June 29, 2013

How can this be? It's hot, and still June! Does this bode well or ill for July 4? Which reminds me: time for a shameless plug! Your Mother Should Know is pleased and honored to be included with Pouch and Peterman on the bill for Peterman's record release at Victory Lounge next Saturday, July 6, 8:30 p.m. And on Friday, July 5, 8:00 p.m. the members of Your Mother Should Know (Neal Kosaly Meyer and yours truly) will present "Songs Your Mother Should Know," a three-song cycle of Neal's recent neo-Tin-Pan-Alley songs at Seattle Composers Salon, Chapel Performance Space,

4649 Sunnyside Ave N, 4th Fl, Seattle. $5 - $15 sliding scale admission.

There's lots going on before that, and here is a well-named sampling:

The Botherations

"Botheration" was one of my mom's favorite (clean) exclamations. I love the association of an old-fashioned expression with today's music.

Dragontail Peak

This one hits my fantasy reader and writer spot. While you're worrying about the dragon's mouth, the tail will come around and take you out from behind.

Fuzzy Cloaks

It's way too warm to want a fuzzy cloak, but it's such a comforting image. Or is it . . . distortion?

Mega EvErs

An audacious and clever punning nod to history and activism.

Swamp Meat 

I couldn't believe I hadn't done this name already. It has the obvious sludgy, undead association, but then you say it out loud and it sounds like something completely different. They keep being on bills with friends of YMSK, so I'm bound to hear them before long.

June 22, 2013

Summer's here, and for this one day, it even looks like it! The naked bicyclists won't have to worry about hypothermia, but I hope they remember their sunscreen. Tomorrow, we rejoin Junuary, already in progress. But it's never too rainy or too sunny for a little rock & roll.

Bonnie and the Bang Bang
Classic structure, with both alliteration and repetition. It has a nice rhythm of its own and ends with, yes, a bang.

Earthworm
Hail the lowly earthworm, which makes organic matter into soil. When our elder son was in first grade, he did a report on worms, recorded on tape and punctuated with various noisemakers from our vast collection. I appreciated worms before that, but after, I was a real fan.

Hymn for Her
Beautiful double meaning from the homophone.

Liiight
This one gets in for the spelling. I can just hear the reverb.

Molotov Colostomy
Well, that took a surprising turn! Grossest protest ever.

June 15, 2013

If one were so inclined and didn't have to get up in the morning, one could go out and hear bands at a different club every night of the week. Fun to imagine, exhausting to even think about. Here are a few band names, scattered throughout the week, that caught my eye:

Before the Eyewall
I love it when evocative scientific terms find their way into band names. If I remember my Magic Schoolbus correctly, the eyewall is an area of intense winds that surrounds the calm eye of a hurricane. I imagine being in the eye, about to plunge back into the eyewall, might be like contemplating entrance to the wildest of mosh pits.

Drunken Prayer
Dear God, don't let me trip in front of that person I've had my eye on all night. Lord, lead me not into the wrong bathroom. O Porcelain One, may this offering be acceptable in thy sight.

DJ Port-a-Party
That's what a DJ is, right? But I love that it sounds like something else.

Mighty Tiny Band
Being of the small persuasion myself, as well as a member of a little band, I like that we tiny ones can also be mighty.

Purr Gato 
I took a lot of Spanish classes a long time ago, and I have a cat with a very loud purr. Seems like reason enough.

June 8, 2013

Whew! I'm sure glad that bright thing in the sky finally went away. Now it feels like June. But it's always a nice day for rock and roll! Here are the band names that made the cut this week:

Amphibian Children
Tadpoles? (Due to water content, probably best not to put them in the same room with last week's pick Electric Children). Many years ago, as part of a free improv session, my brother (and bandmate) made up a song about tadpoles that I've often said Your Mother Should Know ought to take up. So far, we haven't.

The Dee Dees
Nostalgia time, suggesting as it does an age when there were girls named Dee Dee. And an age when there were the Ramones . . . (I didn't know until I checked that this is an all-girl Ramones cover band, but I could have guessed.)

Led Askew
Nice twist on an idiom. So much more bent than simply led astray.

Low Standard
Good to know that grunge's loser attitude is still out there, setting the bar low.

The Thoughts
Well, where does it all begin, after all? As a thought. Then you put it out into the world, so loud you can't hear yourself think.

June 1, 2013

My own musical experiences take a turn away from pop this weekend and next, as we attend and participate in the 8th Annual Harry and Myrtle Olson International Music and Organ Festival at University Temple United Methodist Church. Feel free to join us! Or if you're looking for a well-named band, check these out:

The Bony King of Nowhere
Instantly deep in folk-tale territory, and a weird tale it is. He's a real nowhere man. And I love that adjective, "bony." 


Electric Children
Because the hand-cranked kind are so labor intensive.


Last Great Fire
I guess Seattle should count itself lucky to have suffered only one Great Fire (so far). Let it be the last.


Mice Parade
Cute as anything until they march into your pantry.


The Of 
Definite article + preposition = what? Language stripped of meaning, but it's got a good beat and you can dance to it.