brainsplotch

Last night I witnessed another great rock show. I tagged along with a co-worker "J" and her significant other "F" to Detroit's El Club to see Redd Kross. (Yes, I think I've mentioned them a few times recently). The El Club is located on Vernor Highway in Mexican Town. I don't think I'd ever spent any time in this neighborhood, but I was impressed. It seemed vibrant and full of life on this evening, with restaurants and shops on the north side of Vernor and the large and green Clark Park on the south side of the road. There is also a multistory apartment or condo project under construction a stone's throw from the El Club. This was my first time at the El Club. I'm not sure why I had never been there before. Maybe the drive seemed daunting, but in truth it's easier to get to the El Club than it is getting to, say, Saint Andrew's Hall. I had envisioned the El Club as a hole-in-the-wall place, but it's bigger than I expected. One roo...

I find it continually amazing that even in my, er, "advanced age" (well into my 50s as of this writing), I still find music that I either never knew before or never noticed, and that music knocks me off my feet and gets me suddenly obsessed. Redd Kross, the 45-year-old post-punk/power pop/glam rock/neo-psych/garage rock band from Hawthorne, CA is the latest example. I'm not a complete newbie to Redd Kross. I have been aware of them for decades, and I'm pretty sure that in my 1990s bookstore day, a musically hip co-worker must have slipped a Redd Kross song on a mixtape they made for me. (I will have to check). Lately, Redd Kross has come across my path several times. The music writer Dan Epstein, who I follow on Facebook, has a biography of the band coming out in October, the band has a new documentary that's getting attention, and Redd Kross's highly-lauded new album (the eponymous Redd Kross, aka "The Redd Album," complete a cover that mimics Beatl...