Well, I cleared two big hurdles in Bookville this week, so I took myself a weekend. The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad played at Dally in the Alley, a end-of-summer fest at Wayne State. Fortunately, my friend and former student Dustin was there with his DSLR:
That’s the best shot. But of course I’m partial to my girl:
They really did well. I’m so proud.
It was a great Dally — perfect weather, lots of fun people, the smell of dank in the air after dark. Drank too much beer, of course, but check that golden-hour light, will ya?
It was a great weekend. Hope yours was, too.
MarkH said on September 8, 2014 at 4:45 am
Great pics, Nancy, thanks for sharing. How does DVAS get booked? Are they on a roster of a local agency? Or are they now just on the talent radar screens in metro Detroit and get random calls and inquiries.
206 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on September 8, 2014 at 6:37 am
It was good, but not THAT good! Congrats, mom.
46 chars
Jolene said on September 8, 2014 at 6:57 am
Am so impressed that Kate and her friends have the drive and discipline–not to mention the talent–to do this. Three cheers for them!
134 chars
brian stouder said on September 8, 2014 at 7:32 am
Marvelous photos, indeed; and if a picture is worth a thousand words, than this was a 3,000 word monograph – and a really good one, too!
136 chars
Judybusy said on September 8, 2014 at 9:29 am
It’ so cool Kate and her friends are doing so well!
We had a glorious weekend, weather-wise: sunny, low himidity, mid-70s.
125 chars
coozledad said on September 8, 2014 at 9:48 am
That’s a good look for psych punk metal. All they need now is for some big act to recruit them as an opener. My recollection is that women bands got along better.
OT but I was just reading an interesting story about Shane McGowan from the Pogues’ early days. Robyn Hitchcock was waiting outside some punk club that was pretty much packed, waiting to get in. Some guy fell down a couple of flights of stairs to the entrance and Robyn thought “They’re going to let that in?” They had to. He was the headliner.
511 chars
Bitter Scribe said on September 8, 2014 at 10:13 am
When are you going to put up a sound file, Nancy?
(Apologies if you already have and I missed it…link?)
108 chars
Charlotte said on September 8, 2014 at 10:20 am
Cooze — I saw the Pogues open for Elvis Costello in Dublin in 1984. The National Stadium is just a boxing arena, so it wasn’t very big. They were so drunk they were basically just beating on one another with their traditional instruments, and we were afraid to laugh, because they were close enough we thought they could hop off the stage and start whacking on us. Oy.
369 chars
coozledad said on September 8, 2014 at 10:27 am
Charlotte: It’s like Tom Waits said: They were a cross between The Boys of the Lough and the Sex Pistols. Much brown liquor was consumed in that project.
153 chars
jcburns said on September 8, 2014 at 10:39 am
Last I checked, the DVAS have three songs on Bandcamp that you can listen to and even purchase for your very own.
174 chars
Deborah said on September 8, 2014 at 11:02 am
Great photo of Kate. I’m proud of her and I’ve never met her or her Mom and Dad.
80 chars
nancy said on September 8, 2014 at 11:09 am
Yes, J.C. has the link. Listen, download, do whatever you like.
The girls are in sort of a strange place, booking-wise. They are too young to even enter most of the places they’ve played so far, and the bars see music as essentially a lure to sell more beer. They tried to get re-booked at a place they played earlier in the summer, but the manager said, “Oh, you’re the ones who brought in all the high-school kids? Sorry, no.”
So no, no agency. It’s all word-of-mouth and email now. The festivals have competitive applications, so getting into the ones they did this month — the Dally and Arts/Beats/Eats last weekend — were nice perks. A LOT of bands applied.
672 chars
adrianne said on September 8, 2014 at 12:02 pm
Proud punk parents! Kate and her squad rock.
44 chars
brian stouder said on September 8, 2014 at 12:04 pm
One funny illusion, thanks to the golden hour of sunlight in the photo of Madam Telling Tales and her handsome consort, is that Nancy appears to be sloshing beer out of her cup, and upon Alan
and speaking of (potentially)spilled beer – Great Scot!!
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/08/world/europe/uk-scotland-independence/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
343 chars
MarkH said on September 8, 2014 at 12:31 pm
All y’all go to the Bandcamp site and enjoy; you won’t be disappointed. ‘Cold Feet’ in particular, from Kate’s intro line to the lead singer’s closing rant. High School girls!
175 chars
Heather said on September 8, 2014 at 1:25 pm
That is great. I always wanted to be in a band but I don’t have the talent or inclination to play music, so I went the traditional route–rocker boyfriends. Kate’s path is much better! You all look wonderful and happy.
218 chars
Joe Kobiela said on September 8, 2014 at 4:34 pm
The pictures look great, I love the lead singer rocking the Betty Page hair.
You should be proud.
Bravo Zulu,
Pilot Joe
123 chars
Jolene said on September 8, 2014 at 5:22 pm
There’s a couple of potentially good things on TV in the next couple of days. Tonight on HBO, there’s a documentary re the FDNY produced by Steve Buscemi. Buscemi was a firefighter before he was an actor–or, more accurately, while he was trying to become one. After 9/11, he went back to his old unit and spent a couple weeks working with them at Ground Zero. That reconnection gave rise to this doc, which I think is about what it’s like to be a NY firefighter, not about 9/11.
http://m.hbo.com/documentaries/a-good-job-stories-of-the-fdny/
Tomorrow night on PBS, Frontline is doing a show on the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. Should be interesting, if horrifying, to learn more about it.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/inside-frontline/inside-the-ebola-outbreak/
786 chars
Jolene said on September 8, 2014 at 5:33 pm
Speaking of the Ebola virus, if you were ever inclined to contribute to Doctors Without Borders, now would be an excellent time to do so. It’s hard to imagine a more heroic or, as far as I know, effective humanitarian organization. And, as the Frontline description makes clear, they are absolutely at the tip of the spear on Ebola.
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org
373 chars
MarkH said on September 8, 2014 at 7:06 pm
Good call by Pilot Joe! I was trying to think of who the DVAS lead singer reminded me of; of course, Bettie Page. And good eye spotting Nance in mid-slosh in that pic, Brian.
Let me make an easy second to Jolene’s plea for help to Doctors Without Borders. Our son’s former pediatrician has worked with them for years, going back to his infancy. Now retired, she still travels to help when she can and comes back with heartwarming stories. Unparalleled giving of their part.
476 chars
Basset said on September 8, 2014 at 7:29 pm
Even tougher for bands here in Nashville – sometimes the clubs want you to pay them to play. My buds and I have managed to hang onto our annual spot at St. Patrick’s Irish Picnic – been playing longer and later in the day each year, so I guess that’s a good sign, and any barbecue which goes through eleven tons of pork shoulder and a few thousand chicken halves in two days is worth going to just to eat – but we couldn’t get a call back from the National Banana Pudding Festival this fall, so we won’t be making up any tour t-shirts. Maybe next year.
Bettie Page was from Nashville, btw, and went to the same high school as Basset Jr.
641 chars