Tampa Calling

To begin by beating a dead horse: Modern Radio sucks! We’re lucky in the Tampa Bay area with WMNF, but even this leftist station leans toward mainstream boomer culture rather than underground or avant garde sounds. And who can blame them? Fiscal feasability dictates the output of modern media (d’uh).

In a pinch, I tend to listen to right wing radio for a good, healthy gut laugh, because it’s better than being depressed by cheesy mediocrity! Bottom line: Radio is for the masses. Lowest common denominator pandering pervades every aspect of post-modern living. From the huge conglomerates to the indies, companies and not-for-profits don’t have faith in our ability to think, contemplate and make our own decisions. This is not special knowledge that I’ve tapped into / I do not have any extra intelligence not available to the rest of you. You are all well aware of the hoodwink that modern media attempts to pull over on us every day. It/s like that “Everybody Knows” song by Leonard Cohen (he supercedes boomer culture, right?). Read the rest of this entry »

New from No Clear Records: a schizophrenic compilation colliding different genres of the underground and crapping them together in one easy to swallow CD-R. No Clear, No Eyes Volume 2 spirals around themes of frustration, loneliness and salvation through the lenses of punk, no wave, garage, folk, experimental, noise, comedy, avant garde, rock ‘n’ roll and more without batting an eye. All thought up, recorded and executed right here in Florida (mostly Tampa Bay, though other acts hail from Gainesville and Melbourne), this compilation accurately depicts the underbelly of Florida culture that more and more people are seeking out as mainstream alternatives to their cultural intake.

Tonight, Friday, May 22, 2009, Cafe Bohemia hosts a compilation release show for this seminal Florida mix featuring live music from some of Tampa Bay’s most exciting weirdos. 937 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, 6 or 7 p.m. start time (it’ll go all night). (Follow the jump for track listing.)

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Danny McGuire
Polk City is damn far from Tampa and it’s further from St Petersburg. Somehow, the only person I know who lives in Polk City, Danny McGuire, makes it to more shows in the Tampa/Orlando metropolitan area than anyone who lives in either town. Whether playing shows in any of his many bands, hawking genres for beer, or just attending and documenting with a little digital camera, Danny gets around. His main vehicle, the weirdo rock Pixies meets Ween juxtaposed by some Nirvana/Butthole Surfers action, Waterdigger, hasn’t played a show in a while because of drunk drama between the members. Volatile and out-of-control (rumor has it they’re banned from the New World Brewery), Waterdigger remains the only band that covered “Sweet Home Alabama” and turned it into a song I liked.

It’s not like McGuire sits around and waits for his mates to stop hating each other and get together — he just plays his songs in one of his five or 10 other bands. Improv crap guitar noisemakers turned repetative songsters (and usually still both), Thee Heidlecrumbs shock as much as they entertain.

Reworked Waterdigger songs, cosmic freak outs and other sounds comprise their latest sets. This band’s main other contributing member, Kat(hleen) Magyar, embodies an inspiring punk aesthetic — the confidence to play in front of people without any formal training and very little (but growing amounts of) experience. Their music should make school-learned musicians hang up their flutes and take up accounting. Insulting, hilarious songs about your granny and mother mixed with heartfelt introspection and anger explode out of McGuire’s unusual brain.

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