W♥M

Best of the Fest: Mosswood Meltdown and SXSW 2024

07/06/2024-07/07/2024 Mosswood Meltdown, Oakland Read More B-52s One of them is the distinctive vocal styling of B-52's frontsman, Fred Schneider! I actually don't have any music for this and probably won't request more music to review, since I'm knee-deep in a crappy ... Hunx and His Punx Hunx (aka Seth Bogart), from said-band, have branched out to 50s teen music, with his band Hunx and His Punx. And you know what ? It's GOOD AWESOME. It's not sexual, it's not ... Big Freedia Boyfriend is opening for Big Freedia. Big Freedia is a rapper that knows how to get a crowd going. Frederick Ross (AKA Big Freedia) is not a newcomer to the hip-hop…

Mosswood Meltdown
July 6th & 7th, 2024
mosswoodmeltdown.com

Bay Area music festivals represent! Cult filmmaker and local bad-ass John Waters is gearing up to host the Mosswood Meltdown summer festival in Oakland for the tenth time this year, on July 6th and 7th. Get ready to revel in some proper throwbacks, and, as Waters says, “our days to shine in the punk grime.”

This year’s full line-up has already been announced, and includes headliners The B-52s, who keep saying they’re retiring for good but happily keep coming back to give us more. Also playing are the Bay Area baddies Hunx and his Punx, Big Freedia, Redd Kross, Gibby Haynes and the Paul Green Rock Academy performing songs by the Butthole Surfers, and the first-ever drag contest hosted by Peaches Christ, with Waters as one of the judges.

Recent line-ups have included Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, Bratmobile, and the Linda Lindas. As always, Mosswood promises a more DIY, gritty vibe than your larger Cali-based Outside Lands and Coachella. That’s East Bay-style, baby.

MOSSWOOD MELTDOWN 2024 LINEUP

The B52s

Hunx & His Punx

Big Freedia

Peaches Christ Hosts a Drag Contest!

Redd Kross

Pure Hell

Egyptian Lover

Gibby Haynes & The Paul Green Rock Academy

Die Spitz

Bush Tetras

Go Sailor

Pansy Division

Wifey

The Space Lady

Sheastie Boys

Diesel Dudes

Trap Girl

Non Plus Temps

Gumby’s Junk

Baus

Hot Laundry

Hosted by John Waters!!!

03/08/2024-03/16/2024 SXSW, Austin Read More SXSW What a year, once again! This was my 12th SXSW in the last 16 years, and I'll be honest I thought it was going to be a down year post-Covid…. But far from a dull year, Austin was alive and well with loads of great new ....

SXSW
March 8th-16th, 2024
sxsw.com

Once again, SXSW (South by Southwest Music Festival) is returning to Austin, Texas. This year marks the festival’s 38th annual event. Like previous years, there are a million bands.

Too many to list here, go to their website to see the full listing.

Some of the bands I’m interested in seeing:

Ash (Ireland)

Bad Bad Hats (Minneapolis)

Bootsy Collins (Cincinnati)

Fat Dog (London)

Gruff Rhys (Wales)

Love Language (Montréal)

Lottery Winners (Leigh)

MC Frontalot (Berkeley)

Peach Luffe (Toronto)

porij (Manchester)

Pussy Riot (Russia)

Psymon Spine (Brooklyn)

Sabrina Song (Brooklyn)

Spyres (Glasgow)

villagerrr (Columbus)

robin ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com ♥ bsky.ap

Say "Cock Rock" Like You Mean It

You Got Another Thing Coming

I emerged from my self-imposed musical exile in the back catalog of the Dr. Demento show in the early nineties and began casting around for what music would make me cool.  It was a tough time to be uncool and searching for a musical style.  Until the grunge thing finally crawled across the continent, all the rebellious youth had to cling to was the heavy metal scene.*

Tom Of Finland Likes Cock (Rock)

It was a little tough to get into.  Some part of me couldn't synthesize the heavy metal stage aesthetic with the  hypermacho posturing and the rampant homophobia.  There was some piece of that puzzle that just didn't make sense.  Thankfully for us all, Rob Halford of Judas Priest came out in 1997 and cleared up the whole mystery.  Cock rock really was about cocks this whole time, and if we didn't like it, we could just shut the fuck up.

Fast forward ten years, and the gay metal scene had exploded all over the place.  (Pun intended.  Sorry.)  With the ambiguity gone, and, I think, the happy side effect of taking homosexuality into the heartland of the homophobic, gay metal is pretty much everything awesome about metal in addition to being (maybe intentionally) very high-concept.

For the moment, we're going to gloss over Electric Six, who, in spite of having a song called "Gay Bar" are mostly a band about nothing at all, who do happen to act awfully queer, but it's not really my place to delve into pondering the sexual identity of Dick Valentine, and in any case, their rumored new album isn't out yet, so why should I?

Stroke The Shaft

Our first stop is in the frozen Scandinavian North for a visit with Turbonegro, who's new album Retox came out a couple of weeks ago.   Like Electric Six, it's a little difficult to tell if Turbonegro's homosexual agenda is gimmick, or gimmick based in reality.  Either way, this song is definitely about penises. 

Sausage Party

Next up is a rocker who first achieved fame by playing guitar naked on the front porch, just as Google Street View's camera car drove by.  This week, however, Pink Steel's Udo Von DüYü has blessed us all with a new album and another hard rockin' song about cock.**

Well, that should give you something to think about this Bastille Day.***  Now, I leave you with some words of wisdom from M.C. Frontalot.

I Heart Fags

See you in the funny papers,
W

*  Okay, okay.  Unless they were incredible wusses and were into electronica or goth.  I tried them, I really did.  I just couldn't stand the damn music. Plus, I was too damned angry all the time.
** I don't want you to think that only gay men (or those pretending to be gay men) sing about their penises.   You can also be an indie comic superstar and sing songs about your penis.
*** Before you ask, yes.  I did post this almost entirely because of the sudden popularity of the Wizard Rock post.  The thought of internet users arriving here looking for nice, family friendly songs about Harry Potter and finding songs about penises tickles me pink.  Besides, that's what good rock and roll is for, right?  Challenging our assumptions?