LONG LIVE THE PARLOR MOB!

Hey all!  Welcome back to the bones where we attempt to inject a little badass into bloggery every day.  (Trust me, it’s difficult even for our leading scientists!)

A while back, probably about a year now, an awesome band from New Jersey managed to make their way to the Machine Shop.  The band was called The Parlor Mob and I haven’t heard about them since.  If you get the chance to see them, jump on it!  The band just echoes Led Zep, and unlike a lot of other bands, they do it well.  I’m not talking about cover songs or anything crazy like that, I mean that this band has some amazing vibes.  The lead singer actually sounds a lot like Robert Plant.  One of the best draws to this band, apart from the singer whom I could go on and on about, is actually their drummer.  Right?  A band with an impressive drummer?  How cool.  When I saw them they opened for Theory of a Deadman and these guys blew the pants off of the band that they were opening for.  Yeah, I’ve spoken to a lot of Theory fans and I know how tenacious they are, but I kid you not, had they been there even they would have admitted that The Parlor Mob put on a way better show than Theory this time around.  It’s a pleasure to watch this group and I’d love to see them around Michigan again!  Do yourselves a favor and give them a listen!

I’d also like to take a couple of seconds to thank all of you who messaged me about that annoying man on the CMU campus that I talked about yesterday.  Brought a smile to my face to know that I’m not the only one ranting about him.

                I’m Costello VonHumbolt III.

                                You stay classy, Internet.

Clever Post Title About A Cool Band.

                Loyal followers!  COME!  GATHER ROUND!  Let papa Costello tell you about some new sounds.  Guaranteed to blow your mind so high they won’t come down!  (Huh?  Seventies Reference?  YEAH :D )  The Bones is gearing up for the new season, so c’mon down, let’s have some fun!

                Well summer is nigh upon us and with it the summer concert season!  I figured today I’d give a shout out to a band that I’ve been following for the past year or so. 

                It’s not every day that you can find a local band that actually has a halfway decent sound to them, but hey, here they are.  The Hangers On are a small band from out of the Flint area with a powerful sound.  If Wolfmother had some sort of illegitimate love child somewhere, these guys would be it.  They have a pretty heavy seventies/eighties sound to them with a modern day flair.  They’re pulling the whole bassist is the lead singer thing that a few bands of note have been doing lately and honestly it works for them. 

                Honestly, the thing that I really like most about these guys is they, and by they I largely mean their guitarist, actually strive to put on a real SHOW.  It’s not every day you can go to a concert and see a band actually actively try to make it worth what you paid.  The Hangers On actually deliver on that.  So in all seriousness, half your ticket goes to music and half of it goes to watching these guys be fskin crazy!  (In a good way)

                I generally catch their shows at a place called The Machine Shop.  (GREAT place to catch smaller to upper midsize bands)  The venue is pretty small and when it gets packed with people it’s actually a really good time.  Lots of fans, lots of booze, lots of fun.  Speaking of fun, their fans are pretty fanatical.  I’ve actually wormed my way into the tight group of people that follow these guys pretty religiously and they’re pretty out of sight.  It doesn’t really matter how small of a turnout there is, these fans will get up and jump around.  Literally.  I’ve seen people pogo at these shows before.  It’s pretty freaking sweet.

                On the subject of fans, this band is actually still small enough to care about who follows them.  It’s not uncommon for them to actually be on speaking terms with a lot of them.  It’s cool to see a group that hasn’t really let it go to their head that they’ve made that first step out of the garage.

                Tickets for the shows that they play usually max out at like ten bucks.  What do you have to lose?  Give these dudes a listen, you will thank me for it later.

                That’s it for me tonight, hope I turned a few of you onto some good music.

                PEACE!

                                -Costello

What's that daddy? Why that's what we call a dill weed, son!

Hey all and welcome back to The Bones! 

               

                You ever see that long haired guy with the well trimmed beard sitting at a picnic table when it gets really nice out.  He’ll just be sitting there with an acoustic guitar in the sun.  Doesn’t matter how hot it is, he’s going to have some sort of fake Vietnam jacket on or maybe a scarf.  Just sittin there, chillin with his “axe.”  Then all of the sudden his doosh senses start tingling and he starts to play one of three songs that he knows:  Sweet Home Alabama, House of the Rising Sun, or a Nirvana song of his choosing.  (He feels that Kurt Cobain properly understands the torment in his soul that his parents just can’t fathom.)  So what set his Doosh Sense off?  Why a hot girl began walking up.

                Now music has been used to pick up chicks for many a year, but come on, sir.  Really?  Way to mainstream the one pickup line that most of us music nerds, hipsters, and hippies have.  “I may be twenty years old, in debt twenty grand in student loans and live in a cramped dorm room with three other guys, but I have a kick ass guitar!”  Now the stylish folk are taking that from us too? 

                Well two can play at that game.  Why don’t we just go out, get a gaudy kanji tattoo and buy some skin-tight tshirts of bands that we have never heard of.

                That’s another thing.  People that wear band tshirts.  Oh wow.  You like Dark Side of the Moon?  What’s your favorite track?  “Uhh… Dark Side of the Moon?”  Great, yeah.  That’s wonderful. 

The other day I actually struck up a convo with a really nice chick that had a Theory of a Deadman Tshirt on.  Woman actually knew what she was talking about.  Props to her.  From now on, we’re going by the Theory Girl rule.  If you can name five songs you like or have been to at least one concert, AND (And this is a big AND) can name at least ONE of the band members.  You’re golden.  Wear your apparel with pride.  You deserve it!

                Oh wow.  That feels WONDERFUL to get off my chest! 

                I think we should all try to be a judgeasaurus rex from time to time.   How else will we keep the doosh population down?

                Coincidentally yours,

                                -Costello

P.S.  Best Kurt Cobain joke of the week goes to Blondie!

P.P.S.  You know the drill by now!  Follow me!  Share me!  THE WORLD NEEDS TO SEE THESE WORDS! 

 

Stick this in your earholes!

              Wow, already twenty followers.  How cool is this!  For those of you just joining, welcome to The Bones, where we still have chips on our shoulders about having Kurt Cobain taken from us.  Yes.  We hold grudges here. 

                Anyway, I wanted to take a little bit of time to say thanks to everyone who is already following, it’s awesome to know that people are actually reading what’s up here!  I’d also like to say, let’s not stop at twenty!  Spread this mother around like butter! 

                So today I thought that I would talk about something that everyone dreads:  The death of bands.  Whether it’s because a band member died, or just because there were differences that just couldn’t be solved, bands break up all the time.  It’s a crying shame but it’s true.  So c’mon down and we’ll take a look at a couple bands that just couldn’t quite last.  (At least their music did!)

                Band number one, a personal favorite of mine, The Fratellis.  Imagine if the Beatles stuck around long enough to get into punk rock and then listened to a little Chili Peppers.  I like to think that that’s what The Fratellis sound like.  These guys are a band out of Glasgow that just sound so marvelous.  I highly recommend you check them out.  Their music videos remind me a lot of something that the White Stripes would come up with.  In fact, in their video for Chelsea Dagger Jon Fratelli, their vocalist, actually looks strangely similar to Jack White.

                Speaking of The White Stripes, let’s throw them up here!  Great band.  It’s very hard to say anything bad about them.  Maybe some could complain about Megs drumming, but hell that sound works for them.  The White stripes lasted from the late nineties all the way up to 2011.  Their last albums, Get Behind Me Satan and Icky Thump, were phenomenal to say the least.  They really did go out with a bang.  Music doesn’t always have to be complicated to be awesome.  The White Stripes proved that.  Check them out.

                Seriously, stick these two into your ear holes.  You’ll be ever so happy!  In a world where many groups survive on about three hits that they belt out over and over again, it’s sometimes refreshing to look at the ones that decided to stop while they were ahead. 

                Keep on Rockin Me Baby,

                                -Costello

P.S.  See that button over there, that says follow?  Yeah.  Click that!

P.P.S .  See that URL up top?  Show it to people!

Kay Thanks Bye!

               

Musical Wars and Pipes on the Floors

            Well would you look at that?  Three days of operation and still no core meltdowns.  I think there’s just one word that describes that:  WINNING! 

For those of you just joining The Bones, welcome to the best bastion of hippies, hipsters, groovy cats, and music lovers in the world.  Yeah.  I said in the world.  So there.

About a week ago, the lovely meat-bag that lives a few doors down began listening to a rather large amount of rap music.  How do I know this, when he lives so many doors down?  Why he thought it would be a wonderful idea to share!  “My goodness!”  Said he.  “What ever would happen if I turn the volume dial as far up as it can possibly go on my phonograph?”  Happily, his fingers decided to test out this experiment.  The entire hall was gifted with bass lines that could send Japan running for cover.  (Too soon?)  

This was a situation that I gleefully recognized as “sharing time.”  Swiftly as an eagle, I made a playlist consisting of the North Mississippi All Stars, Lyle Lovett and his Large Band, The Fratellis, and Gogol Bordello.  “Sharing time” quite obviously went swimmingly.  Sometimes dorm life can be fun.

So that was around mid afternoon.  Obviously, I didn’t have much homework that day so I basically had an entire night ahead of me of raiding old content in World of Warcraft.  Rather than do so, I decided to go hang out with my friend Jane.  Jane’s a pretty hip cat.  She actually gave me a voodoo doll once.  Anyone who does that is alright in my book.  Anyway, this was before she had turned twenty one, so rather than go to a bar, we decided to go to a hookah lounge around the Mount Pleasant area called Six. 

 

For those of you not from the Mount Pleasant area, Six is a big dark room filled with black leather couches, party lights, fish tanks, and of course, hookahs.  There’s generally a haze throughout the place and even if you’re not a smoker, like me, you’ll notice a really cool aroma through the place.  They have all sorts of televisions going with MTV or something trendy like that and all the while they’re blaring some sort of music.  It’s basically the polar opposite of Blue Midnight in the East Lansing area.  Loud, full of pre-drunk frat boys, and presently drunk sorority girls.   Great place to go to get psyched up for the Wayside and even better place to watch people make complete idiots out of themselves.

I think just about my favorite meathead at the place that night was a fine gentleman wearing a CMU hoodie who decided it would be completely brilliant to grab a lit coal from the top of his pipe.  From what I could tell it was a “HEY LOOK WHAT I CAN DO!” Moment.

Drunks are fun.  Their shenanigans, even more fun.

Long story short, cool place, don’t go there if loud top forty/rap really bugs you though.  They tend to play a lot of “popular music” at night.  Also, beware of prices.  I know the majority of you reading this are on loans, so be aware that this place charges per hose, per bowl, and even per person!

 

Last thing I wanted to say: If ever the cool barista from Kaya reads this, props to you on knowing who the North Mississippi All Stars are!  I salute you, sir!

Many Hugs and Many Kisses,

  -Costello

P.S.  As always, if you enjoy it, follow it!  (AIM, Yahoo, and all sorts of other services are able to follow it so don’t be shy!)

P.P.S. Share this with your friends!  Let’s bring them to the hip side of the tracks!