Best wishes to longtime Square Pig faves (and friends of Your Mother Should Know) Curtains for You, playing at the Paramount tonight!!! They're opening for The Head and the Heart, but I'm rooting for CFY to steal the show. As always, there are lots of creative band names out there this week, including:
Baba Ganoosh
What's not to like about a band named for a food that sounds like a person's name? I'm also a fan of garlicky eggplant dip, so there you go.
Chixdiggit
This one gets in for self-confidence and creative spelling. It looks like the name for an effects pedal. It's the one that makes an out-of-shape guitarist look like a rock god.
Fearless Lieder
Any band that can combine references to German art song and Rocky and Bullwinkle gets my vote. I see this and I hear Boris Badenov saying it. "That voice! Where have I heard that voice?"
Icky Blossoms
I like the word "icky." Then there's the apparent disconnect with "blossoms," typically a nice, non-icky concept. Are they poisonous? Stinky? Rotting and slimy? Or a gift from a loathed one? I'm intrigued.
The Wizards Sleeve
I'm always on the lookout for wizard references, and here's a new one. That it's just a sleeve, not the entire robe, amuses me. The resident gamers inform me that this is most likely a reference to an item in the game Dungeons of Dredmore. Who knew doing a blog would be so educational?
Special notice this week goes out to a hilarious misspelling: You May Die in the Dessert. I know it's bad for me, but really! (This is actually a favorite image from my childhood; I once wrote a story about an intrepid, shrunken explorer, lost in a towering banana split, all because of what the misspelling suggests.)
Naming a band is an act of concentrated creative expression. Square Pig in a Round Hole exists to reward five favorite band names each week. Winners are listed alphabetically. Selection is wholly unscientific and subject to whim, with a bias toward wordplay, humor, and local flavor. In most cases, I won't know anything about the bands at the time of selection. Thanks to the Seattle Times club listings for abundant source material!
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Saturday, September 8, 2012
September 8, 2012
If I hadn't been up late last night and if I didn't have to get up tomorrow, I would be at the Funhouse tonight for Tom Price Desert Classic and Pierced Arrows. So if you weren't and/or don't, go! On Monday (again, at the Funhouse), I'm sad to be missing Peterman, Charms, and Andrew James Robison, who have appeared with Your Mother Should Know on other occasions. Darn this grown-up schedule, anyway! And there's much, much more to choose from this week:
Dante Vs. Zombies
This sounds like one of those literature + monsters mash-ups. My money's on Dante, because he's got Virgil and the virtuous pagans backing him up. (That would be a good name for a band, too).
Not From Brooklyn
I guess Brooklyn is where the New York hipsters go now, but what could be hipper than Seattle? (Apparently, Tacoma!) After I left Tacoma, I did live on Brooklyn for a month, but that was a long time ago.
Snaketopus
I like this one because it's just campy and silly. Do the tentacles have snake heads? Does it slither up onto the beach and bite people?
Squirrel of Shame
Years ago, I read The Children of Odin to my kids. One of my favorite figures was Ratatosk, the Squirrel of Discord that runs up and down the World Ash Tree. I'm guessing this is his brother.
Trampled By Turtles
I love this image, because of the slow speed. Anything heavy enough to do any damage, you could just roll out of the way. I picture some poor dude, passed out and engulfed by turtles.
Dante Vs. Zombies
This sounds like one of those literature + monsters mash-ups. My money's on Dante, because he's got Virgil and the virtuous pagans backing him up. (That would be a good name for a band, too).
Not From Brooklyn
I guess Brooklyn is where the New York hipsters go now, but what could be hipper than Seattle? (Apparently, Tacoma!) After I left Tacoma, I did live on Brooklyn for a month, but that was a long time ago.
Snaketopus
I like this one because it's just campy and silly. Do the tentacles have snake heads? Does it slither up onto the beach and bite people?
Squirrel of Shame
Years ago, I read The Children of Odin to my kids. One of my favorite figures was Ratatosk, the Squirrel of Discord that runs up and down the World Ash Tree. I'm guessing this is his brother.
Trampled By Turtles
I love this image, because of the slow speed. Anything heavy enough to do any damage, you could just roll out of the way. I picture some poor dude, passed out and engulfed by turtles.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
September 1, 2012
September already? Sheesh. There's a lot going on this weekend, even for those -- like me -- avoiding Bumbershoot. I recommend Tyrannosaurus Grace at the Comet tonight! No theme to the picks this week:
Author and Punisher
One of the least pleasant parts of writing fiction is being cruel to your characters. Then again, sometimes they deserve it.
Broken Water
Once this happens, there's no turning back. A process has started that ain't over till it's over.
Dead Sonics
I hope this is neither a reference to the band's sound quality nor to the great Northwest garage band. Maybe it has something to do with basketball . . .
Dun Bin Had
Love the spelling. It tells you how to say it, and creates a nicely balanced, complete sentence in three three-letter monosyllables.
I Made Them a Steak
As written, this is kind of a strange sentence, which I like. Read aloud, it could have at least two different meanings, one of them about mishearing or misdoing something, which I like even more.
Author and Punisher
One of the least pleasant parts of writing fiction is being cruel to your characters. Then again, sometimes they deserve it.
Broken Water
Once this happens, there's no turning back. A process has started that ain't over till it's over.
Dead Sonics
I hope this is neither a reference to the band's sound quality nor to the great Northwest garage band. Maybe it has something to do with basketball . . .
Dun Bin Had
Love the spelling. It tells you how to say it, and creates a nicely balanced, complete sentence in three three-letter monosyllables.
I Made Them a Steak
As written, this is kind of a strange sentence, which I like. Read aloud, it could have at least two different meanings, one of them about mishearing or misdoing something, which I like even more.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
August 25, 2012
Perennial Square Pig favorite Pouch is at the Funhouse tonight! Might just go. Meanwhile, here are the new picks:
Jar of Flies
Yuck. Either somebody caught them and put them in there, or they hatched in there, like the fruit flies we bred for biology class when I was in high school. I can still smell the stink.
No-See-Ums
More insects! I've always liked this name for the tiniest of camping pests. Does a funny name make them more or less irritating?
Primate 5
At last, a mammal, and an open admission that we are primates, too. "Band" being one of the accepted terms for a group of apes, including humans.
Safeword Sasquatch
And, another primate! What I like here is that "safeword" implies kink, and interest in Sasquatch is about as nerdy as you can get.
She Keeps Bees
Back to insects. I like all the long e sounds, and the monosyllables, and the complete sentence, with the hint of urban agriculture: "I've got chickens, he's got a goat, and she keeps bees."
Jar of Flies
Yuck. Either somebody caught them and put them in there, or they hatched in there, like the fruit flies we bred for biology class when I was in high school. I can still smell the stink.
No-See-Ums
More insects! I've always liked this name for the tiniest of camping pests. Does a funny name make them more or less irritating?
Primate 5
At last, a mammal, and an open admission that we are primates, too. "Band" being one of the accepted terms for a group of apes, including humans.
Safeword Sasquatch
And, another primate! What I like here is that "safeword" implies kink, and interest in Sasquatch is about as nerdy as you can get.
She Keeps Bees
Back to insects. I like all the long e sounds, and the monosyllables, and the complete sentence, with the hint of urban agriculture: "I've got chickens, he's got a goat, and she keeps bees."
Saturday, August 18, 2012
August 18, 2012
The heat yesterday made it hard to think or even see straight, so I just picked a theme and went with it. The theme is: band names built on the classic formula "X and the Y". There were something like eight variations on this theme in the listings, from which I selected five:
Angelo Delsenno and the Empty Sky
This is the only one that comes close to the usual "frontperson and the band" formulation. But it could as easily be a solo act with a tongue-in-cheek name. Either way, Empty Sky is a grand and poignant name.
The Bard and the Liar
As if they were not different names for the same thing. Storytellers and poets tell the truth by making stuff up. And I love me an unreliable narrator!
Between the Buried and Me
This one diverges a little from the formula by separating "and" and "the." It gets in because I like this idea of secrets or communication between the living and the dead. In my current fantasy project, the protagonist visits the dead in her dreams. And two days ago, I finished reading The Illumination, a novel by Kevin Brockmeier, which includes within the narrative a lovely little fable about a country where the living write letters to the dead and slip them into cracks in the ground, until one day one of them gets an answer. Eventually the living and the dead live together underground, happily ever after.
Fox and the Law
Speaking of fables, here's a good title. What's the moral?
The Funeral and the Twilight
A tiny poem about times of poignant farewell, to a loved one, to the day.
Angelo Delsenno and the Empty Sky
This is the only one that comes close to the usual "frontperson and the band" formulation. But it could as easily be a solo act with a tongue-in-cheek name. Either way, Empty Sky is a grand and poignant name.
The Bard and the Liar
As if they were not different names for the same thing. Storytellers and poets tell the truth by making stuff up. And I love me an unreliable narrator!
Between the Buried and Me
This one diverges a little from the formula by separating "and" and "the." It gets in because I like this idea of secrets or communication between the living and the dead. In my current fantasy project, the protagonist visits the dead in her dreams. And two days ago, I finished reading The Illumination, a novel by Kevin Brockmeier, which includes within the narrative a lovely little fable about a country where the living write letters to the dead and slip them into cracks in the ground, until one day one of them gets an answer. Eventually the living and the dead live together underground, happily ever after.
Fox and the Law
Speaking of fables, here's a good title. What's the moral?
The Funeral and the Twilight
A tiny poem about times of poignant farewell, to a loved one, to the day.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
August 11, 2012
I'm breaking with tradition a little bit by including two bands that I actually heard (!) but that did not appear in the club listings. The Ancients and Tyrannosaurus Grace both played terrific sets at the Rat and Raven last Thursday. Andrew James Robison opened with an exciting acoustic set, followed by Your Mother Should Know doing whatever it is we do. (Catch Andrew at the Funhouse this Sunday, with Black Plastic Clouds and Canals of Venice).
The Ancients
I probably wouldn't pick this name out of the listings, but it fits perfectly the band's wildly theatrical Adventure Metal genre. These guys would be right at home with a tiny Stonehenge on stage.
The Hooten Hallers
I like how the name spoken sounds like a raucous good time, but written looks like the denizens of Hooten Hall, no doubt some Wodehousian country manor.
Howth
Castle Dwellers
These get in as a set. They're on the same bill at the Sunset on Sunday, and happy chance in the listings creates a reference to Howth Castle, back to which we are brought by a commodious vicus of recirculation in the first lines of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. It just so happens that this very night, August 11, 2012, my brother and partner in rock and roll, Neal Kosaly-Meyer, performs -- from memory -- John Cage's "Writing for the Second Time Through Finnegans Wake" in honor of the 20th anniversary of Cage's death. Chapel Performance Space at Good Shepherd Center, 8:00 p.m. It's gonna be a great show!
Tyrannosaurus Grace
This is one of those names that just sounds right. I don't know what it is -- some kind of Wesleyan dinosaur, I guess -- but I like it.
The Ancients
I probably wouldn't pick this name out of the listings, but it fits perfectly the band's wildly theatrical Adventure Metal genre. These guys would be right at home with a tiny Stonehenge on stage.
The Hooten Hallers
I like how the name spoken sounds like a raucous good time, but written looks like the denizens of Hooten Hall, no doubt some Wodehousian country manor.
Howth
Castle Dwellers
These get in as a set. They're on the same bill at the Sunset on Sunday, and happy chance in the listings creates a reference to Howth Castle, back to which we are brought by a commodious vicus of recirculation in the first lines of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. It just so happens that this very night, August 11, 2012, my brother and partner in rock and roll, Neal Kosaly-Meyer, performs -- from memory -- John Cage's "Writing for the Second Time Through Finnegans Wake" in honor of the 20th anniversary of Cage's death. Chapel Performance Space at Good Shepherd Center, 8:00 p.m. It's gonna be a great show!
Tyrannosaurus Grace
This is one of those names that just sounds right. I don't know what it is -- some kind of Wesleyan dinosaur, I guess -- but I like it.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
August 5, 2012
I'm blogging a day late due to a fine trip to sunny Washington wine country, where it was even hotter than in Seattle, but dry. Unexplained anomaly: someone turned off the wind in Ellensburg!
Good Willsmith
I like the word overlap that turns the meaning in the middle from a movie into an actor.
Sad Little Men
I can't help thinking of Buzz Lightyear and Sheriff Woody, accidentally abandoned at the refueling station. "You're a sad, strange little man, and I pity you."
Saint John and the Revelators
Nice reference to an old spiritual, and slyly apocalyptic.
Vomettes
Instant punk classic.
The Yolks
I've always liked the word yolk. It looks kind of funny, and it sounds almost like joke, but also kind of thick, like what it is.
Late breaking news: This show didn't make the club listings, but this Thursday, August 9, Your Mother Should Know is at the Rat & Raven, with Andrew James Robison and Tyrannosaurus Grace. Doors at 8.
Good Willsmith
I like the word overlap that turns the meaning in the middle from a movie into an actor.
Sad Little Men
I can't help thinking of Buzz Lightyear and Sheriff Woody, accidentally abandoned at the refueling station. "You're a sad, strange little man, and I pity you."
Saint John and the Revelators
Nice reference to an old spiritual, and slyly apocalyptic.
Vomettes
Instant punk classic.
The Yolks
I've always liked the word yolk. It looks kind of funny, and it sounds almost like joke, but also kind of thick, like what it is.
Late breaking news: This show didn't make the club listings, but this Thursday, August 9, Your Mother Should Know is at the Rat & Raven, with Andrew James Robison and Tyrannosaurus Grace. Doors at 8.
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