The last day had finally come of Punk Rock Bowling 2021. It felt like my endurance had improved from the past two and half days on my feet, a welcomed sign. Nonetheless, I was taking on chances and giving my feet and my possible ankle sprain a little more time off to rest. Then it was dashing down to put in a little food and catch the main stage openers one more time to finish this punk rock vacation of a weekend. The Twits I heard they were the youngest…
Read MoreDay Two had me sleeping in to let my feet recover as much as possible for another jam packed day of music at Punk Rock Bowling. Unfortunately, that meant staying off my feet a little longer to extend their life to my photo taking plans at the evening club show with my friends in Playboy Manbaby. Regardless, the day continued to be filled with memory making moments and sets. Suburban Resistance Once again, I was here for the openers with good reason. Tom Urban, a man you may know for…
Read MoreThe first time I saw Playboy Manbaby it was stumbling into them on stage at the Long Wongs location near Apache and McClintock. I was at Tempe Tavern and the friends I was hanging out with decided let’s jump over to see what was a walk down the street. What first drew me to them was immediately the brass section. That accompanied by the misidentifying them as another ska band in an otherwise starved local Ska band scene in 2012 in Phoenix. However, the tunes they played were punk with…
Read MoreCan’t say enough how humbled I am, that my friend Meredith put together her college documentary project on Every Show Joe. That’s a first documentary I know to focus on anything about me. It features members of Playboy Manbaby, The Venomous Pinks, Reason Unknown, Bear Ghost, and, heck, even Chris Murray. Hopefully you check it out!
Read MoreI’ve been sporadically digging into my photos, discovering ones that may got lost in the shuffle of everything I do. That was usually do to how much I ran around and tried to take photos before this pandemic put a stop to live shows for the time being. However, there was a cool event at the Wooden Tooth Records in Tucson that I never got around to posting. I actually stopped there to catch the show on my way to the SidePony Festival in Bisbee. They had the legendary Bay…
Read MoreThere are bands that are just pure joy. That joy can come to an audience through the lyrics they write, the way they perform, or just in how they treat their fans. For me, the Aquabats bring all of those kind of joys. Not only that, they were the second ska band I got into after discovering the genre. The song that first grabbed my attention was the one about school lunch and a celebrated food, “Pizza Day.” I have been attending their performances for the past fifteen years, not…
Read MoreAdd another fun episode to the books as TJ Friga, of Playboy Manbaby and Instructions, joins me on this latest episode for Streets of Rogue’s quirky and humorous rogue-like gameplay. Conversations delve into his long music history, how he came to be in both bands, teaching School of Rock, touring, Earthbound, and plenty more. Now up on YouTube and in audio only form on podcast services!
Read MoreOne of the pleasures of life is pure discovery. Going out to a place you have never been or taking a hiking trail that just caught your eye off the freeway. It brings a pure joy to seeing and experiencing the new things you took the chance to investigate. In the case of the night’s show, it was Retirement Party that was that discovery, coming through with Prince Daddy and the Hyena plus our local Troubled Minds. The guys of Troubled Minds are deservedly popping up more on the shows…
Read MoreMerriam-Webster defines party as a social gathering. For many, that is how most would define a concert or show. You could literally say we have double the party with both Pity Party and Dog Party on night’s bill. This is probably an obvious joke that has run its course over the time of their tour with Bad Cop/Bad Cop. No matter, it makes for a nice attention getter to talk about their stop in Phoenix with the added awesomeness of our local Venomous Pinks. Opening up was our local women,…
Read MoreHow often do you see a two band show? I feel like it is rare that any show I attend isn’t a minimum of three. However, that is exactly what happened on Streetlight Manifesto’s latest trip to Phoenix with Kitty Kat Fan Club. Although with bands this good, two is a good number. Our openers were Kitty Kat Fan Club, a familiar group to anyone who went to the last times that Streetlight Manifesto or Koo Koo Kanga Roo came to town. I was in attendance at both, though felt…
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