Music News

Music News

For the week of January 30th, 2002

by Tom Hallett

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Rock ’n’ roll is all about living beyond your means. The more you make, the more you spend. All of a sudden, your salary goes up like, 50 thousand dollars, and it's wow-ee! Look at all this shit. Then year two, it’s like, why am I in the red? You mean we have to pay for all these whores and hotels? I thought the record company did that!”
—Johnny O’ Halloran

SONG OF THE WEEK: “Too Far Gone”
by The Youngers

Yes, kiddies, it’s that time again. Time to put the old year in perspective and (Thank God!) get on with the new one. In keeping with the spirit of Pulse’s year-end issue, I’d like to present you, the reader, with Round The Dial’s 2nd Annual “Tommies” awards:
Best venue to see national/international artists: Kudos to First Ave. for another great year of eclectic shows, one of the hardest working staffs around, and that pizza!! Mmm-mm!!
Best venue to see local/national artists: Once again, The Turf Club wins this one—great service, the best peeps, killer tacos and consistently cool local rock ‘n’ roll, blues, punk, country and rap, all served up pipin’ hot without the attitude! Honorable mentions to 7th Street Entry, The Dinkytowner, and Sursumcorda.
Best place to get shit-faced drunk: Hands down, the Clown Lounge in the basement of The Turf is your best bet to help ya forget! Plus, Arzu’s Staraoke provided us all with fantastic, hilarious entertainment while we soaked our livers this year!
Best bartender, Mpls.: If you can find a better, smarter, funnier, quicker bartender under pressure than Mr. John Casey at First Ave., you must travel a lot. Honorable mention to all those unsung mixologists at Lee’s, Mayslacks and The Uptown.
Best bartender, St. Paul: Oh, Dale, you fill up my sail / Like Billie Holiday, you make me wail / An’ when you’ve served me too much / You always supply a pail! Thanks for the pours (and the fashion tips), Dale Anderson at The Turf. Honorable mentions to Jim at The Turf and Kermit Carter at Big V’s.
Best venue to get served by guys in rock bands: You can’t beat The Uptown for this one—whether you’re havin’ a post-party, Bloody Mary breakfast or a quick snack before the bands kick in, you’re bound to run into a bright-eyed, cash-strapped singer, drummer, or guitar-player with his eye on the prize, his mind in the gutter, and a tray gripped firmly in hand.
Underdog music venue of the year: This one’s gotta go to Big V’s—while the snobs and scenesters were worried about kickin’ it with the common folk, we caught a solid year’s worth of memorable local shows in this downhome, free-flowin’ liquor-joint. Rock on, Vick! Honorable mentions to Bon Appetit, who are being forced to close due to some nasty Minneapolis politics.
Best hard rock/metal venue: Big props out to Fourth Street Station/The Lab for continuing to sponsor and nurture local and underground hard rock and metal, and for their attempts to blur the lines between “grunge,” “thrash” and “death” metal. Let’s all remember that Kurt Cobain learned to play guitar by sitting in his bedroom and playing along with Black Sabbath tunes. Honorable mention to The Quest, especially for their all-ages/18+ gigs.
Best local music FM radio show: Though they’ve been at it for five years now, the cast and crew of KQ’s Homegrown have really hit their stride in the past 12 months. Featuring interviews and live, on-air performances from a never-ending parade of great local artists every Sunday at midnight, Mei Young and her staff deserve four gold stars. Honorable mention: Cities 97’s Jason Nagle. Lifetime (OK, 10 years, but in this town, 10 years IS a lifetime!) Achievement Award: Bill DeVille, Cities 97.
Best public radio: KFAI (90.3 or 106.7 FM)—a different radio station every hour! Viva la difference! Props out to all the jocks and volunteers at this perennial fave, especially everybody on Friday nights, and to Earl Root, who’s gettin’ damn close to two decades of presenting the Twin Cities’ best metal show, Root Of All Evil, and a kickass annual Frank Zappa tribute.
Best AM radio: Sad to say, but these days there’s simply nothing worth a damn as far as commercial, music-oriented AM radio goes. Thank the stars for Radio K (770)—another year well done, kids! Special mention: “Cosmic Slop”—the brightest jewel in the K’s crown.
Best record store, Mpls.: Ya know, I didn’t do a whole helluva lot of shopping in Minneapolis this year, but I think this award should go to Mark Trehus and the staff of Treehouse Records on chutzpa alone. Honorable mentions to Let it Be, Know Name and Electric Fetus.
Best record store, St. Paul: Going by my Minneapolis criterion, Eclipse wins this one hands down—keeping live, all-ages music alive for the kids is mucho importante, amigos. Right on, Joe! Honorable mention to Root Cellar Records, always number one in my book.
Best local music coverage in a daily paper: There’s no question that Jim Walsh at the Pi-Press deserves this one, is there? I don’t know anybody who gives a damn about the local music scene that doesn’t immediately search for his name when they pick up that paper. Who else could make Rolling Stone believe there was a Replacements reunion at St. Paul’s Turf Club? Honorable mentions: Amy Carlson, Pioneer Press.
Best local ‘zine: Nobody better embodies the raw, passionate spirit of the late Lester Bangs (with the addition of sports references and minus the cough syrup) than local writer/music hound Bill Tuomala. His bibulous monthly rants, raves and rock ’n’ roll spoofs in Exiled on Main Street (www.readexiled.com) make the absence of other great local rags like The Squealer and Cake a little easier to swallow.
Best guitar player with one ear: This one goes out to Dennis Hildreth of The Mammy Nuns, who continues to rage against the dying of the sound even as his eardrums crumble like old Swiss cheese. Rock on, Dennis!
Hardest working man in show biz: It was a close call between two fellers on this one, but since I already picked Rich Mattson for Local Artist of the Year, I feel more than comfortable giving this award to Rob Rule at The Turf Club. This cat not only keeps the SPMC alive and well and books and runs sound at hundreds of gigs annually, he also provides The Mammy Nuns with a solid base and a practice space, puts on dozens of inspired stage shows, tributes and events every year, and always manages to put that extra little bit of “home” into the place no matter how tired, hung-over or overworked he feels. Cheers, Rob!!
Hardest working woman in show biz: I know, I already gave her props for her excellent local music show, “Homegrown,” but whether putting together killer local shows, supporting local businesses, bands and concerns, or just figuring out which one of the 2,000 local acts who’ve petitioned her for airtime to play this week, nobody does it harder. Or better.

Next week: What to Keep an Ear Out For in 2002.

If you have local music news/gigs/events that you’d like to see mentioned in this column, or you’d just like to remind me that I forgot about you again this year, send replies to: TMygunn777@aol .com.