The Current Music Blog: September 11, 2006 Archive

Monday Morning Meeting: Getting You Up To Speed (Upspeeding)

Posted at 6:58 AM on September 11, 2006 by Hans Eisenbeis (8 Comments)

OK, let's take care of some old business. Last week, a neat hard-rocking British band--sorta punky, sorta psychobillly, sorta Black-Eyed Snakes with a bottomless pint of bitter--caught our attention. They are the Archie Bronson Outfit, and their new album is called "Derdang, Derdang." Which raises two immediate questions: (1) Who is Archie Bronson? And (2) What does "Derdang, Derdang" mean? Well, we have the answers on good authority--from Sam Windett, ABO's singer and guitarist, who told Harp magazine that the band name

"comes from a very old Buffalo Bill comic book a friend gave me years ago. Archie Bronson is a character in one of the stories and he had an outfit of ruffians and cowboys. I saw it and a name was born. People thought we were a jazz band for a while. It's not really a classic rock name."

True that. Also, what kind of a name is "Derdang Derdang?

"It doesn’t really mean anything. It's an onomatopoeia for guitar strings, strumming and going 'derdang, derdang.'"

A psychopunk band from London that knows the word "onomatopoeia"? We think we're in love. Plus the drummer, Arp Cleveland, writes all the lyrics. Just like Neil Peart, the drummer of Rush!

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A Man, A Plan, A Piano: Mallman

Posted at 9:01 AM on September 11, 2006 by Hans Eisenbeis

He's been tickling the ivories for years now--well, tickling is not exactly the right word. Suddenly Mark Mallman has hit saturation rotation, at least among Twin Cities music writers. Our favorite piece so far was written by Mallman himself, who provided the Pioneer Press with a back-to-school narrative about his five favorite shows ever. Quoth Mallman:

"I dove into the first [24-hour performance] Marathon, thinking 'total absurdity,' and was handed 'rock shamanism.' What I like about rock music is that no matter how 'deep' the experience becomes, nobody expects you to be Stephen Hawking or Simone de Beauvoir. At the end of the day, I'm just some dude in a van with shaggy hair."

Dude has mastered the QWERTY keyboard, too!

Earlier: Mallman at the State Fair with The Current

The End Is Nigh: So, Like, Last Call!

Posted at 10:16 AM on September 11, 2006 by Hans Eisenbeis (3 Comments)

Saturday night in Minneapolis, the dead rose from the grave and went out for a few cocktails. No, it wasn't Halloween for the adult-ADHD crowd. It was the second annual Zombie Pub Crawl, to which we were graciously invited. Alas, we remained with the living. But someone took a lot of terrific photos. Why, you ask, a zombie pub crawl?

Because it's pretty much the greatest idea for a pub crawl ever conceived. Walking down the street in a horde of zombies and drinking? It's a dream come true.

The words of the undead, amen. So how did it go? Correspondent Taylor Carik wrote to give us the lowdown on the nightmarish scene:

"We had at least 400 people...There were several priceless moments, my favorite including:

Someone making jello shots in a brain mold and bringing them for everyone

3 people dressed like the recently dead crocodile hunter

seeing zombies making out with each other (after a few beers, zombies look a lot better)

the horde finding a free white couch on the curb and without hesitation spitting blood all over it, then moving into the street to block traffic

The incredible speed with which pictures made it onto the web

Who knew the dead stay just as tech-enabled as the living? And yet, the Zombie Pub Crawl was not all, y'know worms and gaping headwounds and unopposed brain-eating. Indeed, there also happened to be a Pirate Pub Crawl, and the two parties convened at midnight in Nordeast for a "danceoff."

Next week, the Vampire Pub Crawl will take on the Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) Executive Pub Crawl, the winners to meet in the October 31 finals. What other drinking/dancing faceoffs would you like to see amongst the Dark Powers and Principalities? Take it outside, to the comments.

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