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from the album Running Blind

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Art-a-Whirl 2016 (Day 1)

I started off behind schedule for Art-a-Whirl 2016, showing up at El Taco Riendo a half-hour later than planned. It was fortunate the restaurant was not busy, so I ordered three tacos (tinga) to-go and choked them down with a bottle of water while sitting outside the restaurant. After finishing the tacos, I jumped on my bicycle and pedaled fast towards the 331 club.

The fast pedaling paid off and I arrived at 331 Club with three minutes to spare. After I spent time chatting with friends and meeting new people for a few minutes, Murder Shoes started playing and Art-a-Whirl 2016 had begun.

It was my first time seeing Murder Shoes and I did not know what to expect. Within two songs, I was comfortable I had made the right choice seeing their set. Murder Shoes rocks, the two guitarists creating an intense wall of sound as the canvas for lead singer Tess Weinberg’s vocals. Early in the set, Tess mentioned her hands were shaking from nerves but the performance did not seem to suffer. She also spoke of the “tent sound” (more on that later) during her set, but by the second-to-last song of their set, Murder Shoes had found their stride and Tess’ vocals soared behind a tight band for the final two songs.

After Murder Shoes ended their set, I said goodbye and rode to Fair State for BBGun’s set. Fair State, like the 331 Club, still had a sparse crowd. I enjoy watching the crowds swell as the evening progresses on the Friday night of Art-a-Whirl, the energy level changing with each band and last night had that vibe.

BBGun played an abbreviated set (I do not know if they were only scheduled to play a half-hour, but most of the other bands I saw on Friday night played for 45 minutes). Al Church seemed rather energetic and the band was loose, chatty between songs and clearly having a good time. By the time they started playing the “song about Montana”, the band began to click and I remembered why I chose the BBGun/Fair State slot over all of the others.

With BBGun’s set ending early, I had enough time to swing by 607 Studios and view the 57 Princes homage to Prince in Studio A. The exhibit was an amazing tribute to Prince, with art pieces from a variety of disciplines covering Prince’s entire career. There is one drawing of Prince from near the end, with the afro, that affected me. I only saw Prince play in person once, in 2015, so I identify more with his last look and seeing this picture brought up many emotions I had not felt for a week or two. It was with a tinge of sadness I made a quick exit from 607 Studios and biked to Indeed.

(note: the picture I took at the exhibit is not the picture discussed in the previous paragraph)

I arrived at Indeed in time to see Sam Cassidy and his band finishing up sound check and took the time to catch up on social media, seeing what everyone else was doing during Art-a-Whirl. I also began to notice a lot of familiar faces near the front of the stage–people who were venue-hopping like me. The emcee introduced Sam Cassidy as straight-forward rock and roll and it is true. During his set, I remember thinking Sam Cassidy and his band are the performers I always wished I could see when I lived back in Iowa and was bouncing around county fairs and small-town festivals. Sam was rocking what I refer to as the denim & stache look, clearly having fun with his new backing band–The All Night Canyons.

At one point in the set, Ryan from the Red Daughters moved towards the front of the stage and did a little dance. It reminded me the first time I saw Sam Cassidy was with the Red Daughters as his backing band. For me, it was a moment that embodied the local music scene–musicians working together and supporting each other.

It was an amazing set, particularly the Patti Smith-cover of “Because the Night”.

I biked back to the 331 Club, excited to see Bruise Violet for the first time since their gig for the Current’s Birthday Party at First Ave last January. Bruise Violet is brutal, live, and they were brutal Friday evening as well. From the opening screams of drummer/vocalist Danielle, the tone was set and the band powered through 35 minutes of power punk madness. Emily’s menacing glare and Bella’s bad-ass dreads embodied their take-no-prisoner sound. I enjoyed the three-part harmonies from the side of the stage, still somewhat in awe that a group so young can perform at such a high level.

Communist Daughter is the band I had been waiting to see, and they followed Bruise Violet. This was the first time all evening where I was not rushing off to another venue between sets, so it was nice to relax and run in to people before finding a good spot near the front of the stage to enjoy the show.

I’ve seen enough Communist Daughter shows to see how they have integrated the new material into their set list well enough that it fits completely with the established songs from their catalog, and last night was no exception. Tracks like Beach Stalker and Balboa Bridge fit alongside Not the Kid and Northern Lights.

The song I’ve been waiting for though is “All Lit Up”, where Molly takes the lead vocals. I have seen this song performed live three times now and last night’s performance was the best of the three. At a time when I am paying more attention to the ratio of female-to-male musicians I listen to, I am excited to see my favorite Minnesota band featuring more female vocals. This song, and the new album, are going to be great (and it is a crime against humanity that the record industry has not figured out how to get this album released yet).

While watching the set, I wondered what the hell has happened to Johnny? Two summers ago, he was talking about how much he hates the sun and now he’s wearing bright-colored clothing and smiling a lot during performances! I do not know what has happened, but I do know the band is sounding better than ever. Communist Daughter is a great live band, getting even better and when the album is finally released and they are able to put together a proper tour behind the new album the rest of the world will be able to see what this band is becoming.

(Side note: Many complained about sound issues during the Communist Daughter set. A lot of those people weren’t there early, when Tess from Murder Shoes made her tent-sound comment. Playing in a tent in a parking lot with the sound bouncing off of brick buildings is never the perfect acoustic setting, but I found if you stand to the side of the stage by the Surly tent the sound is much better.)

It’s 11am on Saturday, so I’m off to eat some tacos at Maya Cuisine and then see a bunch of art and music.

#artawhirl #murdershoes #bbgun #samcassidy #bruiseviolet #communistdaughter #mnmusic