Puppet On A String

“If you say you love me madly, I’ll gladly, be there

Like a puppet on a string.”



– Sandie Shaw

THE MEAT PUPPETS

themeatpuppets.com

The Meat Puppets will be making a visit to First Avenue on June 5th, playing with friends and fellow rock vets, Soul Asylum. For those not familiar with the band, the Meat Puppets were on the forefront of the alternative music revolution in the late 80s and early 90s, making several records for premiere punk label SST and creating an influential blend of punk, psych-rock and country that famously attracted Kurt Cobain. After weathering over two decades of recording, touring, personal troubles, line-up changes and two break-ups, the brothers Kirkwood (Curt and Cris) reformed for good in 2006 and have since released four new records: Rise to Your Knees (2007), Sewn Together (2009), Lollipop (2011) and Rat Farm (2013). In 2011, Curt’s son Elmo was added as rhythm guitarist to the live line-up.



Worth checking out before the gig is Cris Kirkwood’s website, criskirkwoodart.com, featuring his strange and beautiful prints and watercolors. He also recently launched a podcast earlier this month which boasts guests like Bob Forrest (Thelonious Monster) and Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE)!



I last saw Soul Asylum in December for the first of two special Entry shows and it was extremely fun. The band has been currently hard at work wrapping up their new album that was funded by fans through PledgeMusic. The guys are making sure every person who donated gets not only the new music, but other unique gifts like hand-painted albums from Dave Pirner or signed drumsticks from drummer (and my favorite person in the world) Michael Bland.



Meat Puppets tour dates:

06/05/15 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue 06/06/15 Sturtevant, WI Route 20 Outhouse 06/07/15 Chicago, IL House Of Blues 06/08/15 Pontiac, MI Crofoot Ballroom 06/10/15 Indianapolis, IN Rathskeller 06/11/15 Kalamazoo, MI Bell’s Brewery, Inc. 06/12/15 Northfield, OH Hard Rock Live 06/13/15 Millvale, PA Mr. Small’s Theatre 06/15/15 Annapolis, MD Rams Head On Stage 06/18/15 Washington, DC 9:30 Club 06/19/15 Philadelphia, PA Underground Arts 06/20/15 Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Bowl

06/22/15 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom 06/24/15 Hartford, CT Webster Theater 06/25/15 Cambridge, MA Middle East Downstairs 06/26/15 Riverhead, NY Suffolk Theater 06/27/15 Poughkeepsie, NY The Chance Theatre 07/20/15 West Hollywood, CA House Of Blues 07/21/15 Anaheim, CA House Of Blues 07/23/15 San Diego, CA House Of Blues 07/25/15 San Francisco, CA The Independent 07/26/15 Napa, CA Uptown Theatre Napa 07/31/15 Suquamish, WA Suquamish Clearwater 08/06/15 Denver, CO Summit Music Hall

MISS PUSSYCAT

quintronandmisspussycat.com


I’ll always remember when I saw Quintron and Miss Pussycat at the Triple Rock in 2010. I had no idea there would be a puppet show – right in the middle of a regular concert. It was really fun and I’m glad to see that Miss Pussycat will be releasing Anthropomorphizer, a collection of live puppet shows, this June 30th Terror Vision Records & Video.



Miss Pussycat explained the origin of her puppet shows, “I started doing puppet shows in church as a kid as part of the Christian Puppet Youth Ministry in Antlers Oklahoma. It was a kit that the First Baptist Church had. A few years later I did a puppet show at my secret night club Pussycat Caverns in New Orleans because with bands, no one ever wanted to go first, so I just decided to do a puppet show. I made a bunch of puppets, recorded the sound track with a Tascam 424 cassette 4 track and that was that. I now had a magical career where I made things and they started talking to me…”



Quintron and Miss Pussycat are on tour:

BICICLETAS POR LA PAZ

bicicletasporlapaz.com



Oakland’s Bicicletas Por La Paz will be releasing Musica Por Puppets this June 30th.



The band is unique in that not only are they a band, but they’re also part of a bicycle movement – trying to encourage people to use their bikes as the main mode of transportation.
As expected, many of their songs are about bike activism, and I can relate to trying sharing the road with dangerous distracted drivers (people, stop using your cell phone while driving!).



As you know, I am a big bicycle fan. I would spend hours and hours listening to music while biking to and fro the city in the Summer (unfortunately, my bicycle rarely gets used during the harsh Minnesota winters).



They also try and tour via bicycle, but it can prove challenging because they have to carry all their equipment on their bikes. Guitarist and singer Adley Penner explains, “We use small, solid state amps and tiny speakers that are very powerful, and there are drum kits now that fold in on themselves. It’s not easy, but we’ve proved that we can do it. And we’ll keep doing it.”



The Musica Por Puppets CD release show will take place on August 29 at Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.

emily +
vu (vu@weheartmusic.com)
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