The Anchor, Kingston NY 12/30/13 NCM / The Swamps! / The Fly & His One Man Garbage / Pitchfork Militia

"One Night Only!  Two bands live from Japan!"  On a Monday night in Kingston and I got the next day off?  Yep, I'll check it out.

This was a cool four band show at the Anchor with the two bands from the far away land sandwiched between two locals.

NCM were scheduled to open, but the whole band couldn't make it so singer/guitarist Pete Crotty did a solo opening set to start off the festivities around nine.  I'm afraid I got no shots of Pete as I was concentrating on ordering and then drinking some vanilla porter, but it was a nice solid set that went down smooth like my brew.

Next up were The Swamps! 

Imagine a band with Moe Tucker of the Velvet Underground on drums, Chuck Berry/Johnny Ramone on rhythm guitar and Link Wray on an acid trip on lead guitar.  Bass?  They don't need no stinking bass.  Vocally many of the tunes were a mix of Lux Interior of the Cramps meets Cookie Monster (especially when the vocals were done through the guitar's pickups as they were on many of the tunes).  

At times it was noise trash rock and at others they locked into a serious rock rhythm.

Next up was The Fly & His One Man Garbage.  Who brought some class to the occassion, taking the stage dressed to the nines.  

He ripped right into a righteous set of blues with killer licks and some great slide work.

I think many, including myself, were up front at first to check out the gimmick, but it was the music that kept us there and brought those sitting at the bar up as the crowd grew along with the applause throughout the set!

The Fly came back for an encore with his buddy from the Swamps!  The only problem in the set was his kick snare stand broke, but there was always someone to jump in quick to fix it (or simply hold it in place as was done here) so the rock could continue.  A great set!

Closing out the night were Pitchfork Militia who did a great set of their country/punk/funk/rock mix of music with songs about their chainsaw and crack pipes alongside some stellar covers like Tom Waits' "Way Down In The Hole" (The theme song from "The Wire") and ending with Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile"

Four Bands + Five Bucks + Great Venue + Cool Staff and Owner = Good times indeed!

Issues: Flip Teen Magazine - April 1971 "Neil Young: A Groovy Guy on the Go!"

"Issues" is a feature I'll be presenting on a regular basis.  I deal in collectible magazines on the side.  My favorites being music, entertainment and pin-up.  "Issues" will look at a particular feature of a magazine that I hope you enjoy.

I recently acquired about twenty late 60's/early 70's "Teen" mags including this issue of Flip Teen Magazine from April 1971.

Overall this is a pretty standard teen mag of the time with plenty of pin-ups and features on the likes of Bobby Sherman, The Osmonds, The Brady Bunch and David Cassidy.  What I like most about these magazines is when they include coverage on those outside their normal poster boy collective.

This issue had one article which jumped out that I wanted to share - a double profile of two upcoming artists titled "Meet 2 Groovy Guys On The Go!".  One of these groovy dudes is the one and only Neil Young (along with B.J. Thomas)

Now I was a mere five months old when this mag hit the stands, so maybe Neil was a mainstay of publications of this ilk, but I don't think so.  I tend to think that once in a while a writer or editor was given free range to push something "they" liked.

Enjoy this quick profile which in four short paragraphs covers his personal life and family, his musical history from the Squires through Buffalo Springfield through CSN&Y to his "fringed costumes" fashion sense.  I'm not sure too many gals tore down the David Cassidy centerfold in this issue to replace it with this small photo of Neil staring intently at them, but if one or two did, then kudos Flip Teen Magazine - job well done.

Note:  If you click on the images above, they will be large enough to easily read the text.

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Deap Vally - Mercury Lounge, NYC December 8, 2013

On this snowy night in New York City, Deap Vally brought the heat.  Second to last show of the tour in a packed Mercury Lounge, they played all of their killer album "Sistrionix" ending with the cant-get-it-outta-your-head-so-damn-catchy "Baby I Can Hell."  They were sticking around afterward but the midnight train and long ride back upstate had me scrambling for a cab to Grand Central as the last note faded.  It's too bad, don't expect I'll ever see them in a place this small again where such a meet and greet is plausible, but  glad I made the trek down.  Here's some views of the rock goodness they delivered. 

Lindsey Troy on guitar and Julie Edwards on drums sharing the vocals.