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flyer by Steph Neary
The first Ramones album was released on April 23rd, 1976. It's a great album. On Friday, April 22nd, 2016, I booked a tribute show to the Ramones for the 40th anniversary of that album. Ten bands played Ramones songs for 10 minutes each all night at the newish venue, Spirit. We also had a booth from the Carnegie Library with Ramones/punk media and trivia games and a DJ playing Ramones-related songs. It was a fun night.


The Weird Paul Rock Band played first. They played "Timebomb", "I Wanted Everything", "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement", "Poor Little Rich Girl", and "Durango 95". "Poor Little Rich Girl" was the only Dee Dee King song played the entire night. The set was pretty authentic to the Ramones sound, guitar-bass-drums. Weird Paul was wearing sunglasses, which got in the way for one of the songs; he had to take them off so that he could check the lyrics.


Second up was Jim Storch on his ukulele. I think a lot of people were thrown off. I heard that some of the audience anticipated the show to be one or more Ramones tribute bands, which wasn't the case. All of the bands have their own songs and do shows pretty often around the area. If some people left, too bad. Anyway, Jim did a good job; he played "Rockaway Beach", "She Talks to Rainbows", and "I Want You Around". They all sounded good, with a very cool and Ramones-appropriate lo-fi sound, especially "Rockaway Beach". I also really liked "She Talks to Rainbows", because I had never really heard it before. Jim said that he based his cover off of the Ronnie Spector version.


The new band, Beasters, played third. Beasters is composed of 2/3 of the band the Cunks and 1/3 of the band Boys. They played a doom/fuzz/noise rock that sounded like it was sung by Macho Man Randy Savage. They referred to this as caveman rock; it was an appropriate name. The songs they chose were "Beat on the Brat", "Mama's Boy", "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", "Judy Is a Punk", and the version of "Happy Birthday" the Ramones played on The Simpsons. The songs were so distorted and weird; it was great!

pfoto by Steph Flati

My new band was next. We're called Sorry, I'm Dead from a line in the NES game Monster Party. This was our first show. We played "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?", "Glad to See You Go", and "Everytime I Eat Vegetables, It Makes Me Think of You". The second song was dedicated to some jerks I know, and the last one was for my friend Patrick. I'm really happy with the set we did, but this was the only one that I forgot to record. We might do some new versions at our practice space. Though the band was formed just for this show, we are definitely gonna be playing out some more in the coming months.


Bat Zuppel, was next, and they are great! They played a lot of the big songs: "Pinhead", "Go Lil' Camaro Go", "Outsider", and "I Wanna Be Sedated". It was a great performance, full of energy, that ended with the singer on the floor amongst pulsating feedback. I've tried to book this band a few times before, but this was the first show we actually got set up. I hope to see them some more.


SFX played sixth. They did a very straightforward set, though it lacked some energy. The songs were "Crummy Stuff", "The KKK Took My Baby Away", and two songs the Ramones covered ("R.A.M.O.N.E.S." and "Take It As It Comes"). There were a few false starts, and the band got into a small argument on stage. Some people said that the argument was intentional, to replicate the real way the Ramones were on stage, while other people told me that the argument may have been more real. Scott wore a funny wig.


The next set seems like it divided the room a bit, though the night was also getting late. If you were really just expecting all bands that sounded exactly like the Ramones, too bad for you. Anyway, Xylen Roberts played an electronic set via keyboard and loops. The songs were the more political ones: "Planet Earth 1988", "Anxiety", and "Poison Heart". I think his set was hurt a little due to all of the vocals being sampled from the original songs with the keyboard over top, but there were medical reasons behind that decision.


Middle Children was next, and they were joined by Dustin Giannopoulos on drums instead of a backing track. I hope that they do that more. Middle Children played the songs "Surfin' Bird", "Do You Wanna Dance", and "We're a Happy Family". "Surfin' Bird" was super fun because they all wore bird hats when they played it. It was a fun, upbeat, and goofy set.


Second to last, there was the Lopez, probably one of Pittsburgh's coolest bands. They played "I Just Wanna Have Something to Do", "Don't Come Close", "Howlin' at the Moon" and "Swallow My Pride"; they play the last of those songs regularly. The songs sounded good. It was cool to hear more synths being played on these songs.


The last band, Abysme confused the remaining crowd with their death metal versions of the classic Ramones songs "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World", "You Sound Like Your Sick", "You Should Never Have Opened That Door", and "I Wanna Be Well". The vocals were so phlegmy and gross, which made a lot of sense for these songs. Some people had no idea what songs were being played. I'm not a big fan of death metal, but even I thought it was a cool set.

Correction: An earlier version of this article listed that members of the band Beasters comprised 2/3 of the band Boys.
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UPDATE: It has come to my attention that Brian Drusky made some serious amends about this situation. He did some personal training soon after his bad jokes, and donated to relevant causes. The entire situation seems to have had a real effect on him, as he made a positive comment about this years later. Personally, to me, it seems that he has really made amends. This is important. It's also important for this post to be updated with this information. I don't think this post should be deleted, though, because it actually shows a happy ending and a lesson learned. See Brian Drusky's update a the bottom here.

In December of 2014, local promoter Brian Drusky made a few "jokes" on his personal Facebook. These jokes were not very funny; they disregarded the protests related to the Michael Brown police brutality case. It was disgusting and came from a place of total privilege.

In response to these remarks, many musicians, people of color, and anti-Drusky (the guy doesn't exactly have a good reputation even beyond this) Pittsburghers responded with a Boycott Drusky movement. Drusky soon claimed that he did not realize that his jokes were offensive, racist, and disregarding of rights granted by the Constitution. I'm not sure how anyone would be clueless to these issues; his statements are clearly designed to offend and belittle! Drusky offered to have a community sit-in at Altar Bar. His failure to understand the meaning of the term sit-in shows his fucking ignorance about civil disobedience and the entire Civil Rights Movement.

Local comedian Davon Magwood attended the "sit-in". He returned with a golden promise from Brian Drusky that the promoter would help improve the community to right the wrongs that had been made. Many were critical of Magwood's acceptance of what they saw as an empty promise. I didn't believe Drusky's statements either; there hadn't been any time since the shitty comments, and it was impossible to tell at that moment whether actions would be done. Drusky did not see sincere.

Tomorrow, Drusky holds the Strip District Music Festival. They pulled their name from the project after all of the controversy and Josh Bakaitus, Drusky vice-president, claimed personal ownership of the project. Since the "apology" and "sit-in", Drusky has censored discussion of the scandal online. Some bands who were set to play the festival have dropped off. Mary Jo Coll, another local promoter, created an opposing festival that is set to happen today. Bloom Fest has some great bands on it, from The Neffs to Ricky Moslen to The Lopez. You can get a wristband for $10 that provides acceptance to all of the venues hosting (Howlers, Poppy's, Brillobox, BBT, the Shop, and Runaway Studios. It's oddly similar to the Rock Against Racism/Rock Against Communism stuff from the UK punk scene.

FUCK DRUSKY!

Check out Bloom Fest HERE



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On August 9th I saw the second Girls Rock! Pittsburgh showcase of 2014 with my friend Grace. It was really great to see all of these young women perform original musick. There were still elements of no-wave and punk mixed with simplistic pop; the lyrics could get pretty strange at times.

Some of the bands were very young
This band had a lot of rockstar potential!

This show was the second(?) I've ever been to at the Union Project. The first show I saw here was the Evens, Ian Mackeye's post-Fugazi project. It can be a strange space, wide and with lots of light streaming in, but it totally worked for both of these shows. The weirdest part might be the natural acoustics that are at work here; they can be bad for a bunch of amplified stuff, but the sound worked really well.



In January, the Mr. Roboto Project is having a recording session with these bands. It will be exciting to meet the members; hopefully I will learn and remember the names of the bands! It's super awesome that Pittsburgh has a thing like this going on, and I hope to support Girls Rock! Pittsburgh next year again, even if it is just by attending and writing about the showcases.

Check out the Girls Rock! Pittsburgh website and maybe even sign up a child for next year's camp!


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August 3rd 2014 was the return of the Roboto Punx Picnic. It was held at Arsenal Park in Lawrenceville because there seemed to be some disconnect with people coming out to Flagstaff Hill in Oakland. A lot of acoustic acts and some bands played. We had food and some outdoor games to play; I brought some board games in case it rained, and we went back to Roboto. It rained, but only for a minute.

The May Day Marching Band played semi-impromtuly above where most of the picnic stuff happened. It was loud and awesome. At some point the band drifted off. Ramona, aka Madeline Hyer, played some ukulele stuff. We had a lot of acoustic people play that I don't remember because I was stressing out a lot. Earlier on Stew and I had to go to Shur Save to get drinks and cups for the picnic, Stew had to go get the grill with Jon, and Stew and I had brought my PA for the electric bands.


Jeremy Flynn was the last acoustic act to play. He's really great; a lot of the younger crowd gathered around the stairs to hear him. My band, Secret Paper Moon, played afterwards. We had played two shows before, but a lot of people had not heard us yet. I'd been spreading the word around about the band beforehand. It surprised people that we weren't some kind of experimental/improv/noise band; the audience expected Satyr/Elfheim. They were surprised to see me playing the drums. We played a short set and closed out with Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here". Jeremy Flynn described us as "like Beat Happening meets Boris" which was just perfect.


Wealth played after Stephen Lin read his poetry. Some young kids, around ten years old started to mess with the equipment, yelling into the mic and hitting the drums. I thought they were annoying, but ultimately harmless. Tyler McAndrew and I told them to stop since Stephen Lin was still reading poems, and they did. Wealth was sooo loud! It was awesome to have bands playing in the park. It reminded me of a picture of the band Carsickness I had seen of them playing in Market Square downtown; it seems like things like that never happen nowadays. Despite some parents packing their kids up, it didn't seem like there were any real issues with Wealth playing so Stew and I went to Roboto to unlock the door for Maggie Negrete's Zine Fair Fundraiser.

We got to Roboto, unlocked the door, and set up some tables. I rushed around and almost hurt myself. We got back to Arsenal Park just as Dumplings were finishing up. Stew and I cleaned everything up to head back to Roboto, and I found out that my Zune was gone. Someone had gone into my backpack that had been placed underneath a table. Apparently it was one of those kids from earlier. Nobody had really noticed with everything else going on.

We went back to Roboto. I really didn't want to be there. Stew and I unloaded our gear into the space because we didn't want to leave it in the car; this was the fifth time today that we moved the gear. We had loaded it into the car, out into the park, back in the car from the rain, back out of the car to the park when the rain stopped, into the car again after playing, and now into Roboto. We would even need to move it again to go home! I felt like I was losing my mind! I'd lost my Zune, and I was completely exhausted, but now I had to supervise a show. Some chairs got thrown around, and I left for a while.

I saw Pam, Jon, and Jay in a car. They handed me a guitar that they thought I had left at Arsenal Park. It wasn't mine, but it looked like Ken Kaminski's from Wealth. I told them I'd take the guitar to Roboto, but I figured that doing so would make me feel more overwhelmed so I told them that they should do it. When I got back to Roboto I ate pizza with Stew, and called/texted Tyler that Ken's guitar was at the venue. After waiting outside and eating, I came back in and finished up the show. Shaky Shrines performed a great set! Their vocalist is amazing, and they always remind me of Hawkwind. I ended up buying another Zune, and I still feel bad about freaking out.
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On July 26th I played with some very cool bands at the Shop in Bloomfield. I got on this show via Facebook message from the touring band Jerkagram, who I knew nothing about. The other bands on the bill included the inimitable Cyrus Gold and the widespread, but unknown, Highdeaf.

I played first. I've continued moving towards a more crystalline sound, longer pieces of musick, and longer sets. I accomplished everything I set out to do with this. I started with a minimal, reverb-y, crystalline sound that evolved over time. As layers built up, it became noisier, waves of fuzz coming in from the sea of static, until we were floating away into an ocean heading to lands far beyond what the eye sees. I did a second more rocking song after I got Jackson to turn the lights off.



Cyrus Gold played second. I helped with the sound, the Shop not having the best PA to work with. People think Roboto's PA is weak, but recently I've come to learn that it is totally capable and way stronger than some other well-liked venues's. Keith told peeps to donate to Karl Hendricks and then the band got noisy and weird before getting into punk/black metal. The set was really heavy and sounded really great. I like this band more and more every time I see them. Keith and I also made up for some past issues we had when Cyrus Gold was done playing which was cool.


After Cyrus Gold's set I went to Sunoco to get some stuff to drink, and make an important pfone call, but Jerkagram started quickly, and I came back in during one of their first songs. They sounded a lot like Satyr/Elfheim as a band or similar to my former band, Red Ginger. I loved the guitar tone, the vocals, and the drums; Jerkagram is a complete package despite only having two members (brothers!). They incorporated elements of free jazz, drone, post-hardcore, and math rock for a totally unique sound. I had a conversation about the always infamous Manny Theiner after Jerkagram had finished playing.


Last was Highdeaf. The members of that band run the very popular Sickhouse in Homestead where I've never been. Highdeaf is a two-piece, mathy, but a little sloppy. I'm not big on tapping, but I did like the samples they used and the strange synth sounds. I wish the guitar player had some more headroom on his amp, but he had a really thrashy/trashy distorted sound. Jackson read a poem to a song; I'm not sure if he wrote it, but it was really cool. Highdeaf played a short, but focused set which is always cool with me. It'd be cool to play another show together soon.

Check out Jerkagram here: http://jerkagram.bandcamp.com/.
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My second show as a member of Znagez was on July 21st, 2014 at Garfield Artworks. We were playing with Brian Hecht's new band, In Arthur's Court; a Cislon-Weeks production, Mortis; and solo saxophone, Curt Oren. Manny had originally asked Satyr/Elfheim, but I had too many solo shows close together. My camera was running out of batteries pretty bad for this.


First up was In Arthur's Court. More Joe Hogle, less Sasha, same Brian Hecht. There were some more beats, and still some horse sounds. Joe Hogle sat on the floor in a priest outfit and prayed to some higher being while chanting. The set was like eight minutes long.


Second up was Mortis, who I hadn't seen before. It included Jordan Weeks, Greg Cislon, and someone else I didn't know. They wore masks and strange outfits. A little plush troll-looking guy got dragged around the floor on fishing line. Mortis played free jazz/noise rock with some strange instrumentation.


Curt Oren played third. He played a minimalistic set: just him and his saxophone. He told us about working on Idaho farms, printing shirts with his ass, and writing songs with his dog. Curt Oren had dog treats and cookies for sale which was pretty funny. His music was a lot like Philip Glass.

Znagez played last, lacking both Bens. We asked Curt to play sax and the guitarist from Mortis ended up playing some wild drums. Our set ended up being extremely free form; it wasn't the greatest. Brian improvised some lyrics at times, and some of the songs went way beyond their lyrical structure. Rob and I had talked about slowing it down before we started playing, feeling it out. We might have sounded better if we had done that.
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Back on October 30th, 2012 I booked the band Fins with another band called Ghosts of Chance for a spooky Devil's Night costume party show at The Mr. Roboto Project; nobody showed up. On July 17th, 2014, Fins was coming back and I was playing with them. I got the band Wealth for an additional local, replacing the since disbanded Pants from last time.

I played first, wearing a feathered mask and without my guitar. I used the Audible Disease Sequencenator, mic'd some objects like bells and a water bottle, and leaked in noise from a shortwave radio. I had some trouble getting everything to come in without feeding back, but it worked well. The sequencer provided a backbeat with blips of radio static coming in. Towards the end I let the radio bleed in more and more, classical music and rock riffs from the airwaves. The bells and water were quiet, but rubbing a balloon on the mic and then letting it fly away made some serious noise. I threw some Halloween-themed bouncy balls at the crowd. Manny said I should play some VIA shows.



Fins played after the Satyr/Elfheim carnival. They had expanded to include a bassist and gotten heavier. When I had last seen Fins, I felt like they were a little shoddy and falling apart, but I was also nervous because of the lack of an audience and a little cold. They also had a weird experience on that tour so I definitely don't blame them for rocking 1,000,000 times harder this time. Fins is really fast with a throbbing bassline and vocals that resemble the Nation of Ulysses or Rites of Spring. They're pretty garage-y, punk, noise rock. Their guitarist, John Lydon (not that fucjing Sex Pistol), looks really cool jumping around with his hair flying all over. I now know what people saw in Nirvana in the early 90's.



The newly formed Wealth played third, and last. Wealth includes Bender and Ken from Pants, on bass and guitar respectively, with Tyler McAndrew from Toxic Parents on vocals and noise musician Dan Malinsky on drums. Tyler has some of the most intense vocals I've ever heard, though he might have some trouble with a DI box.
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