Northside Festival, Day 2 (Not Really) & 3: King Khan and The Shrines, Giorgio Murderer, Las Rosas, 6/10-6/11/16

King Khan and His Sensational Shrines

Back To Brooklyn

I have never made it to all four days of Northside Festival. Exhaustion, Father's Day, and just not wanting to be away from my family for another day have all contributed to the fact that two or three days are usually all I can muster. On Friday, I was dragging after getting home in the wee hours of the morning from Thursday's festivities. I sucked it up, though, and headed to Bushwick for a BBQ at Baranquilla studios featuring several of our friends including Psychiatric Metaphors and The Off White.

The camera stayed in the car, and I just relaxed there listening to Hot Curl after the arduous drive. I decided I should probably check out something official. As I arrived at my car to maybe head over to Alphaville, the exhaustion caught up with me; and I just decided to pack it in. We had a family event early the next morning, and I needed sleep.

So that was Day 2.

On Saturday, we got home from our thing at about 5:30. It was near Trenton, and I just could not drive anymore. Instead, I took the train to go see King Khan and The Shrines at Brooklyn Bowl. Just reading and relaxing as I putt-putted my way up to the city for 90 minutes was paradise.

As I entered Brooklyn Bowl, local band Las Rosas were already on stage. They play engaging psych / garage pop and have an album, Everyone Gets Exactly What They Want, coming later this year via Ernest Jenning Record Co. Also, I immediately recognized BOYTOY's Glenn Van Dyke on guitar which was cool.

Las Rosas

Next up were Giorgio Murderer, the synth punk alter ego of New Orleans, Louisiana's Buck Biloxi. Biloxi / Murderer took the stage in one of those all-black body stocking / Root Suit things underneath a camo jacket and orange shorts. He spoke mostly unintelligibly, his voice altered with that Cylon centurion effect from Battlestar Galactica. The music was mostly straight-ahead, power chord punk with the addition of synths. And it was all strangely awesome and awesomely strange.

Giorgio Murderer

At just about 10, the stage was set up for King Khan and The Shrines. Guitarist / emcee Mr. Speedfinger introduced the king and things were off. Horns blaring, keyboardist Fredovitch spinning and holding his keyboard over his head, King Khan exhorting the crowd to dance and shout back at him call-and-response style, it was everything I'd come to expect from my past experiences at King Khan's shows.

King Khan

At one point, a bunch of guys started moshing up front; and Khan told them, "Hey. This is people dancing and having a good time. It's not an exercise class. It's not an Agnostic Front show, though sometimes I wish it was." That calmed them down and it was back to just dancing. Through three different costumes, an hourlong set, and a wild encore, King Khan and The Shrines had Brooklyn Bowl cutting loose for a joyous party.

Fredovitch

When everything was over, I pushed my way through the incoming clubbers and hustled back out to the street to make my way home. I pulled into the train station at about 2:20 in the morning. My feet hurt and I was hungry; but, even all those hours later, I still felt the adrenaline of the show.

It's back to Brooklyn one more time tonight for the great Brian Wilson, provided my badge gets me in.

You can see pictures from all of last night's sets in the Flickr galleries.

King Khan and The Shrines Played Asbury Lanes w/ Red Mass and The Von Mons, 6/8/14 (PHOTOS)

Without a Helmet

Sometimes you have a moment that just makes something click. I've talked quite a bit here about the fact that the first post on this blog was a review of the Titus Andronicus / Screaming Females / Diarrhea Planet show at The Stone Pony back in March of 2012. That was a great night, and I love all of those bands.

Then, about a month later, CoolDaughter #1 and I went to see Bruce Springsteen at The Izod Center. We won the lottery and got spots right up against the stage. She grabbed Bruce's boots and sang into his mic. I even got a little choked up at being so close to one of my heroes -- so close that I got to help hoist him back up onto the stage as he surfed back from the rear of the crowd. It's an experience that I will never forget.

But, if I'm being honest, the moment that really set me on the path to what I've been doing here for the last two-plus years was when that can of PBR landed on my head at the last King Khan and The Shrines show at Asbury Lanes. I can't remember the last time I'd been to the Lanes before that; but, at that second, as a half-full can of beer bounced off the top of my head, something happened. I realized that there is an amazing world of music happening right in our own backyard -- both touring acts and excellent local bands. As King Khan made his way through the crowd and the lights came up that night, the sweat poured off of me; my head ached a little; and I rode a high like nothing I'd experienced in a very long time.

That's what I was thinking about as I walked into Asbury Lanes last night to see King Khan and His Sensational Shrines once again. There was the great local band, The Von Mons. Like King Khan and his tourmates Red Mass, The Von Mons play pure garage rock and roll. They decked the stage with kitschy props and had the crowd moving, even in the pre-summer, non-air conditioned Lanes.

Montreal's Red Mass, a musical collective led by Roy "Choyce" Vucino that cites as many as 60 contributors, performed as a quartet last night. They dripped sweat along with much of the crowd throughout their set. The band's bass player eventually removed his shirt, revealing a pair of f-hole tattoos designed to make him look like a cello or, more likely, a hollow-body guitar.

The Shrines took the stage and vamped as guitarist, Mr. Speedfinger, called out an introduction for the King. It was an impostor that took the stage first and did an amiable job on the first verse or so of the opening song. The real King Khan eventually took his place and launched into a set of psychedelic soul that sent the crowd at the front of the stage into convulsions of dancing and gyrating.

Over the course of the 90-minute set, keyboardist, Fredovitch, hoisted his instrument above his head several times. Band members climbed down from the stage and moved among the crowd, shaking tambourines, blowing a sax. Khan talked of sex, drugs, and childhood run-ins with the law. We screamed; we got down on our knees; we exploded off the floor.

For the encore, Khan emerged in purple spangled shorts, a wig, and a cape. A trio of masked accomplices joined him -- a rat, a goat, and a donkey. Fredovitch stripped down to a pair of bright red briefs on stage. Khan dangled his mic over the crowd like a fishing line. And then it was done.

We filed out into the night; and the cool air, smelling of the ocean, felt wonderful. I was smiling, riding that same high again. It's different for different people. Some people love jazz or hip hop or country or folk or opera or classical music. For me, it's a communal rock show like last night at the Lanes.

It's been a little bit less than two years since King Khan nailed my noggin with that PBR. Before that, I probably hadn't thought much about Asbury Lanes. I've been to A LOT of shows since then -- all over Asbury, Manhattan, Brooklyn, LA, Albuquerque.  Last night, though, I sat on the steps of Asbury Lanes before the show started and snapped a picture of the cracked bowling pin sign that hangs outside for the CoolDad Music Instagram. I captioned it, "Home away from home?"

Here are some pics of King Khan and His Sensational Shrines. There are more up at Flickr, and watch this space for pics of the other bands.

Asbury Lanes Under New Management

photo by: Wikijazz (Own work)

The Clock Is Ticking

I saw this Asbury Park Sun story earlier today.  It says that Chris and Bob Fahey, owners of Edgar's Pub in Manasquan, have taken over management of Asbury Lanes; and it sounds like, while they will honor the venue's current commitments, they want to make some changes.  From The Asbury Park Sun:

“There are shows that are booked, and we are going to honor those shows of course,” said Fahey, 36. “But we are going to bring in other types of music as well. We want to bring in other types of music so it’s not just the punk genre.”

That troubled me a bit, and further reporting done by Speak Into My Good Eye hasn't done anything to allay my fears that Asbury could be on the brink of losing one of its signature music venues.

Let's hope it doesn't come to that and that Asbury Lanes doesn't get transformed into just another Jersey Shore cover band bar.

I had a great time at The Lanes back in July when another cooldad and I went to the absolutely insane King Khan and the Shrines show.

Eminent Domain This

King Khan and the Shrines at Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, July 24th 2012

Asbury Park has had it pretty tough over the years.  Competition from other attractions for the dollars of summertime crowds and shoppers, civic unrest in the 1970's, failed redevelopment attempts, and good, old New Jersey government "mismanagement" have worked together over the years to deal the city some heavy blows.  In the last five or ten years, though, things have been getting much better.  Businesses have reopened on the boardwalk and in the downtown area.  Slowed a bit by the changes in the real estate market that have affected everyone, Asbury Park continues to improve.

The latest phase of Asbury Park's redevelopment efforts, started in 2002, calls for the city and a developer, Asbury Partners, to work together to build new town homes.  Last week, Asbury Partners released a list of seven properties that it intends to acquire, either via straight-up negotiation or eminent domain, and redevelop.  On the list:  Asbury Lanes at 209 Fourth Avenue.

Asbury Lanes has operated (I don't believe continuously) since the 1960's and currently offers bowling, burlesque shows, two bars, and both national and local musical acts.  Along with the Stone Pony and the Wonder Bar, Asbury Lanes is a big part of Asbury's musical history, and I, for one, would be sad to see it go.  After last night's -- and there's no other word to describe it -- insane performance from King Khan and the Shrines, I'm even more convinced that Asbury Park needs Asbury Lanes or someplace like it.

Another cooldad and I decided that we could handle the weeknight show, since it was local.  We grabbed a bite and a few beverages before heading over to the Lanes.  We caught the last half of openers Sikamor Rooney.  They, like Hector's Pets who followed them, were a fun, garage-rock style band who seemed to have a number of fans in attendance.

Asbury Lanes is a working bowling alley, and people bowled through the first two sets.  It has one "main" bar and a really nice second, more lounge-y bar that, strangely, wasn't operating last night.

At about 10:30, King Khan and the Shrines took the stage, complete with a three-piece horn section.  The King himself wore a sparkling shirt and a crown of green feathers on his head.  Immediately, the band started a relentless assault of punky, psychedelic soul that didn't let up for the full hour and a half set.  King Khan came down from the stage, into the crowd, several times; and the whole place took his oft-repeated advice to "freak the f*ck out!"  As a lead singer, Khan obviously takes some cues from James Brown, screaming and "Unh!"-ing his way through almost every song.

At the end of the last number before the encore, King Khan grabbed one of the ubiquitous PBR's from someone in the front, twirled it over the crowd like a lawn sprinkler, and then sent the half-empty can sailing over the audience until it found its landing spot squarely on top of my head.  I laughed, thinking about how, just hours before, I was cheering on CoolDaughters 1 & 2 at their summer camp swim meet.

For the encore, Shrines returned one by one to the stage, followed finally by a caped, shirtless, wig and bedazzled briefs-wearing King Khan.  The band powered through three or four more songs at the same relentless clip until Khan and his lead guitarist descended into the audience and disappeared toward the back while his keyboard player surfed on top of the keyboard as it was held aloft by the crowd.  Someone handed me the now abandoned mic and I passed it on as we filed out.  Khan had already made his way, still costumed, to the merch table.

I really don't have much information on how Asbury Lanes is performing as a business.  Maybe a negotiated sale to Asbury Partners is just what the owners need to settle their debts and retire comfortably.  But we will have lost something around here in the Jersey Shore 'burbs if it's no longer just a ten minute drive from sweating profusely at a kids' swim meet to sweating profusely at a crazy rock and roll show.

This doesn't give you a sense of the live show, but here's the latest from King Khan and the Shrines.