December 27, 2014

I'm pleased to announce that on New Year's Day, my blogging and fiction-writing lives will intersect in an exciting way. My first published story ("Hat" in the YA collection Heathers) ended with the teenage protagonist going off to start a band. Several months later, I saw a sign with a burned-out letter. "That's a band name I would blog about," I thought. I decided to give it to my fictional teenager, and she ran with it. The resulting story, "St. Rage," is now available for pre-order and will be published on January 1, 2015 as the 13th release in the Pankhearst Singles Club. It's short, it's funny, and it's only $ .99. If you like "St. Rage," please like St. Rage on Facebook and go listen to their first demo.

Meanwhile, a lot of nonfictional bands have shows coming up this week. Here are the five that caught my eye:



Cat Among Pigeons
Classic outsider scenario with so many possible outcomes. Cat bides her time, blending in and winning the pigeons' trust, then begins to pick them off one by one; they never figure it out. Or: Cat goes crazy trying to chase all the pigeons at once, and never catches even one. Or: the pigeons lull the cat into a false sense of security, then descend en masse.

Cephalopod
I like the word and I like the animals. An octopus is like a writer: clever, solitary, makes its escape in a cloud of ink. Most appropriately, they're playing at the SeaMonster Lounge.


It Gets Worse
A simple and obvious play on the It Gets Better campaign, but so punk and so often true.


The Knowmads
Fun with our crazy English spelling. Wandering in a cognitive wilderness.


ZZ Top's Drummer's Drum Machine's Manager's Band
It gives me great pleasure to close out 2014 with something so gleefully over the top and simultaneously so depressingly downwardly spiraling.  

UPCOMING: Your Mother Should Know album release show, with Tom Price Desert Classic, Can You Imagine?, and Dead Bars  Friday, January 23 at the Highline Bar. I'd want to go to this show even if I wasn't playing! https://www.facebook.com/events/374070109426331/

December 20, 2014

Here in Seattle, we're dreaming of a wet Christmas, as usual. There are plenty of interesting shows scheduled this week -- even a few on Christmas Eve -- so if, unlike me, you are not responsible for Christmas preparations, get out there and make some band's holiday brighter. I'm bestowing my blog gift on these five:

Atomic Ballroom
I like how the first four syllables make you think it's headed one apocalyptic way, and then it makes a sharp turn into something completely different and joyous. And can't you just see the Jetsonsesque neon sign for this joint?

pigWar
A favorite incident of local history in one word. The non-standard capitalization makes it a treat for the eye as well as the ear.

Puddle of Mudd
I've always liked how mud and puddle not only go together but sound alike. That double-d completes the affinity.

Spirit Award
It sounds good, but everyone knows it's code for the Talentless Try-hard Trophy. But in this land of loser pride, that's a badge of honor.

Worm Ourobouros
The joke with worms is that you can't tell the front from the back. If it's swallowing itself, presumably the worm can tell.

UPCOMING: Your Mother Should Know album release show, with Tom Price Desert Classic, Can You Imagine?, and Dead Bars  Friday, January 23 at the Highline Bar. I'd want to go to this show even if I wasn't playing! https://www.facebook.com/events/374070109426331/

December 13, 2014

In addition to blogging about band names, I write a lot of long and short fiction. I don't trust poetry and only write it when I have to, so it's a little weird to announce that I am now a published poet.  My little effort "Popcorn" appears in the first Pankhearst Slim Volume, No Love Lost, now available in paperback here: getbook.at/nll

With that shameless plug out of the way, let's get down to the business at hand:

Connie and the Precious Moments

The surviving mug.

I'm a perennial fan of the classic X and the Y structure, especially when there's some clever twist to one or both parts. Nothing could be further from rock and roll than sentimental figurines. I have my own fraught relationship with Precious Moments, having received a set of four PM mugs as a wedding gift. We were not particularly sorry when some of them broke, but after 28 years, one remains and may outlive us all.



Good Luck Thrift Store Outfit
I like how this starts out as a random collection of not-obviously-related words, and then comes together in the end, much like an outfit assembled at Value Village. I have a few of these.

My Body Sings Electric
The old lit major in me is tickled by the connection of rock music to Whitman.

Sepiatonic
This makes a neat turn from old-timey Americana to a slick modern -- dare I say (1960s) futuristic -- vibe. 

South Kitsap Infidels  
Local flavor! There's a nice disconnect in the very specific locale modifying a noun seemingly from a whole other world.  

UPCOMING: Your Mother Should Know CD release show, with Tom Price Desert Classic, Can You Imagine?, and Dead Bars  Friday, January 23 at the Highline Bar. I'd want to go to this show even if I wasn't playing! https://www.facebook.com/events/374070109426331/

December 6, 2014

A new record: last week's post got 100 views! For a blog that usually gets 30 or 40, this is like the big time. Thanks to everyone who shares it with their friends! And thanks also to all the bands who keep this thing rolling. This week's picks:

Centaur Midwife
This kind of humanizes the mythical creature (if that's not an insult to centaurs). Like us, they benefit from help delivering their young. And now I've had a thought that never occurred to me before: where do centaur mamas keep their mammary glands? In the horse spot or the human spot?


Dumpster Baby
Homeless Man
These two get in as a bill, a heartbreaking but perfect pairing -- a little street family. In all seriousness, please remember the less fortunate this season as we celebrate the birth in a barn of a homeless peasant.


Fun X Force
Printed, it looks like a physics equation and read aloud, it sounds like a superhero party league.

Roadkill Ghost Choir
Something gross, something spooky, something inspiring. The spirits of flattened raccoons and possums join their voices in song.

UPCOMING: Your Mother Should Know CD release show, with Tom Price Desert Classic, Can You Imagine?, and Dead Bars  Friday, January 23 at the Highline Bar. I'd want to go to this show even if I wasn't playing! https://www.facebook.com/events/374070109426331/