Al occasionally plays with some friends of mine in Dubuque IA (where he currently resides). From what they told me, US Maple is still very much together........FYI.

BTW, US Maple brought it all 4 times I saw them

-Jeremy

Yay!

US Maple is definately together. They rent a practice space which is the same e place in which my good friend resides. It's a living space/practice space combo. he's not a hobo.

Venues in DC area:

Rodan '94
Ride '92
Afghan Whigs '93
Built to Spill '97
My Bloody Valentine '91
Lift to Experience 2001
The Who 2000 (after Quadrophenia revival, which was good, before Entwistle died)
The Clean 2001 (all the song ended abruptly because they were opening for BTS, but each one was mesmerizing until the jarring ending)

ctrl-s wrote:Bikini Kill

I saw them twice. Although they had a reputation for highly uneven shows, they definitely brought it both times I saw them.

My list would include the Replacements, Rocket from the Crypt, Fugazi, Man or Astro-Man, Sleater-Kinney, the Melvins, the Fastbacks, and Nirvana.

I'm just going down the list without mentioning years...if they brought it, they brought it...time is inconsequential.

Shellac
Melvins
Fugazi
Oxes
Superchunk
Matmos
Mike Watt (W/Pair of Pliers)
Silkworm
Mission Of Burma
Ween
Mastodon
High on Fire
Fighting Dogs
Sonic Youth
Sunn O)))
Tony Conrad
Whitehouse
Borbetomagus
Jack Rose
Dinosaur Jr.
Afghan Whigs
Boredoms
Pavement
Jesus Lizard
Taking Pictures
Binges/Ten-Ton
Cala Bozulich/Nels Cline
Plastic Crimewave Sound
Tortoise
Magik Markers
The EX

eh...I'm sure there are tons more...any time I saw any of the above they did not fail me.

kerble wrote:Brainiac (ChampaignX2, Fireside)
Jesus Lizard (Peoria, ChamX2, chicagoX5?) every time
Bonnie Prince Billy Band (Lounge Ax--i see a darkness)
Vic Chesnutt (Schuba's, my birthday some year or the other)
Yo La Tengo (the first four times, the last two, they were just very good)
Rocket From the Crypt (Champaign + LAx + Metro)
Blue Meanies (a shit ton of times in high school)
Mr Bungle @ Metro on California tour, holy shit.
Trail of Dead (LAx, Metro, Bottle)
Fugazi in Peoria where they asked everyone to sit down
Blonde Redhead (Fireside, Metro, Fireside)
Thrones (fireside)
Sonic Youth @ the Rave in Mkee last year
the Ex (LAx-the other two times were brilliant, but that show killed me)
Built to Spill (LAx as a three piece)
Deerhoof (Open end and intonation)
De La Soul in St. Louis five years ago
Goodie Mob blew my mind that night, too.
Radiohead were incredible in St Louis and Grant Park
David Byrne @ the Riv and the Park West
Rachel's @ Abbey pub this year

good work, bands!

to add to the pile in the last year:

STNNNG the first time @ Bottle (foom!)
Arcade Fire @ bottle last year (serious-fucking-ly)
Call Me lightning (three or four of the times)
Mary Timony band (holy fucking shit last month @ schuba's)
volcano! @ the Bottle last time w/Detholz!-I have no words for it
Ebb and Flow @ hideout last summer
Oranger @ Double Door (pat fell down the flight of stairs and broke his foot mid set and got up to play seven more songs)
Detholz! @ Schuba's a bit back-I've seen em maybe fifteen times, that was the best they've ever been


good work, bands!

kerble wrote:

same wrote:maybe i'm wrong. some guy that works in the bar i live behind went to high school with those guys. this is where i got my information. he said something about that newer drummer dropping off the face of the earth i think.

is he a bald dude? really skinny?


sorry for my inane questioning.

he's got long hair and glasses and is like 6'5"

well: here goes nothin.

frankly many of the bands that I saw more than once had an off night or two. there were bands i saw a dozen times or so, and each gig was different. but these are bands i saw that i enjoyed. mostly in boston/cambridge, or ann arbor, or detroit.

radiohead - in bunrattys- touring on the first album. good show in a small club.

institue of technology - local boston guys. half jokey/half serious extremely entertaining.

the fall - the rat, 1983. awesome killing power.

hole at the rat a long time ago, pre-kurt i believe. my band opened. they were fucking good and courtney did what a singer is supposed to do.

jesus lizard - numerous times. the only time i did not enjoy them was in NYC after Mac had left the band. I thought Jim Kimball was amazing in the Hyeanas, but he was not right for TJL.

big black - some shows were more lackluster than others. technical difficulties that were not resolved tended to preoccupy steve, and he could not do his best. other times i was actually afraid that the music would hurt me somehow. and the firecracker trick never got old.

rapeman - the rat - one of the best rock shows i have ever witnessed.

shellac - various - consistently good, occasionally transcendant.

the church - st. andrews - no shit, these fuckers rocked. i hate their records, but they rocked.

the replacements - st. andrews - bob wasn't too drunk, paul was drunk enough. probably not their best, but better than the other times i saw them

swans - greystone. rolling thunder days - two drummers, two bass players - gira, that woman, wow. they brought in an extra PA for extra powerful killing sound. after the first song, the band stopped playing, and the whole place was silent. the whole crowd simply stunned, mouths agape. i have never seen a room full of people so blown away before.

naked raygun - better with haggerty than the later guy with the hollow body. once, at TT the Bears, i was back to back with a cute sweaty skinhead girl, we were defending our territory and enjoying the show. never did get her name.

minor threat - the channel

einsturzende neubauten - the channel. words cannot describe. the volume. the spectacle. one fucker, he was the bass drum. his instrument was a fucking 30 pound rock and a piece of plywood with a contact mic taped to it. he hoisted and dropped that fuggin rock in time for a 45 minute show. dayum.

husker du - mavericks - this was in 82 or 83. they played the whole set in 18 minutes. and that was enough. the crowd was exhausted, the place was wrecked.

american music club - the rat. like 12 people showed up. i felt guilty i was on the guest list. the band, seeing there was no crowd to speak of, unplugged the guitars and stood in a half circle in front of the stage and played about a half hour of acoustic stuff right into our faces, as we stood there facing them, 2 feet away. it was brought.

celibate rifles - blind pig - 87 or 88, right after that live album came out. first rate. and they stayed at my house too. after the show, we were sitting in my living room with my roomates. the rifles were eating twinkies and milk. we were quitely talking, getting ready for bed. there was a knock on the door. i answered it - it was like 35 people standing on the porch and the sidewalk with beer. We were having a Party! I heard ron Asheton was there. but I wouldn't recognize him.

Laughing Hyenas - once live on wcbn - something clicked and they were amazing. another time, after they had been on the road for two weeks or something, and they played a show at some crappy bar- they were road tight, and they absolutely killed.

nick cave and the bad seeds - spit - 1984 or so. first US tour. maybe first US date. basically the birthday party with blixa bargeld and barry adamson slotted in. again, words cannot describe.

my bloody valentine - axis- well played emo, an absolutely superlative mix.

firehose - blind pig - i don't really like them now, but they were a shit hot live band. and the blind pig is just about the perfect place to see a band like that.

helios creed - the rat - we opened. man that dude smokes a lot of hash.

half japanese- washington dc - i was there for some college radio convention. we found out about this gig. i have no idea how we found the place. I think the butthole surfers played first, but we missed them. my memory is foggy. the show was scary - there was a spotlight on stage, the band was pointing it at the crowd. no other lights to speak of.

i do remember the next day, we stole a vaccuum cleaner from the hotel - took it apart and put it in our bags and took it back to the radio station. how the fuck we got that through airport security, i will never know.

volcano suns - i saw every lineup, every guest guitar player (even kenny chambers once, i think) and they were always good. must be something about peter....

Tad- my bands first show. we played with tad. he was awesome.

nirvana - green street station - touring on Bleach. kurt had broken his guitar the night before, but i think they had pat smear by then. so kurt was free to channel iggy pop. probably not the best nirvana show ever, but it was very entertaining.

seam - i hate to admit it - these guys were really quite fine.

bulkhead - that little fucking room at the channel where they had bands for a while - i saw these guys 25 or 30 times easy. Half the time they were fun, but sloppy. this night was one of those nights where everything worked, even if by accident.

green magnet school - can't remember which club, but there was one show that stands out. chris was writhing around on the floor, being the singer, the bank was tight and the mix was good.

jawbox - brownies? towards the end of their run. very enjoyable rock show. first date for me and my wife.

the cows - CBGB - pretty fucking awesome display of hate.

john cale - some fancy place in cambridge (nightstage??) amazing show.

last exit - the ark, ann arbor. the only jazz show i ever really, truly enjoyed all the way through.

interesting there are no shows at the paradise listed here. i know i saw tons of bands there. likewise, the middle east, although I know i saw dozens upon dozens of shows there. may be they will come back to me.

there are other shows i am sure blew me away, i cannot now recall them.

there are bands i think i saw but i cannot exactly recall.

there are shows i remember, but do not make the list.

the memory is a strange thing.

i just remembered one:

Tar - i think they played at the rat, but it could have been tts or the middle east. very excellent show. so excellent that when they asked for a place to stay, i volunteered my couches. those guys smoked a lot... but thanks for the record, dudes.