The Grounding of All Things Music
Shit happens. A little after a month of this show, I ended up losing my day job. It was how I mostly funded this expedition. However, it showed me how things devolve when you don’t have a financial grounding underneath. It made the following months already backlogged on pictures become more chaotic as the job hunt continued. Among that time I did process pictures for bands at their request, and you probably saw them floating around on their respective sites and social media. That was helpful in giving me grounding in the time while being able to continue to help out bands.
The good news is as of February, I will have the full time income to once again stabilize things. I intend to continue to post pictures from the backlog of shows, only expediting the ones that I need to by photo pass request. As I ramp up in my new day job position, I will figure out the best way to keep this going in parallel. I love going to music. Even in the hardest times, it was where I could forget my worries and have fun. There is nothing else like it to me. As always, thank you for the support you guys and gals give me. But, without further ado, let us get right into what made a show with 80*D, The Ataris, and the Queers so damn fun that I had to just be there this August night.
Opening up is one of the local punk bands that is a treat, 80*D. They are more old-school in their punk sound. They perform with such energy that made them a great compliment to our headliners. At this show, Jesse, lead vocals, demonstrated this by just jumping off the Club Red stage and singing in the crowd for portions. He stirred the pot to get help keep the early mosh pit going. I may not see them as often as I would like, but I always enjoy an 80*D performance when I do.
After that was the first of pairing touring bands, the Ataris. They always come out with a vigor and excitement live. Kris Roe always puts in a happy energy on that microphone, whether it is full band or solo acoustic performances. The surrounding lineup of this band was just as full of energy and expressions. With this night I heard them play through what most hail as classic Ataris tracks. I had a great conversation with Kris after that enlightened me on other details of their past and talking Warped Tour. Overall, the set is another excellent time seeing the Ataris up on that stage.
Last up was a band with one of my favorite punk rock sounds and lyric writings, The Queers. As I write this, “Punk Rock Girl” gets stuck in my head. If I thought the expressions on the Ataris members were good, then the ones coming from Alex, on drums, were king this night. He was all over showing it when he wasn’t drumming, shouting, screaming and flipping the bird. He wasn’t to go unnoticed from the antics of Joe Queer and Chris in front of him. These guys know how to play to a crowd. As much as I love the Ataris, it was the Queers that were the highlight of my night. I can’t wait for them to be back here in a couple months.
