I’m About To Have Another Blowout
So once again, it’s time for the Metro Times Blowout. I swear, we’re just recovering from last year’s festivities and it’s time to do it all over again. This year, there is also an “extra credit” day with the St Patrick’s Day parade in Corktown on Sunday. If you can make it through all 5 days of that kind of insanity you truly are hardcore. Admittedly, we don’t know a bunch of the bands playing this year but that is (of course) one of the things that makes the Blowout great. It gives everyone a chance to check out a new band that you would never see otherwise and best thing is, if you don’t like the band, just move on to the next bar. There are about 250 bands playing this year and we are going to try and help you with list. Here are some of our picks on bands to check out at this year’s Blowout.
Here’s the complete schedule … Please note that the MetroTimes Blowout Schedule features links to MySpace pages with audio samples from almost every performer featured over the weekend — so when Gary mentions a song, be aware that we just told you where to go if you want to take a listen to it. We tell you this because we’re too fookin’ busy to go all 2005 and dissect the Blowout with a fine-toothed comb again this year. Sorry, kids – maybe we’ll get our shit together properly for CityFest.
EL MATEO GRANDE’S PICKS
WEDNESDAY
Everyone is good on Wednesday. Rejoice.
THURSDAY
Sea Turtle Restoration Project – Painted Lady, 9:00 p.m.
Chrome Spiders – Holbrook Cafe, 11:00 p.m
Whitey Morgan (pictured at left) – Atlas Bar, 11:30 p.m.
Johnny Mundane and the Sweetspots – Carbon, 11:30 p.m.
FRIDAY
Freer (pictured at right) – Smalls, 9:00 p.m.
Scarlet Oaks – Holbrook Cafe, 10:15 p.m.
Hifi Handgrenades – Smalls, 12:45 a.m.
Salt Miners – Shananigan’s, 12:45 a.m.
Blair – Polish Sea League, 12:45 a.m.
The Ruiners – New Dodge, 12:45 a.m.
The Go – K of C (Main Hall), 12:45 a.m.
SATURDAY
Porchsleeper – P.L.A.V Post, 12:45 a.m.
Cuddleslut (pictured below) – Polish Sea League, 11:30 p.m.
Ancourage – Locker Room, 11:30 p.m.
Johnny Headband – K of C (Main Hall), 11:30 a.m.
Remember kids, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
SENOR GARO’S PICKS
Man, it’s depressing to think that this Sunday, I’ll probably wake up completely sober with absolutely no cottonmouth and no permanent hearing damage. I’m so fucking jealous of everyone still in the Detroit area.
WEDNESDAY
Matt’s right. EVERYTHING is good for the kick-off bash.
THURSDAY
Death Valley Dragline – Smalls, 9:00 p.m. — You like Kyuss/Sabbath/Pepper Keenan? If so, don’t miss this. Big, fuzzy, solid rock to kick off the Blowout.
Timmy Vulger – Holbrook Cafe, 10:00 p.m. — Dude, it’s Timmy Fucking Vulger. God only knows what sort of spectacle this will end up being.
The Matt Bastardsons – P.L.A.V. Post #10, 10:15 p.m. — I’m probably the only one, but I hear a completely rockin’ country-fried Black Crowes vibe here.
Chrome Spiders – Holbrook Cafe, 11:00 p.m — Man, it’s TJ Potter. Nothing can tarnish this guy’s image to me – not even that time MCR watched him give Esquire a birthday striptease lap dance at the Garden Bowl a few years back.
The Muldoons – K of C (Main Hall), 11:00 p.m. — Yeah, I drank the Kool-Aid. These kids are great, seriously.
Child Bite (pictured slightly above) – K of C (Lounge), 11:30 p.m. — I’m absolutely IN LUST with Child Bite’s frantic, paper-thin punk. One listen to “Bone Sleep” should sell anyone.
I, Crime – Paycheck’s, 12:45 a.m. — Wow. Detroit’s giving the Raveonettes a run for their money with this act. Top notch.
FRIDAY
Freer – Small’s, 9:00 p.m. — Man, what’s with all the good straight up pop/rock bands coming from the D lately? I love this stuff.
The Fifty – K of C (Lounge), 10:15 p.m. — Mmmmm, delicious little indie pop stuff that floats from serene to punchy.
The Hadituptoheres – Paycheck’s, 11:30 p.m. — Catchy, hollared punk-ish stuff from Taylor. I’m far more impressed with these guys than I’d have expected. 
The Decks (pictured at right) – Holbrook Cafe, 11:30 p.m. — Damn, the Decks fookin’ rock – this is a great band to check out for a bit of back-to-basics rock stuff.
Carjack – K of C (Lounge), 11:30 p.m. — … Sounds like the Stooges played through an Atari. What’s not to like?
Battling Siki – Locker Room, 11:30 p.m. — I’m still of the opinion that Battling Siki sounds like Neil Fallon fronting a bad ass swamp boogie band.
HiFi Handgrenades – Small’s, 12:45 a.m. — John Speck. Robbie Graham. Tony Vegas. Ryan Vandeberghe. ‘Nuff said. Catchy, but punk as hell – think Motorhead meets the Descendants.
SATURDAY
The Midnight Thud – Baker’s Streetcar, 9:00 p.m. — Dude, this here’s a POWER TRIO in this day and age. I’m diggin’ it.
The Expatriates – Holbrook Cafe, 10:00 p.m. — It’s rare to find a rock band to use the word ‘loping’ to describe. This is one of those bands.
Zoos of Berlin (pictured at left) – K of C (Main Hall), 10:15 p.m. — Unpretentious, simple toe-tapping pop with lots of 60’s (Phil Spector) and early 70’s (Eno) influences.
Heroes and Villains – P.L.A.V. Post #10, 11:30 p.m. — Loud and weird. Those two things will make for an interesting set, at the very least.
… and for the last band of the Blowout, I recommend MANY THINGS, heh …
Thunderbirds Are Now! – K of C (Main Hall), 12:45 a.m. and Lee Marvin Computer Arm – Belmont, 12:45 a.m. — These two bands are for the folks looking to shimmy and shake to some rock and roll guitars to end the weekend.
Geist:Ex:Bibliotecha – Planet Ant, 12:45 a.m. — Folks looking to end the blowout on a more laid back, ambient trip should find this set particularly worthwhile. The track “Paper Airplane” is a great deciding factor if you’re on the fence about this one.
Christ on a stick … is it too late to book a flight home for the loooooong weekend?
We’ve also started a MCR Flickr accountwhich currently has some less than average looking pictures from the past few Blowout’s. We will try our best to put some new shots in there after each night of the Blowout, but no guarantees.
In today’s Free Press they have a preview of the Blowout and of course in today’s Metro Times the writers over there went crazy with the most comprehensive Blowout preview I’ve ever seen.This year’s 4 different covers include the bands Hellen, TAN, Siddartha and a group photo of a bunch of local musician’s(anyone have a list of everyone on the cover). Make sure you check out this great schedule the MT put together that has a quick blurb about each band.
Here is the weather forecast for the next 4 days and suprisingly it’s supposed to 45 on Saturday. I don’t buy it, the weather is supposed to be terrible for the Blowout.
See you tonight at the Launch Party.