First Friday @the Palace

Oh boy, people having fun, what more can one ask for? It is Friday night in the Palace, and my first print show has just opened. That's not what put the smiles on these folks.

A romping, stomping performance by Travis Seahorn created the smiles and general celebration. Earlier there was a raffle to benefit the American Humanics Student Association.

Mayor John Engen was his usual jovial self, as he drew and read the names of winning tickets.

Ross Voorhees opened the program with a folksy sound aided by a kazoo.

Thanks to friends, Maria Kendra and Hermina Harold, of Butter, and more of their friends, the show went up on Thursday night. The effort was complicated by Metal Militia night with sound volumes, which made communication by anything but sign language impossible. 

There was some wild drumming. 

One of my favorite groups, Walking Corpse Syndrome, blasted out their usual power rhythms with two drummers in the back. If I can just manage to capture a few more good images of the fiddle player, I will have a good grouping for an upcoming print show of metal bands. 

Walking Corpse Syndrome Headlines Metal Show

Metalheads gathered upstairs in the Union Hall on Friday, October 9, for an evening of their favorite music.

Local stars, Walking Corpse Syndrome headlined the show.

They sport a spectacular look,

and the fiddle playing is good, too.

Odyssey, from Spokane, opened the show.

KaNcErUs came from Billings to fill the second spot in the line up.

There is a healthy set of Walking Corpse Syndrome on the flickr archive. Odyssey and KaNcErUs will soon have sets, too.

This show in the Union Hall was the beginning of a great weekend of music in zootown. Later, Friday, Clumsy Lovers of Vancouver, B.C., had a bunch of folks dancing jigs over at the Top Hat. Saturday, there was more frenzied dancing at the Top Hat, as Ragbirds drummed up a storm. Meanwhile, Hillstomp, a crazed pair of blues players from Portland paid another visit to the Palace. I try to see those guys every time they come to town. They already have two sets on flickr, and soon there will be another. Ditto for Clumsy Lovers.

Metal Show in the Union Hall

Zootown's two top metal bands sandwiched At Home in Hell, the visiting band, at the Union Hall, Saturday, August 29,2009. Blessiddoom opened with the 666 policeman denouncing thought crime, or was he exhorting others to commit thought crime? His stance received a challenge from stage left.

Then came the most exciting duet I have ever photographed. This is hot stuff, as Chelsea and Eddie go at it.

Two drummers give Walking Corpse Syndrome a solid rhythmic foundation, and every member of the band performs with vigor. The result is a whopping, professional look and sound.

Some are surprised I like metal bands, but I like any kind of music, when it is done well and played with high energy and heart. These two bands are delivering exciting performances. I came home with a Corpse CD, which proved to have excellent production values. Zootown seems to give most local music makers a twist to their genre, making the local sound better than the national average. Except for a few classics, I wouldn't listen to anything labeled country, until I came to Missoula. Here, the country is bigger than country.

This all ages show occurred the same Saturday the Roots Festival started, and I left Roots after Great American Taxi to watch Blessiddoom. After Blessiddoom I made the rounds. Downstairs, the Union Club was deader than a mackeral, empty and listless, with the Workers on stage. I returned to the festival to check out Donna the Buffalo, the final act, which was OK, but tame compared to what I had just seen. Nothing was stirring at the other venues yet.

After Walking Corpse Syndrome, the festival was over for Saturday, the Club was better populated, but still listless. Reverend Slanky and posse occupied the Palace, as I have already posted. Mike Bader Blues Band was at the Top Hat laying down some tight blues, nothing off the beaten path, but solid.

Blessiddoom and Walking Corpse Syndrome each have a set on flickr. The slideshow function on flickr is as close as I can get to producing that you are there feeling. The sequence between Eddie and Chelsea is special. Also, I finally captured the guitar player's glowing suit, during the final set.

Blessiddoom will play the Palace on Friday, September 11, and I'm wondering why I don't see that on missoulaevents.net.

Underground, Part 2--Walking Corpse Syndrome

Technically, the Union Hall is not underground, being the venue upstairs to the Union Club, but the sound is underground. This night Walking Corpse Syndrome lived up to their headlining status. I had been late and missed their performance at Club Q, earlier in the month, and I wasn't about to miss this one.

This is one of the best-known metal-punk bands of zootown. There are solid rhythm riffs backing socially conscious lyrics, believe it or not, and I enjoy watching them.

Another photographer captures some animated fiddling.

The venue has some limitations, a lack of A/C being one, but a common one in zootown.

Doomfock, above, opened the show, followed by Mageddon, the lively crew below.

As usual, there are more images from this event on the flickr archive. Walking Corpse Syndrome may also be seen early last year competing in the finals of the PBR battle of the bands at the Other Side.

Dammit, I miss the Other Side. There go the best lighting and sound systems in town.