-son who started rhyming in
the first grade, and Danjo, who grew up in D.C. and always had a love for bluegrass or newgrass music (thanks to his Midwestern parents), Gangstagrass turns their idiosyncrasies into synchronicities.
The band gained popularity after being awarded an Emmy nomination for FX’s Justified theme song. The television series aired in 2010-2015 and follows a story of a U.S. Marshal who took the law into his own hands. Their reputation grew even more after their appearance on the latest season of NBC’s America’s Got Talent.
Gangstagrass puts their alliance to further use by telling stories that inspire change. “In our music, we like to tell stories that connect to feelings,” says vocalist Dolio. “We want those feelings to spur some kind of action or opinion about different subjects.” It’s all about making the public aware of issues going around in the world on a larger scale, having them “drop their armor” and being open to discussion. Over synchronized strings and heavy-hitting beats, Gangstagrass speaks on major societal and environmental issues such as water conservation, mass incarceration, suicide, loss and mourning, and poverty — just to name a few.
We like to tell stories that connect to feelings. We want those feelings to spur some kind of action or opinion about different subjects.
Dolio the Sleuth
Despite the solidarity of inspiring change, Gangstagrass has a special way of intertwining hope, encouragement, and liveliness into their music and performance. Gangstagrass simply wants Memphians to come to Railgarten to have a good time. “We don’t want people to overthink it,” Danjo says. “We want people to come to the show and have one of the most shocking yet wonderful experiences of their lives,” adds Dolio.
In addition to their U.S. tour, Gangstagrass put out a series of mixtapes titled My Brother Where You At which includes the band’s own version of classic hip hop songs and another one titled Will the Cypher be Broken. By subscribing to being a “Barnstormer” with Gangstagrass, you can get exclusive content, such as new mixtapes, sent directly to you.
Gangstagrass will perform at Railgarten, Thursday, March 17th, at 8 p.m.
Gangstagrass performs live at the Hifi Indy presented by IndyMojo Presents, MOKB Presents, Sun King Brewery, Kolman Dental, P.C., and Do317 in Indianapolis, Indiana on Wednesday, May 15, 2019. (Credit: Melodie Yvonne)
Jack Oblivian, Greg Cartwright and Abe White sing "I'm Eighteen" (photo by Chris McCoy)
Day three of Goner Records’ cavalcade of talent was on the toasty side, and the same could have been said for many of the fans milling through the Railgarten grounds. But the sheer sonic appeal of the afternoon, hosted with aplomb by Tim Prudhomme of the band Fuck, did away with any flagging spirits. After a noon opener by Seattle’s Zack Static Sect, things were brought back closer to home with Nashville’s Snooper, Memphis’ Ibex Clone, and Hattiesburg’s MS Paint.
“Gofer Nest” Rolls On (photo by Alex Greene)
Then Prudhomme took to the stage and announced “I saw these guys in a record store in 2019, and they were great. And it’s really hard to tell great in a record store. From New Orleans, Silver Synthetic!” The band, whose Third Man debut album has received a lot of buzz on the grapevine this year, kicked in with a uniquely upbeat sound that somehow blends the twin guitar attack of Television with the pop sensibilities of the Zombies, or “mid/late ’80s C86/Flying Nun guitar jangle,” as the Goner booklet puts it. And perhaps a bit of Nerves thrown in? A beguiling blend, carried off with precision and a bit of abandon.
Silver Synthetic (photo by Alex Greene)
The Exbats feature the young drummer and singer Inez McLain, immersed in ’70s punk and ’60s jangle pop, who proudly wore a “Help Me Rhonda” T-shirt. “I dressed up like Brian Wilson,” she deadpanned, “but it was too hot for the bathrobe.” Her father Kenny stood nearby, serving as guitarist, singer, and hype man with vigorous enthusiasm, while he, the bassist, and the second guitarist channeled their inner teens. Their pounding beats, crisscross riffs, and singalong choruses soon had the audience jumping. The highlight: a joyous rendering of their 2018 tune, “I Got The Hots For Charlie Watts.”
The Exbats (photo by Alex Greene)
And then came an artist who requested that Prudhomme present him only as “a man who needs no introduction.” In the case of Eric Goulden, aka Wreckless Eric, that was probably true, at least within Goner’s orbit. He’s been well loved since his 1978 hit, “Whole Wide World,” which he played with his usual dynamism, but the clincher is how his songwriting has evolved since. He carries off his mini-masterpieces of gritty prose/poetry with naught but an acoustic guitar and a few pedals, which he uses sparingly to great effect, at times conjuring the illusion of a full band behind him, so great is the cacophony.
After the set, none other than Reigning Sound’s Greg Cartwright, shaking his head, expressed his utter admiration for Goulden’s craft as both a songwriter and storyteller, and the minimalism with which he enacts it. A local poet of Memphis also expressed her love of his lyrics. But his artistic zenith may have been his banter.
Wreckless Eric exhorts the crowd (photo by Alex Greene)
“The rest of the set’s going to be a story in about 14 halves,” he quipped after the first two songs (it wasn’t). And, echoing the words of Miss Pussycat two days before, he commented, “I can’t believe I’m here, really. I mean, it was so weird. The whole fucking thing was weird. I mean, it still is weird!” Later, he elaborated how a case of Covid-19, mistakenly diagnosed, led to a full-on heart attack last year. Yet now, that seemed a distant memory, as he delivered his songs with a quiet energy that sometimes exploded into a very punk-inspired anger.
Like many festival-goers, your stalwart reporter had to miss Spread Joy from Chicago and G.G. King from Atlanta, though by all accounts, they both rocked. I picked up the thread as Omaha’s Digital Leather hit the stage, and hit it they certainly did, as group founder Shawn Foree led the band through driving, synth-inflected rockers with a dark edge. The guitarist, brandishing a red Flying V axe, literally lept (or dive-bombed) into one solo after another as the rest of the band gyrated sympathetically. No Saddle Creek flavors here — this was not from your mama’s Omaha!
Digital Leather (photo by Alex Greene)
Digital Leather’s power was a perfect appetizer before the tasty main course served up by local heroes Jack Oblivian and the Sheiks. Igniting their set at a pummeling, fast pace is nothing new for this group, but they had an extra fire to them this night. Early on, Jack noted that “Amtrak doesn’t go west! If you’ve been stranded, you know what I mean.” No one doubted that Jack O. has been stranded. Later, he bemoaned the cancellation of one of Detroit’s finest bands. “I really wish we could have seen Negative Approach!” he exclaimed. From then on, the band’s name became a running joke. After a screaming chorus of “Mass Confusion all around!” came to a close, a band member helpfully pointed out the song’s negativity.
Jack Oblivian and the Sheiks (photo by Alex Greene)
But that was but a foreshadowing of the whole world being negated by adolescent ennui, when Jack called friend Abe White of the Manatees up to sing Alice Cooper’s classic “I’m Eighteen.” White delivered the song with manic abandon, gracing the audience with flipped birds and hurtled beer cans as he sang lines like, “I’ve got a baby’s brain and an old man’s heart!” By the end, fellow Oblivian Greg Cartwright had jumped up to join in the chorus. It was a perfect celebration of the coming of age of Gonerfest. “Next year,” Jack pronounced, “Gonerfest is gonna be able to vote!”
Greg Cartwright, Jack Oblivian and Abe White sing “I’m Eighteen” (photo by Chris McCoy)
After a steamroller version of Television’s “I See No Evil,” Jack and the Sheiks handed the keys to Nots, Memphis’ greatest post-punk synth-and-riff shouters. Seeing them is a rare treat these days, with drummer Charlotte Watson now living in New Orleans, so this was a welcome blast from the past, as she and bassist Meredith Lones pounded on with their trademark finesse behind Natalie Hoffman’s vocals, guitar and synth layers.
Nots (photo by Chuck Vicious)
Speaking of blasts from the past, the evening’s true exemplars of that were the Spits, nearing their 30th year together. Having cultivated a back-to-basics approach to punk, all rapid-fire verses and singalong choruses, one might easily forget the more theatrical side of these skate-punk legends. That was revealed right out of the gate, as the synthesizer player was led out, landing strip style, in a full-on budget robot suit. He then conjured up the sound of an air raid siren, and the games were off. Once filled out with the rest of the quartet, his synth drones merely added a thickener to the choppy, guitar-driven punk at which they excel. And yet this was no mere oldies act. Sure, old punks were singing along with every song, but from the first downbeat, the mosh pit — populated with fans likely younger than the band itself — lit up as if the ground below was electrified.
The Spits (photo by Alex Greene)
It was a fitting end to the final night of the festival, but there was yet more music to come. Aside from the many after parties that carried on well into the wee hours, Sunday afternoon beckoned with the last official performances.
With our brief taste of fall on hold again, the afternoon was brilliant and warm. That, and perhaps the previous three days of responsible hedonism on the crowd’s part, made the set by Aquarian Blood go down like a Bloody Mary. Focusing the quieter recent albums recorded at home by J.B. and Laurel Horrell, Aquarian Blood nonetheless brought a full band to the proceedings, emulating those records’ exquisite, low key arrangements with exactitude and soul. At center stage, beside Laurel, sat J.B., forced to play sitting down due to an injured hand. He nonetheless directed the affair with assurance, occasionally shouting cues, or, if they didn’t quite take, appreciating the chaos that ensued. “That was a good ending right there!” he exclaimed after one breakdown.
Aquarian Blood (photo by Chris McCoy)
And then, after a few words of thanks from Goner’s finest, the Wilkins Sisters stepped up to put a capstone on the four-day event. The appearance of the four singers, all daughters or granddaughters of the late Rev. John Wilkins, was a poignant moment, given the many times the Reverend himself used to close the proceedings in years past.
“As you may know, our dad passed last year from Covid,” said one of the sisters. “We’re trying to keep his legacy going. I don’t sound like my dad, but we do the best that we can with what we’ve got.” Indeed they did, as a fine band that included Al Gamble on organ delivered tracks of thumping, blues-infused gospel to back the sisters’ soaring four part harmonies.
The Wilkins Sisters (photo by Alex Greene)The Wilkins Sisters (photo by Alex Greene)
“Y’all give it up for my daddy!” they exclaimed after one number, and the people did. Noise-hardened punks, skate brats, and rockers all accepted a bit of Mississippi into their souls, raising their hands in the air as if they’d seen the light. More so than ever, the sacred soul captured that almost holy sense of communion that so many expressed throughout the weekend, often using a phrase heard many times: Gonerfest 18 was no less than a family reunion.
Gofer Nests: Always Evolving (photo by Chris McCoy)
Quintron and Miss Pussycat with full band (photo by Alex Greene)
It was all a bit dream-like, filtering into the Railgarten compound on a bright, balmy afternoon, seeing many friends for the first time since lockdown, faces half-covered as if convening some mad masquerade ball. Later that night, Miss Pussycat would proclaim “This is so weird!” from the stage, as she gazed out at the crowd, and she spoke for all of us. And yet, it was reassuringly familiar as well.
Many had begun their day to the sounds of DJ Matt Uhlman, co-founder of the Royal Pendletons and New Orleans’ Mod Dance Party events, who had set up shop at the Central Station Hotel. That veritable temple of vinyl was an apt setting for folks to receive their complimentary Gonerfest 18 EP, featuring tracks from Reigning Sound, Aquarian Blood, Archaeas and Silver Synthetic.
Gonerfest 18 EP (photo by Alex Greene)
As the beginnings of a crowd gathered at Railgarten and the opening ceremonies marked the festival’s start, Alicja Trout assembled the Alicja Pop band for a quick line check and Boom!, it was on.
Alicja Pop (photo by Chris McCoy)
The first surprise of the day was the guitar-heavy sound of this new Alicja Pop iteration, with Andrew Geraci on bass, Lori McStay on drums and Jared McStay on guitar. Trout stuck to guitar as well, leading the band through a batch of songs sans keyboards. The heavier vibes were more reminiscent of past Trout projects like River City Tanlines or even the Lost Sounds. Quite an appropriate start to Gonerfest.
DJ Jared Boydy’s interlude music during band tear down and set up set a seriously funky, Stax-y mood that played like a grand welcome to Memphis for all weary travelers. The next act, Rocket 808, was a unique palette cleanser, John Schooley III’s solo wailing guitar and vocals over classic drum machine beats. As the Goner guide puts it, “Link Wray meets Suicide madness,” from an artist whose record was Goner’s sixth release way back in 1996.
Next was Smirk from San Francisco, who took the evening up a notch with propulsive beats and restless guitar interplay cut with intriguing vocals, akin to the more rock ‘n’ roll side of the Fall, yet more singable. “Very drinkable,” as Goner co-owner Eric Friedl quipped about the dedicated Gonerbrau by Memphis Made, a “chuggable ale” that was quaffing thirst right and left. It paired well with the convivial-yet-cautious mood that prevailed as the crowd filled out and evening descended.
Throughout the proceedings, nimble-footed elves armed with Sony Handycams flitted on the perimeters of all the action, capturing every move for the well-coordinated live-stream, Goner’s concession to the continued need for socially distanced alternatives. A makeshift command center ensured that the best shots were compiled seamlessly into the online presentation.
The Goner “Stream Team” (photo by Chris McCoy)
Night was upon us, announced by the pounding drums of Detroit’s Human Eye, the latest project from Timmy Vulgar. The outlandish power of the drums was soon matched blow for blow by Vulgar’s guitar stylings, at times locking in with the rhythm in punk-metal riffage, then descending into more freestyle noise bursts. Listeners might have thought a boxcar behind the stage was screeching and careening off the rails, but no, that was Vulgar’s guitar, culminating with blasts of actual fireworks in the final throes of the sonic chaos.
Human Eye (photo by Laura Jean Hocking)Human Eye (photo by Laura Jean Hocking)
And then, suddenly, the night reached its denouement, as Quintron and Miss Pussycat took the stage with their full band. Given the minimalism of past Quintron/Miss P shows, this was a revelation. A guitar and drums rhythm section augmented Quintron’s canned beats and scratchy organ, with extra freaky, funky texture brought by none other than Goner recording star BÊNNÍ, clad in chain mail, who nonchalantly manned a vocoder. A fellow dancer joined Miss Pussycat’s trademark dance moves, as did the entire audience. The danceability of this Q/P project is greater than ever, with BÊNNÍ’s vocoder either adding bassy funk figures or eerie, swamp-soaked drones. Quintron, for his part, supplemented his grinding organ with licks from a lap steel set atop his keyboard, not to mention his own vocoder in the final number, in tandem with BÊNNÍ’s.
Quintron and Miss Pussycat with full band (photo by Alex Greene)
At one point, Quintron exhorted the audience to consider his electronics. “Please don’t throw ice on the keyboards! Throw your ice at the guitarist! They don’t care what you throw at them. Throw anything on the singers, they love it. Pee on ’em if you want! Just don’t throw ice on the keyboards!”
Together, Quintron and Miss Pussycat swapped vocals, with catchy choruses like “My name is Jesus Christ, and I’m an alcoholic!”, “What do you do??”, “It’s gonna be all right!!” and “If I was you, I’d hate me too!” The audience was revved up, cheering wildly at the close of each song, and so all eyes were on Goner’s Zac Ives when he stepped up to consult with Quintron mid-set. Listening seriously to Ives, Quintron then turned to the crowd and proclaimed, “We can keep going! We didn’t even know it was a possibility that we could not keep going, but we’re just so excited now to learn that we really can keep going!”
Solo pre-puppet show music was provided by Quintron (photo by Alex Greene)
And even when they’d played their last number, they kept going. While Miss Pussycat prepped her puppets, Quintron played exquisitely lush lounge music. Then the puppet proscenium was presented, and the audience dutifully gathered around it, sitting in semi-circles on the ground like kindergartners.
The evening’s puppet show, a regular feature of Miss P’s for years, was perhaps her best yet, including finely crafted figures of a squarish werewolf and two baby maracas, who grew into a fully dressed and wigged dancing team that took the stage with aplomb. Quintron, for his part, participated in the puppetry as well, which also featured his pre-recorded incidental music.
Miss Pussycat addresses the crowd (photo by Alex Greene)
As the puppetry began, Miss Pussycat spoke warmly to the crowd gathered on the ground before her, offering heartfelt thanks. “Thank you so much! We’ve all been clamped down in New Orleans for the past year and a half,” she reflected, expressing amazement that we could be gathered at all. Indeed, it seemed a minor miracle, and all souls filtered out of the venue that night with rather dazed, happy faces, emerging from a collective dream.
Quintron, master of puppets (photo by Chris McCoy)
Visit Gonerfest.com for details on the continuing festivities today, Saturday and Sunday.
Graham Winchester, drummer in numerous Memphis bands, admitted he was having a rock-and-roll moment. On the last song of a Turnstyles set at Railgarten last weekend, he kicked his drums off the stage. Almost immediately, two guys walked off with pieces of his kit. Winchester took to Facebook with photos and a plea for help.
In a happy turn, Winchester reported the drums were found and returned: “I’m not interested in naming names or blasting anyone. That’s just not my style.”
Milk Crate Challenge
Posted to YouTube by Ken-Tenn Kustomz
Ken-Tenn Kustomz streamed Whitehaven’s huge milk crate challenge last week on YouTube.
This summer’s viral challenge has people climbing milk crates stacked like stairs. They fall, and the hilarity is the internet magic. But its danger brought an official tweet against the challenge from the FDA last week.
Dozens gathered at Whitehaven Lane Park last week to watch a handful try the challenge in a stream that lasted more than an hour.
Good One, Gold Club
Reddit user Adventure_Thyme13 captured some timely and fleeting humor last week from The Gold Club. “Sorry about OnlyFans,” read its sign. “We’re hiring.”
Railgarten has long been a leader in supporting local musicians, as was clear when they were among the first clubs to resume presenting live music last fall. At the time, co-owner Jack Phillips noted, “We’re seeing a lot of musicians, and talking to a lot of artists in town, and people are struggling. Not to say that everyone in the hospitality and restaurant business isn’t hurting, but we’ve got somewhat of a captive audience and wanted to see what we could do to go the extra step and really show our love for Memphis musicians. Music is in our blood, and I hate to see musicians struggling.”
It wasn’t just because national acts weren’t touring that the venue remained committed to local performers: They want to see the local scene flourish. Now, to that end, Railgarten and their partner Old Dominick Distillery have announced the first ever “901 Fest,” celebrating everything that is Memphis, musically speaking. Starting on Wednesday, September 1, and running through Labor Day weekend, the Railgarten stage will host some of the crème de la crème of Memphis music.
Mononeon’s Supermane
The scheduled acts will include Mononeon (September 1); Lucero (September 2); Detective Bureau and Lord T & Eloise (September 3), Obruni Dance Band, The PRVLG, CYC, and Dead Soldiers (September 4); and Lucky 7 Brass Band, Max Kaplan & The Magics, and The Sensational Barnes Brothers (September 5).
As Mason Jambon of Railgarten emphasizes, “We are committed to promoting local Memphis musicians, so we thought that having a festival centered around all local acts would be something music lovers in the city would embrace.”
There will also be specialty cocktails for purchase for the extended weekend, provided by Old Dominick. “We love events like this that promote the culture of our community, and we are excited to be a part of it,” says Alex Castle, master distiller and senior vice president of Old Dominick Distillery.
And local Memphis artists from Arrow Creative will be selling their goods that Saturday and Sunday, September 4 and 5. “As a new business in the Central Avenue community, we love the idea of teaming up with neighborhood businesses to help promote our artists. Railgarten always does a great job attracting a diverse group of customers, and we look forward to having a similar offering with our local artists and makers,” says Abby Phillips, executive director at Arrow Creative.
