DRAG THE RIVER SURPRISE SHOW!

I had planned on a quiet evening at home when a txt shot my way by Pat Martin said that Both Jon and Chad from Drag the River were at the Ottobar. I was excited but confused as the few shows they were playing for the release of the new record were nowhere near Baltimore. I jumped in the car and headed to the club to find Jon and Chad in good spirits, drinking and hanging out. Turns out they had a flight canceled and just took the first one that would put them on the East Coast. Lucky for us it was straight to Baltimore. Over the years of seeing Drag I've gotten to know Jon as one of the kindest, nicest people. So much so that I almost felt bad playing the guilt card and suggesting I find them some acoustic guitars to play a little bit downstairs (there was no show that night). After a little bit of asking around and a phone call to Kristin we found two serviceable guitars . I bought everyone a round of shots and we headed downstairs. It was only about 6 of us so we just broke out some chairs and Jon asked for requests. I think at least these songs were played: Medicine, song for Robin Reicheart, Brutal, A Thin Lizzy cover whose name I forget, A Jeff black cover titled I know and amazingly a taken request from me for "She used to smile" one of my favorite songs from the demo that kept me company on a lot of different tours. Getting to hear it live after all these years in such an intimate setting made me close enough to tears I may as well have been crying. There were other songs played and the night drug into drunken silliness including a created on the spot song or two by Jon (Full on which was about Pat talking about the full nudity of the upstairs touch-screen machine, Scrapple Omllette which I am sure you can guess was about and a few bars of Erica Noss also, self explanatory) Anyways it was a great an unexpected night, I tried to txt some people to let them know it was going down but there was only about 15 min or so between idea and execution. Sorry to those who missed it but I'm going to try to bring those guys back soon to play at the shop. I'll keep you updated.
ME AND JON DOWNSTAIRS, OTTOBAR

Some recent shows in the store!

A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to have two sweet shows go down here at the shop. The first one was on Sunday and had one of my Favorite existing bands THE ERGS play an all-acoustic set before their late show at the Ottobar with the QUEERS. Any time The Ergs come to town I'm excited but getting to see them twice in one day was great. At first people were just trickling in so I floated the idea of doing the show in the store proper as opposed to in the gaming area of the Comic Shop that houses us. That Idea went to hell when right before they were about to play about 60 or so people showed up. It was a great turn out and The Ergs did an awesome Job considering they were playing in the middle of Magic the Gathering players and had no PA. I can't wait to have them back!

THE ERGS LIVE IN CELEBRATED SUMMER

The next day was a Monday and we were going up against a MADBALL show but still about 35 people showed up for FUN BRIGADE, ACID REFLUX and LIBYANS also at the store.

Things kicked off right away with FUN BRIGADE doing all OPERATION IVY covers, I think some of the other bands and people that showed up thought this was going to be DEEP SLEEP playing under another name or it was some kind of Joke but neither was the case and people were really into it. they did a great Job with the songs and people were singing along and dancing, it was a great way to start things off.


FUN BRIGADE@CELEBRATED SUMMER


After this ACID REFLUX hit it hard playing fast as hell 80's Punk/Hardcore that brings to mind ADRENALIN O.D. and ANGRY SAMOANS, to me at least. They were awesome and kids seemed to really be into them.

ACID REFLUX@CELEBRATED SUMMER

After that LIBYANS finished out the night with a different brand of Female fronted 80's Punk. They were fast and powerful but also really really catchy, I can't wait till the single comes out! All in all it was a great two shows, so thanks to the kids that came out and made it happen there will be more in the future!

LIBYANS@CELEBRATED SUMMER

"THE KIDS" shop at the store!