OlyMusic Experiences

Headed straight to the Backstage for The Crossing and Chinatown after work. Got there just after The Myriad played. I'm told they were very good. Leon House played an acoustic set while Chinatown was setting up that included a fishy song, Girl of My Dreams, Whoops I Did IT Again, and Fall In, that had me singing along with the chorus. Next up was Chinatown, who sounded a lot like the Rolling Stones. They started out by saying that if they saw anyone who looked like they weren't having a good time, they would make them have a good time. That seems an excellent musician philosophy. I think it was the drummer that said that. The first thing I noticed about the band is how awesome the drummer is. The second thing I noticed is how tight the sound is, and the third thing I noticed is that they look and sound just like the Rolling Stones, except really young. I think they must consciously pattern themselves after The Stones because they wear suits like the Stones, they wear their hair like The Stones, most of the songs made me think of The Stones, and they finished their set with Jumpin' Jack Flash. The singer did a fair bit of crowd surfing, as did some others present. There was a good bit of mosh through the evening. Next up was Dustin Davis with a solo acoustic set while The Crossing was getting set up. He started with the song Slide, by The Goo Goo Dolls, which surprised me a little until later in the evening when I realized that The Crossing is probably influenced by The Goo Goo Dolls. Although probably more by Oasis or U2. Anyhow, the next song Dustin played was a song of his called Danny-O. He finished with a very pretty song he calls The Moon Cried. I enjoyed it. Then came The Crossing. The show started with a Keyboard track which was either coming from the mixing board area, or from a stompbox of Nathan's. From what I gather, he created the track earlier. The band played along to it a bit, and perhaps was dubbing things into it live. It sounded like a dub sample thing where they were adding to it... Their sound is like gentle ripples on water that suddenly explodes. Lots of moshing, and lots of props to Tim for his birthday. They had him up to sing the song with the line that goes "I want something else, to get me through this, Semi-tron kind of life". That was cool. Nathan's shirt came off sometime before the second song, and people hollered for him to take his pants off. There were a few songs that stuck with me, notably one about a P.O.W. and interrogation, one that they said was for a B side that was very poppy bouncy danceable, and one about women and relationships. There was a good turnout - I think probably well over 100 people, and they all seemed to be having a blast the whole show long.

After the show at the Backstage I came home and ran the dogs and ate some food. I looked at the clock and saw that it was not yet Midnight,
so I decided to go hear A-Kamp at Rang-Dong! I've never been in Rang-Dong before, mainly because I heard the law is out to get them - I always wanted to go because it's close to home and I love playing Pool - anyhow, the place was PACKED. I could barely get in the door. A-Kamp had their groove on and was sounding very good. After a song I heard Tommy thank God for how good they were sounding. Seemed reasonable considering how very good they sounded. They played that I had a girlfriend song, and they played a bunch of other sweet songs. Trumpet, Bass, Keyboard, Drums, Guitar and Vocals. Yeow! They got me dancin to their earthy groove. These guys still remind me of The Grateful Dead, which is a really good thing, in my book. When they had finished up the set with an intricate nearly classical piece in which Tommy and Genius lock into these sick riffs that they both play simultaneously, Jeremy from One Nation Undereducated got behind Lars' kit, and Genius got back on Bass, and some folks started freestylin' on the mic. Ben Compton of messageboard infamy was one of the rappers.
To top it all off, Tommy gave me a live cd from Le Voyeur to which I have been listening while writing this, and enjoying.
Rock On!