Tag Archives: Ruiner

Blog On: Invasion of the Yuppie Punx featuring Pete “The Electric Grandmother” Faust

Two of my favorite people in life had the chance to hit up this years Riot Fest Chicago in, you guessed it, Chicago.  Pete and Mary Alice were gracious enough to share their experience with me and all you crazy readers out there.

Riot Fest, for those of you who may not know, is basically a 5 day punk rock Lollapalooza.  Instead of me listing all of the bands here, I felt it best for a busy guy like myself to post the concert poster of it:

Pete, aka The Electric Grandmother, has been a good friend of mine since the days when I was young.  We have always shared a true love for punk rock and even if he keeps telling me over and over that punk is dead, I know he is not speaking of the punk that binds our friendship so strongly.

Please enjoy Pete and Mary Alice’s hilarious and heartfelt story/review about the time they left Ohio to see some classic punk rockers play out in Chi-Town.

Thanks guys for the share!  I turn it over to Pete now:


It’s Friday morning, and we’re about to get breakfast at Wendy’s in the Columbus airport.  Two young ladies are waiting in line with us, one with green hair and one with pink hair, both decked from top to bottom with authentic punk rock garb.  “You guys going to Riot Fest?” I asked them.  “Yeah, which night are you going?” the green-haired girl responded.  “Um,” I swallowed.  “All three nights.”  After breakfast, as I walked with our laptop slung over my shoulder, hand in hand with my beautiful well-dressed wife, I realized that we had officially become yuppie-punks.

Who’d of thought?  Not me, but then again I never picture myself in the future, I just do a lot of planning ahead. It wasn’t careful planning, but an uncharacteristic spur of the moment idea by my wife and I to go see our beloved Screeching Weasel in Chicago at the 2009 Riot Fest.  Those who know my wife Mary Alice know that she only travels in style, and since I’m lucky enough to be attached to her, I travel in style by proxy.  Here’s me getting punk rock in our hotel room:

And here’s my wife showing everyone how a hotel robe should be worn:

After an exciting trip to the newly renamed Willis Tower, we ventured downtown to the Congress Theater for the first of three Riot Fest nights.  The doors opened at the venue at 5:30 PM, and we left our hotel room at 7:45, as we were only interested in seeing the Dead Milkmen, the fourth of five bands scheduled to perform that night (told ya we were yuppies).  Being that we hail from Columbus, the land of late-starting shows, we figured we’d be there in plenty of time – not so.  When we arrived at the Congress, the Milks were already 10 minutes into their set.  We were a bit disappointed, but not crushed since we’re hardly Dead Milkmen aficionados.  We found out later that we had missed them performing “Punk Rock Girl,” but did manage to catch “Bitchin’ Camaro,” as well as a few other well known singles that poseurs like us enjoy.  The staff at the venue seemed really cool, and the crowd in attendance made us not feel too old to be there.  There were lots of people there in their 30s and 40s, interspersed with the kids that were born after the Dead Milkmen were formed.  We left before the Murder City Devils came on, because we’re old and don’t like to watch bands that we know nothing about.  All in all, we were at the venue for maybe 45 minutes.  Such poseurs.  We went back to our fancy hotel and drank until bedtime.

The girls who we met at the airport said they were going only to see Cock Sparrer, a 70s/80s-era Cockney-Oi!-Working Class-Skin-Et Cetera band who reform occasionally to do Oi! things on stage.  We managed to catch Cock Sparrer on Saturday, as we had made sure to leave early to catch NOFX, a longtime favorite of ours that has enjoyed a listening renaissance with us in the past year.  We made sure to go to the venue’s upper balcony while Cock Sparrer performed, as we wanted no part of the inevitable skinhead roughhousing that was to occur below.  We ended up enjoying the band on many levels, and they seemed like cool people. They were nice bald guys in their 50s, who were just there to perform British working-class anthems for a bunch of rich American kids, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  Even if that Oi! stuff isn’t my thing, I still enjoy watching a crowd sway and wail and “Whoaaaaa” to Sham 69-style boot boy music.  My wife kept laughing at the similar thematic elements in the bands songs, i.e., “This song’s about working!”  (Seriously, they have a song called “Working.”)

Cock Sparrer from the balcony

Sorry it’s so blurry, our camera sucks.  Look at that well-lit guy at the bottom, that’s weird.

Following the Sparrer was the NOFX.  I had seen them perform only once before in 1996, and they were the exact same band – which is a good thing.  Fat Mike took the stage wearing Joker makeup, a la the late Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.  Following some intro music and a few minutes of self-deprecating jokes, the band launched full speed into the classic “Linoleum,” and the crowd went batshit crazy (as did we).  The band then proceeded to hammer through their (45-60 minute?) set in maniacal fashion, only occasionally interrupted by the trademark crowd-baiting banter from Fat Mike, which included his teaching a 12-year old audience member the definition of “Felching.” It was very cool to see all the characters that we’ve come to know from viewing NOFX: Backstage Passport multiple times, not just the band, but the wacky road/tech guys that work with them.  Our favorite is Kent, who Mary Alice got a picture of while working the sound board (see below).  The entire set was superb, except for their closing lip-sync dance number to Avenue Q’s “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist.”  I wouldn’t call it un-funny, just wasted time where they could have played more songs.  Perhaps the funniest moment of the weekend occurred after we left the venue.  A school bus was parked out front to haul some of the crowd to an after party.  People out front were laughing and taunting them while they hung out of the windows of the bus, and the bus crew were yelling back in turn.  As we were walking down the street to catch a train back to our hotel, the school bus passed by with all the punks hanging out of the windows, making horrendous noise and yelling at people on the street.  Right before the bus left our sight, we saw the emergency roof on the top of the bus being opened by someone, who then stuck there head out into the night air.  Never had I seen such a hilarious and encouraging sight.  Watching it made me feel like a teenager again, and gave me hope for the future.  Poor bus driver, though.

Fat Mike aka Cokie the Clown

Kent!

Sunday night found us at a cool little restaurant having dinner with an old friend before heading to the Congress to see the one and only Screeching Weasel.  Much like the Dead Milkmen on Friday, the Weas were not the headlining band, so we knew we had to get there with plenty of time to spare.  After leaving the restaurant, we were under the impression that we were very early to see the band; we were not.  As we walked up to the balcony to watch what we presumed to be one of the first bands of the night already in progress, my wife turned to me and asked, “Does that sound like Screeching Weasel to you?”  I said with utter blind confidence that it didn’t, then ran out to the seating area of the balcony, only to see grumpy frontman Ben Weasel singing about a girl named “Cindy,” who currently was having a problem with methadone.  I turned in horror to my wife and stared blankly.  “WELL C’MON!” she shrieked, and we bolted down the stairs toward the venue floor.

Mary Alice had the good sense the ask a merch guy how long they had been on, who shrugged and offered that they maybe had been on five minutes.  Now normally this kind of situation would make me crazy, and I would not be able to get over how we missed the beginning of their set.  But once we stepped on the floor and saw the band under the lights, it didn’t even matter anymore.  Sure I’d been drinking, but I was still instantly sobered (ouch, sorry) by the sheer magnitude of it all.  Here was a band that I had been following with only my ears for 14 years, and suddenly their songs were coming to life before my eyes.  I had never seen Ben Weasel or Dan Vapid (the only two classic/recognizable of five band members anymore) move around before, and I was just mesmerized.  I’m not usually that much of a fan-boy geek, but I couldn’t help it.  The songs being performed were my life, and represented so much of the life my wife and I have made together.  During one of the last songs, my wife and I turned to each other and kissed amongst the surrounding mass of humanity.  At that moment she and I were the only ones there, and band was performing just for two lovers.

Now that you’ve barfed, I’ll just say that it was a great time.  The staff and crowd were getting irritable and stressed after three chaotic nights, Mary Alice was underwhelmed by Screeching Weasel’s performance as it compared to NOFX’s the previous night, I really had to pee after their set, but none of it even mattered.

We were all that mattered.

Babble Blog: Weekend + Punk Rock + Friends + Beer = Great Hang

What a weekend…  Time to blog about it!

I’m sitting here right now next to my trusty electric radiator as I really need some heat now that the temperatures are dropping here in tropical Ohio.  I just finished some hot tea, have the pups cuddled up next to me as I type this, and have the final football game of the evening playing in the background.  It’s no surprise the Colts are kicking ass currently and I am still grinning slightly at the Browns’ first win, even if it was pathetic and ugly…

As of late my weekends have been amazing thanks to my gang of pals.  It might help that I am putting myself out there finally after all that I had been going through.  It would appear that I am moving on in the right direction.  Beer helps too.  I have been good, so do not worry.  I am not in the mood to getting plastered.  I have really been appreciating the finer beers in life such as Great Lakes and of course my elixir, Guinness.

My weekend started off a little early this week as some of my punk rock friends and I hit up the Grog Shop to see Strike Anywhere, Polar Bear Club, Crime In Stereo, and Ruiner play.  There is nothing quite like a punk rock show on a rainy evening with good friends and huge cans of PBR.

Ruiner started the evening with a hardcore performance that set the level rather high for the night.  The way they played without care reminded me that sometimes playing show is all about fun.  At times their new drummer missed a couple of beats but the band was quick to laugh it off and start over.

Crime In Stereo was one of the bands I had not heard of before.  Let’s just say I will be buying all of their CDs soon.  They were freaking awesome with their high energy punk rock as well as emo shifts comparable to Brand New, but it was Polar Bear Club and of course Strike Anywhere that won the night over for me.

Having already heard Polar Bear Club’s recent album Chasing Hamburg I already knew I was going enjoy their show.  They sounded amazing and the kids in the pit went nuts singing along and thrashing about.  I stood in the back, I am too old for the jumping around and getting close with my fellow concert goers and I am ok with that.  With my trusty PBR I was contempt with observing and rocking my head to the beat.

Strike Anywhere took the stage in full force and rocked out until their last song.  The political heavy hardcore punk rockers were excited to be back in Cleveland and really put on a great show to all the fans who came out for the night.  Dread-locked lead vocalist Thomas Barnett admitted that even though the band has been around for 10 years that they had not done one thing in Cleveland but were able to earlier in the day as they finally made it to the Rock Hall for a tour.  I hope they enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed their performance.

All of the bands are currently on Bridge Nine Records so there was plenty of merch to be sold at the show.  Sadly the shirt I wanted was not in my size and I was strapped for cash so there was no indulging in vinyl goodness.  Thankfully the internet will be my merch table when I have a few extra bucks to help support those bands.  Here are all of the performing bands newest releases if you care so much to check them out:

After the show a couple of friends and I went to Steak N Shake for a late night stack.  I felt like we were in a creepy movie with the 3rd shift staff looking a little sketchy but they were pleasant, the onion rings were good, and the milk shake was satisfying.

Friday night after my late shift I met up with my pals at a local bar for some beers.  It was not the best choice of bars as I think we could have found something a little more entertaining but it was still nice to sit around at a table and just converse.  My one friend had it in his head that he was going to find girls for us but it did not happen and honestly I was ok with that.

Getting home late night I rest my head on the pillow and before I knew it the sun was up and I was starting on what would turn into a crazy busy day.

I took some time in the morning to update my iPods and got ready for my visit with Matt from Addicted To Vinyl.  Yes folks, Matt visited me.  He drove all the way down to my place with no intention on sitting in my back seat as I escorted him to a festival of sorts.  He was coming to hang out and I was excited like…I don’t know, I was just happy for the hang.

We had a early lunch at Mike’s Place in Kent where our waitress cracked us up with her table departing “You’re Welcome” that was clearly fake and practiced ever so hard.  After eating mad amounts of tater tots and a delicious veggie reuben we made our way into the beautiful downtown area to visit Spin More Records.

Matt had never been to the shop so I was happy to take him there.  We shopped, heckled at an autographed Tesla CD, and did a fair amount of BS’n in the store.  Good times.  Upon leaving the store Matt handed me a 45 of a promo only copy of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts‘ “Roadrunner (Cleveland)”.  Matt explained a lot to me about the song and honestly I value the 45 even more now.  As soon as we got back to my house I dropped the needle on it and we listened to it at high levels.  Matt pointed out the Cleveland references throughout.  Good jam.

Matt had to get going to I slammed the door in his face and did not pay him for The Avett Brother’s I & Love & You LP he so kindly fetched for me from Music Saves (honestly is anyone else as shocked as I am that he is being so nice to me as of late???).

My best buds came over a couple of hours later and we headed to my one friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s housewarming party…phew!

The house was in Akron in a beautiful neighborhood and honestly I was jealous of it.  It was a great looking house with a creepy ass third floor that could very well supply the scenes for future horror movies.  A lot of cool people showed up and everyone mingled while drinking an array of beers.  I stuck with Great Lakes…yum.

After a taco eating contest (I did not take place in it), managing to piss off one of my pal’s sister’s friends, house to garage jumping, a cornhole win, and a chair mysteriously finding it’s way to the garage roof, I found myself sitting around a fire pit with my good friends.  It was the perfect way to end the night.  There is nothing quite like sitting around a fire bringing up past stories and burning old lead paint coated cabinet doors.

We headed home earlier than we all anticipated but honestly we were all beat from day long activities.  Once I got home I just hung out for a bit with the pups and headed to sleepy land.

I woke up and as soon as I got motivated headed to Solon to meet up with my friend and his folks for breakfast.  I had a feeling the jerk was not going to wake up in time and even tried calling him to confirm the meal was still on but received his voicemail.  I completely forgot that his phone was dead but still tried to call my other friend who did not answer as well.

Right before I got off the freeway my friend called stating he had no left yet and just woke up.  I took the opportunity to head to the Borders Books & Music I used to work at to see who was working.  I lucked out as one of my longest known friends was working.

After catching up with him I poked around the store and grabbed this:

www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400049628?ie=UTF8&tag=brokenheadpho-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1400049628

Laugh all you want…I’ll be prepared for when it happens.  What’s your zombie escape plan?

Once my friend finally called me telling me they were almost there I departed the book store and stuffed my face with breakfast.  I love me some breakfast, especially when my friend’s dad insists on paying for it.

We all headed back to the parent’s house for a quick digestion/relaxation and I said my goodbyes as one of my friends had to head back home to Cincinnati.  See ya next time pal…

I headed to my brother’s to watch the ugly Cleveland Browns game and upon the end of the game left slightly satisfied with their first win.

By the time I got home I wanted nothing more to do than throw a blanket over my body and fall in and out of sleep during the rest of the football games.  Instead I played with the boys for a bit, jammed out to some music, and got some work done.

It was a great weekend.  I keep mentioning how great my weekends are and I will continue to do so when they are because it’s times like these that I cherish the most.  Being with friends and family.

Next weekend I am heading to see the Northeast Ohio Rock ‘N’ Roller Girls do their thing at the the Summit Country Fairgrounds.  This will be their last bout of the season so if you have nothing going on head on out and help cheer them on for a win!

Look for an interview with members of the team shortly!  I had the privilege to chat with a couple of them and plan on sharing the outcome with you all soon.  Until then, be well.