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| Porcupine from La Crosse, WI |
Once again juggling family and seeing shows. There should
probably be an entire post about being a father of a two year old with a
partner who also loves music and likes to see shows. It’s quite a challenge to
get out and get the full spectrum of what MWMF has to offer.
That said, I did see some shows and thoroughly enjoyed Day 2
of the festival. Saw my main man Mike Munson kick things off at the Acoustic
Café – great to see a full audience and hear a couple new tunes. A couple tunes
was all I could catch because to was time for the tag off, so Erin could catch
Caroline Smith and the Goodnight Sleeps at Ed’s Bar. The report was good,
especially the back up singers.
Erin came home and tagged me in time to catch the second
half of Brooklyn’s Cuddle Magic at the Winona Arts Center. The place was packed
to the gills – in fact, by far the most people I have ever seen at the Arts
Center. It warms my heart to even think back on this – such a beautiful room
acoustically, and Cuddle Magic certainly made the most of it….horns, piano,
guitar and xylophone all behind just fantastic harmonies. It was one of the
shows that intrigued me, but I didn’t expect to be as impressed as I was with
their performance. Come back to Winona!
After the acoustics of the Arts Center, I was underwhelmed
by Halloween, Alaska – I think the quick turn around between sets just didn’t
give the sound guy enough time to dial in there sound (maybe it was just me) –
headed back to Winona Arts Center for Eau Claire’s Daredevil Christopher
Wright. Another great band for the room, and after a bit of a shaky intro., I
felt that they really delivered too. Definitely lived up to my indie Simon
& Garfunkel analogy of the other day, especially loved “Divorce” with full
audience participation. I bet their tour with Cuddle Magic has been a stunner
wherever they have been.
Caught the first few songs of Chastity Brown at Ed’s Bar.
She is just a mesmerizing figure up there, tender and soulful – just exudes a
kind of star power. I hope she can become a regular on the scene here like
Chris Koza and Charlie Parr.
Finished the night at Broken World Records and Porcupine –
my bros from way back in the magical, musical early 90s era LAX. Casey Virock
is an indie rock sensation in my book, crafting his Syd Barrett meets the
Flaming Lips crunching anthems, fresh and powerful no matter the band – Dream
13, Space Bike, or bass thunder boomer Dave Reinders and his current space-rock
child, Porcupine. Great to run into Enrique More and Ron Rose at this show too
– both long-time LAX musicians. Ron Rose fronted Mondo Teeth and Gravity Box in
those magical early 90s times and has recently moved back to La Crosse after a
long hiatus in Austin, Texas. Anxiously waiting to hear what he is going to
cook up – I long ago wore out a solo tape of his that was a dead ringer for
Kurt Vile.
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