weekly music roundup june 23
Hey gang, probably a shorter one today. Just feeling brainbad in a pretty major way, but the world keeps spinning and so must we all!
Tonight! Ghosting Merit!
I haven’t been to a bad show at Pillar Forum. The performance space is solid, the vibes are always good. Ghosting Merit has one of the most talented musicians in the world as the drummer, so if you can’t get enough Emma, here’s a quick fix. On a related note she just posted a clip on instagram but in the description she’s got like, every show she’s playing for the next few months. I’m gonna probably be at more of these than not.
Surly Grrly’s residence at Mortimers continues, although this is your last chance to get there! I will be doing a fundraiser thing with a local kink group that night but YOU should go in my stead. Surly Grrly fun fact! My dad saw them at one of the No Kings protests, and thought they were really good and asked me if I’d seen them!
June 26th! EMMA AGAIN
The Emma Garau Trio is her jazz group I think? No cover, out on the icehouse patio. A lovely fucking evening, I am desperately trying to make this one, if I can shuffle around some other lesbian activities.
June 27th: HOLY FUCK
Ok, here’s my pick for SHOW OF THE WEEK (a segment I am not committing to doing with any kind of regularity) but like god damn this is gonna be a FUCKIN CERTIFIED BANGER. If you haven’t gotten a chance to see Blue Driver you really owe it to yourself to check them out, I haven’t found a band in this goddamn town that activates the Joy centers of my brain quite as hard as they do. I like, get the biggest idiot grin as soon as they start playing. Kyrie Nova and The Defiant, another absolute fave. One of the many groups containing “The Hardest Working Woman in Midwest Dollpunk”, C (also of Doll Chaser and Critterthing and anyways I’m gonna write more about her down below so whatever). The other bands are probably also gonnna be great. 7th St is probably my fave venue in the First Ave ecosystem, it’s such a fun little cave to freak out in. Please come to this show and say hi to me pleeeeease I’m gonna feel self conscious if I put on clown makeup but I might… 🥺
Saturday has three shows and they’re all gonna fuck. Como Backdoor is doing another Dyke Night, they’re a great house show venue (the bathroom is clean even though the hallway leading to it smells like dying asses). Kyrie Nova is playing at the Terminal, which should be very gay. And S.L.O.G., who I finally saw for the first time at Joyfest and who absolutely FUCK so heavy is playing at the Pink Palace (a house I haven’t gotten to check out yet). Take your pick, they're all gonna rip.
Non music Upcoming Event!!!!!!!
The Autonomous Zine Fest is happening this Sunday!!!!!!
Kenny and I are going! Kenny will be selling prints of his collage art (it fucking whips) and I’m gonna be selling some of my little amateur fetish smut things, so if you want short stories about my weird kinks and weird fetish pics of me in analog form, show up and say hi!
LAST WEEK ROUNDUP
Ok so I was scum and I basically only did Joyfest out in Chicago. I’m gonna try and write a bit more about the spiritual aspect I feel when I go to shows, especially one as emotionally charged as this one, but here’s some initial writing on it.
It was my first time like, “going somewhere to see a show”. and I learned a lot for whenever I do that again. From what I understand it was a pain in the ass to get the show to come together, they had a last minute venue change that fucked them over. We had a cat health issue the day before, and Kenny gets really bad cat anxiety when we travel. And my mental health was ass the days before and the day of the show (and continuing on). Even with all that unpleasantness I’m still so glad I went. The performances were amazing, every band poured their heart and soul onto that stage. I promised I would talk more about C, and she absolutely blew me away. She’s always rock solid in Kyrie Nova and The Defiant and Doll Chaser, but every single time I see Critterthing perform I get more and more obsessed with her. Go see Critterthing, they make me cry every single time.
I did Karaoke on Friday, and I got to do TWO SONGS. Exes and Ohs by Elle King was very fun and silly and felt on brand for me, but I also did Nude by Radiohead and, hey, if you like me and the way I think about stuff, here, have a little art moment. Listen to Nude first, so you know what the original sounds like, and then check this shit out (you can skip like a minute in). This is one of the most affecting… covers? I guess? I’ve ever seen. This is one of the ways I understand the way I am trans. I am a shitty little machine who wants to make music. It’s not perfect, but fuck I’m trying so goddamn hard. I know it’s not the original purpose of this body, but I think the way I play the song adds something interesting. I dunno. This gets me in my feelings every time I see it.
If you see me give me a hug and tell me I’m gonna be ok, I have a hard time asking for help but fuck everything is so much right now. Also I need a job.