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Apples in Stereo The
Holmes Brothers |
Oneida, Dirty Faces,
Four Barrel Ghost / 08.06.2005
Turns out that was only the first part of mission impossible. Getting into the back room was a nightmare. I was able to secure a little spot right next to Michael Gablicki whose band Rusted Root had played the Rolling Rock Town Fair earlier in the day. Guess he didn’t stick around to see The Clarks. Onstage was T. Glitter and his band The Dirty Faces. Ever the manic front man, T. is able to mesmerize even when you’re relegated to a back corner of an overcrowded, hot, stuffy room. Thoughts of Great White and my escape plan kept popping into my head but I was able to enjoy the last few songs and this fun exchange at the bar afterward: “So what’d you think about that last band? I thought they sucked!” Wrong answer. Not wanting to wait at the bar I rode over to The Rock Room for a beer and found out that the Yuengling draft special had ended just 5 minutes earlier and my 16oz draft was now gonna cost me $1.25 instead of $1. Oh the humanity! Back at Gooski’s the crowd in the bar area had thinned but it appears they all just moved to the back as it was even harder to find a place to chill and groove to Oneida and their droning rock anthems. I respect these guys but after 30 minutes of sweating and jockeying for position I grew bored and, looking for something a little less crowded, headed down to the 31st Street Pub. Four Barrel Ghost was just taking the stage at around 1:30 and surveying the smallish crowd singer Klavin Black appeared to recognize most everyone and said they were going to go all-out tonight. Self-described as cow punk, Ghost could be easily dismissed as a tired genre band but give them a chance live and they’re a real blast. People were singing along and dancing as the beer flowed right up until closing time. So all the hipsters up on Polish Hill may have, on paper, seen the better band but on this night the drunken cowpunks were the ones having more fun. And that’s what it’s all about anyways, right? |
