I'm Back! And retired. Sort of. Time for a Block Party!

I’m baaaaack. Yeah, I finally have time and energy to actually write again. Why? Because I retired from my day job. I’m done with day to day workforce, but 

I’m not sure if it’s just our age, or is everybody done with the old rule about how the headliner goes on last, and usually not before midnight? The age does catch up with you. The old Circle A Cafe had bands from 8-10, more because that was the deal struck with the neighbors, but my cohort got spoiled by it. We could go an see a band, hang out, have a post-set drink or two, and still be home and in bed well before midnight. COVID seems to have introduced this concept to the masses — people who were getting used to not going out at all seemed to catch onto what us older punks were learning — start early, provide seating, wrap it up early, and play the hits. 

As organizer Jon Newcomb remembered, the first Puddler’s Hall Block Party in 2021 was an attempt to just see some live music again, since all the normal venues were closed during to the pandemic.  He hung out at Puddler’s Hall, but even then, one had to sit in a plastic booth indoors.  He’d already planned to have his band be a float in a parade (in lieu of the Bay View Bash at the time), but that green triangle in front of Puddler’s at the corner of Delaware and St Clair had potential.  Meanwhile, Jon’s friend Kirt had a flatbed truck “with no exhaust so we couldn’t drive it,” but both saw the utility to simply use it as a stage. Other friends helped gather up five bands, seven artists and a food truck, and voila! Manageable street party. 

Vendors, starting with the Punk Rock Rummage Sale, started to fill in , and allowed Jon to concentrate on the bands. Given that Jon beat me to the retirement race by a month, yeah, over the years, our cohort of recent and upcoming retirees does dominate the lineup, but doesn’t exclude interesting up and comers. Some of my favorite younger bands  —Cozy Danger,  Devil’s Teeth and the DUIs — were part of this year’s lineup dotted with veteran punk/new wave/alternative scensters. This year Jon put together a smallish street festival that was tailor-made for my squad’s endurance and tastes -- plenty of snotty punk, new wave, garage and surf. Instead of walking back and forth across, say Locust Street, or perhaps even longer at the upcoming Bay View Bash, the Puddler’s block party is barely a single block, with vendors tightly packed into the green space art Delaware and St Clair. Remembering previous years’ attendees cramming into the shady sidewalk just east of the hall, Jon sourced a few tents to be put up so that people could watch the bands head on without baking to a crisp in the afternoon sun. 

First up was his band (if you have to both organize AND perform, get the performance out of the way first) Bay View’s Two and a Half Stars. Not that the other bands didn’t have BV connections: but with hits such as “Prius Lady” (about a dangerously clueless operator dragging her hybrid around the neighborhood ), “Tony Zielinski’s House” (chronicling the out-of-place architecture the former alderman installed along the lakefront) and the not-specific-to-BV but nevertheless representative, my favorite of theirs, “Screw It”, 2.5**s are unofficially thee Bay View band, and set the tone for the rest of the day. 

And of course, the Mighty Deer Lick pickup up that tone’s baton and ran with it. I lost count of Dave Reinholdt's  T-shirt changes about about number 4. Chris Tishler (of Chief, The Dirty Sweet, and for awhile there, some cover band that made use of chest hair) has been filling in on guitar, and he’s fitting in nicely. They too played the hits: “Chopped Liver” “Chokin’ my Chicken” and “My Baby is An Adult.” Yeah, if you want something done right, do it yourself. 

Up next, Cozy Danger. Saw them last year at Chill on the Hill and didn’t know what to make of them, and after a solid set, I still don’t know what to make of them. One minute they’re jangly pop, the next they get all prog on ‘ya. They’ve got a snarky little edge to them that, as I’ve said about them before, it’s really smart power pop. They had some plastic animals for stage props that caught the attention of the little kids dancing by the stage, and between that and that stand up drummer, they were as visually powerful pop as they were musically. 

The band I was waiting for, Devil’s Teeth, followed them nicely. By that time in the afternoon, there was a lovely lakefront breeze that went hand in hand with the menacing surf that Devil’s Teeth put out — the grinding sax helps keep them in check but they still retain their glorious, threatening sound. Last time we saw them was a few years back on one of those Edelweiss cruises — on a rainy, stormy night that really tested our sea legs, but I was glad to see that they still radiate danger no matter how lovely a day it is. 

Then, time for some good ol hardcore punk from the DUIs. Juan Avalos isn’t the lead singer (he saves that for his other bands), but he’s still the visual center of attention due to amount of air he gets on his leaps and jumps. As much as they call them selves a drunk punk band, they obviously weren’t that wasted because they remained tight, fast, and on target. Lead singer reminded me of Keno-Core’s Frank Lenfesty of Pistofficer (rest in power) as his gravelly voice bellowed out “There’s Bodies Everywhere!” which definitely put them in Pistofficer’s thematic camp. 

Waiting through five bands to get to Electricity Kills, as trying as it was for this old broad, was worth it. If you’re putting XPosed 4Heads’ Mark GE up front as your lead singer (not to mention X4’s drummer Andy Stilin), you should expect a new wave influence, but between putting Russ Grabczyk (his old band, the surfing Dick Satan Trio) on the bass and versatile (but often glam) Tom Kornkven on guitar, you get this mix of glam, metal, nu wave. It’s probably a function of this age group that there’s bands who don’t see a difference between any of these genres, or  at least understanding that the top 40 radio during our formative years had a similar mix.  Oh, and there’s Jon Newcomb on guitar as well, as he bookended this entire day with a snotty punk touch. Yeah, if you’re going to organize an event and play it, best to get it out of the way first or just play at the end when you don’t have anything else to worry about. Jon does both. Oh, and he’s organizing yet another street fest near for Cafe Lulu’s anniversary show. 

Yeah, when people retire from their day jobs, they either just chill out, or finally find the time to do what they really want to do. Jon organizes shows. I take pictures of musicians and write about them. This retirement thing is kind of a misnomer, methinks.