Thank You!

I don't know about you, but I had a great time last night at the Cradle show! The Magic Babies started it out with an amazing set. Great guitar tones, spot on three-part harmonies, just a powerful 35 minutes of pop music. And a wurlitzer electric piano that just made my heart come out of my chest.

CG&J did what they do best- freak me out with their frenetic pace and raucus rock. Rockus? The only thing more fascinating to me than how Cantwell can play his drums so low to the ground is how Anne Gomez can have one finger on the first fret of her bass and another finger, on the same hand mind you, on the 22nd. Nonetheless, blew me away.

What can I say about Polvo? I've said before that Celebrate the New Dark Age was what we could call my coming of age record. Taught me that you can push the limits of melody and rhythm and still have great songs. Perhaps I had a sheltered upbringing, Idunno. I don't recall hearing any of my favorite songs off that record, but they did play Feather of Forgiveness and some new stuff that I can't wait to hear on an album. Get on that, fellas. And let me add that perhaps the only thing that surpasses Brian Quast's (I originally said Walsby because I'm a little dumb) drum skillz is his humbleness. Had to practically beg the guy to sign the poster. I mean, I know that for me it would take a while for it to sink in that I'm in Polvo, but dude, you're in Polvo, and you're awesome.

Double Negative have the uncanny ability to condense an hour's worth of earth moving rock into a 16 minute set. And if the world's scientists can ever figure out a way to come up with portable desalinization, these guys could effectively counter drought conditions with the sweat they produce. They played an oustanding set. Maybe a little short for my taste. I can't believe I just said that.

Fin Fang Foom. Fin Fang Foom. Fin Fang Foom. Wow. I've been watching them play for some 10 years now at least. Those guys are just plain incredible. My knees got weak by the end. I don't even know how to begin to describe it, but there is a good reason why they're one of my favorite bands and three of my favorite people in the world. Oh, and they have a bass player that also plays keys. At the same time. As far as I'm concerned, they stole the show.

So yeah, many thanks to the bands, many thanks to Dave Bjorkback for his unrivaled MCing, thanks to Frank and the Cat's Cradle staff for making it so damn easy, thanks to Chris Rossi, Patrick Klem and Nick Petersen for setting up the recording equipment and recording the show, and most of all, thanks to all of you who helped us raise somewhere in the vicinity of $5,000 for Cy! I hope to see you Thursday at the Local 506 as Grappling Hook, Tooth, and Colossus will raise the bar another notch. Bring earplugs!

Also, keep an eye out for CyTunes! Once we get these sets mixed down and ready to go, once CyTunes gets the last few details ironed out for the store, we should start seeing some of the performances from last night. I for one can not wait.