Funk Babblings

I've been trying to pay more attention to what bands are coming to the Cleveland-Akron area (forget Canton, nobody comes here), and my calendar has taken an unexpected shape. Three weeks in a row there are shows that interest me on Wednesday nights. Then a Thursday.

I happened to recall this fact around 8 last night, just in time to check the calendar and see that in fact the series started last night with The Reputation playing at the Beachland Tavern. The show was scheduled to start at 9, with two opening bands, so I figured if I got there by 11 I'd be fine, and I'd probably be home a bit after 1. I was right, amazingly enough.

I got there at about a quarter till 11, and the second band was still playing. Soon Elizabeth from the Reputation saw me and came over to chat a bit, but I couldn't hear most of what she was saying. (This is a big reason I don't have any close friends in the indie rock world even though I sorta know a lot of people -- it's always too loud for a conversation. It's also one of many reasons that trying to meet people in bars isn't a good thing.) The Reputation went on shortly after 11, and I noticed that Elizabeth hadn't set up a keyboard; unusually for this band, it was to be an all-rocking set with no slow piano-driven songs. (I like the fast songs best.) Along with my favorites from their two CDs, I counted four great new songs; the last of them took me until the chorus to get into, but after that I was totally hooked. There were only about two dozen people in the place, most of which were at the bar instead of in front of the stage, so it was quite the intimate show.

Afterward I hung around a bit, waiting for a chance to talk to Elizabeth without a band playing, but of course everyone wanted to talk to her. Eventually she actually told people she needed to go talk to me. She was marveling that I was the person there that had been going to see her play the longest, since I was a fan of her old band, Sarge, and saw them play a couple times in Columbus in the mid-late 90s. Of course, there still wasn't time for much of a conversation, since I had to get home to bed and she had lots of others to talk to (not to mention packing up the gear).


Next Wednesday is The Sounds at the House of Blues. I've never been to the House of Blues, and I'm not that familiar with the Sounds, so I'm not sure if I'll go to this one, but when I heard them I liked them.

The following Wednesday is Watershed, a favorite Columbus band I've been going to see since 1993, playing at the Beachland. This is pretty much a must for me.

And then the following Thursday, again at the Beachland, is Kathy Valentine & The Impossible. Kathy Valentine was the bassist for the Go-Gos, which is why this one interests me.