October 29, 2011

This is my 52nd weekly post -- a whole year of Square Pig in a Round Hole. Lots of Halloween-themed shows this weekend, but we got such a good dose of loud music last week at the Mudhoney show that we're going to the opera, instead. Only two of my picks seems at all Halloween related, but here they are:

Aaiiee
When I was a kid, we had a Spanish-language Peanuts book. Where in English Charlie Brown would yell, "Aauugh!" in Spanish, he'd yell, "Aaiiee!" So maybe this is more of a Dia de los Muertos thing than a Halloween thing. Regardless, I love the repeated vowels.

Gringo Star
This one got the biggest laugh from the resident panel. It doesn't look like much on the page, but speak it aloud -- perfect.
 

Imaginary Daughter
One of my favorite fictional characters, Thursday Next, has a daughter who exists only in her imagination. I saw this and immediately thought of Jenny.

Koffin Kats
It's the Ks. Respelling "coffin" takes the sting out of it, and cats make everything better.

The Peculiar Pretzelmen 
This is either an obscure Victorian science fiction title or one of my kid's Blood Bowl teams. I  like it either way. How could pretzelmen be anything but peculiar? 

October 22, 2011

Even though the Fastbacks had to cancel, I'm looking forward to the Mudhoney show at Neumo's tonight. I mostly missed the '90s, so it's nice to have another shot.

Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad
I'm a sucker for names that are impractically long, and this is also a comical image. Just picture giant pandas doing anything worthy of the name "guerilla."
 
Methamfeta Cheese
A favorite category of wordplay -- starts someplace sinister, ends up someplace silly or even comforting. That said, this must be some pretty powerful cheese.


Mudhoney
I seldom blog about big-name bands, but I loved this name from the start, even if I didn't hear the music until recently. It has that melding of filth and sweetness, and the repeated schwa sound makes it plop off the tongue in a satisfying way.

Psychedelephant
See Methamfeta Cheese, above. Same deal but with pachyderms. If you see this, you've had enough.

Robot PI
This reminded me of when one of the resident youths was in 8th grade and had an assignment to write a detective story. He preferred sci-fi because he wanted his protagonist to be a cyborg. I assured him there was no rule against a cyborg detective, so that's what he wrote about.

We spent about 4 hours at Reverb last Saturday afternoon, then popped back at 10 p.m. for one more band. We heard 6 groups, all winners. Two I've blogged about before, but only one I'd heard: Mutiny Fires, Shaprece, Stephanie (see below), Less Than Equals, Tom Price Desert Classic, and Curtains for You.

Life in a Blender
It feels that way sometimes, and that's when we need loud music the most.

McFiredrill
I'm not sure what this means but it's fun to say. (OK, I suppose it's actually MC Firedrill, but my way is funnier). Maybe this is the kind of fire drill where the alarm goes off and everybody goes and stands in the hall rather than taking the stairs all the way outside. Fast and easy but somehow unsatisfying.
 
Stephanie
I'm not sure I would have included this outfit had I not seen them at Reverb -- 5 very young guys, none of them likely to be named Stephanie. I imagine them sitting around one night after rehearsal -- "What are we gonna call our band, guys?" Thoughtful silence. A raised hand. "I've always liked the name . . . Stephanie." Done.

That 1 Guy
That One Show
These two really belong on the same bill. They both take a fragment of the inexact way we talk and, by making it a name, turn it into something specific.

October 8, 2011

Reverb Festival today! Go!

Astronautilis
Star Squid! The resident science guy thought this might actually work: put a little helmet on there, pressurize the shell, and let it jet around the galaxy.

Astronomar
 I was kind of hoping for four more Astro- names but I found only one. This one appeals because it sounds like a real word but I don't quite know what it is. The Starry Sea? Or an obscure Spanish infinitive: astronomo, astronomas, astronoma, astronomamos, astronomas . . .?

Cymbals Eat Guitars
My favorite of the week. Unplug the amp, and those guitars don't stand a chance.


Throwin' Goat
I guess it's a metal term, but this sounds like a goofy rodeo event, up there with my favorite, wild cow milking.

Unicorn Porn
Okay, it's pretty obvious once you think about it. Now I have to be careful not to Google images of this.

October 1, 2011

Just got tickets for the Fastbacks and Mudhoney at Neumo's on the 22nd. I heard the Fastbacks once back in the '80s, when they opened for the Ramones. This will be my first Mudhoney show, but I've always loved the name. I'm also tickled by the irony of learning about the show by reading a Seattle Symphony program at Benaroya Hall. It all fits together.

Evergrey
After Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980, Washington was referred to as The Evergray State. This could also refer to the upcoming winter. Try not to think about it.

The Goddamn Gallows
I can't think of a better response when faced with such a thing. And I can't help adding "again" just to make it weirder.

oOoOO
I don't know if this is "Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!" or "Ooooo!" but I like it either way.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Long and old-fashioned.

Retox
Short and snappy, with wordplay and a whiff of danger. Perfect.

September 25, 2011

I'm posting a day late because we chose to spend the last nice day for a while at Mt. Rainier. It was a beautiful day for a walk in the woods. Today, not so much, but maybe a good time to go indoors and hear a band or three.

Don Peyote
A masterful example of a play on words that must be spoken aloud for the joke to register.

Duckmandu
Ducks, like chickens and pigs, are always funny. This has the added pleasure of alliteration with that second D.

The Grindylow
 I like that it's only one of them.

Woodgrain
Completely independent of this band, my kid once used Woodgrain as a screen name in an online fighting game, in an effort to come up with something absurdly boring and non-threatening with nothing whatever to do with the game. I have to hope these guys were thinking along similar lines.

Your Cell: Yourself
Taking self-awareness to a whole new level.

September 17, 2011

I've been corresponding with an aspiring novelist whose story partly revolves around a rock band that's been together for over twenty years. I suggested, as a way to better understand her characters and their backstory, to consider what they called their band before they came up with the current name -- back when they were 20, playing for 10 or 15 people in a dive bar on a Wednesday night. How many names did they go through and how many fights did it cause? Because I can't imagine most bands came up with a winning name first time out of the box, and that's part of the story. By whatever process, these bands came up with winners:

Anhedonist
I like this because it can be taken a couple of ways: one who is not a hedonist -- not anti, just . . . not. Or (because some people like to use the article "an" with words that begin with "h") it could be the article and the noun run together -- one who is an hedonist. I expect it's up to the listener to decide.

Insect Surfers
Insects on surfboards: cute. People using giant insects as surfboards: trippy. People surfing waves of bugs: ew.


Magic Bus
I'm an old Who fan, and I've always loved this song, so I couldn't pass this one by.

Write This Down
The irony is that at a live performance, you can't understand most of the words.

YO! Majesty
This is exactly the right attitude toward monarchy.