There once was a magical place called The Cabaret Metro. It was dark, smokey, loud, and filled with rock-n-roll degenerates … well, at least the nights that I was there, and I got to see some kick-ass shows there.
Some kind person on youtube has posted majority of one of those shows.
Nirvana from 1989:
THIS LINK will take you to the Youtube Playlist Page so you can watch all 9 songs.
This footage makes me smile
Filed under: Blogroll, memories | Tags: chicago, thrash, windy city hardcore
Damn … Chicago lost a character this week. Troy “Roach” Coates, frontman from The Plague – Lungbrush – Stunt Double Jesus – Rising Up Angry – Ghost of the Underground, passed away due to complications from a rare form of Adrenal Cancer.
I saw The Plague a few times & Lungbrush once, after that I lost track of Roach’s other bands. I was more of a fan of The Plague myself. They along with bands like Life Sentence & Zeotrope were important in the mid-late 80′s in Chicago because they were a bridge between the punks & the metal heads at the time.
Generally, you could be sure to see a fight if a pack of headbangers walked into a punk show & vice-versa. But with the growing Hardcore Scene, there was an acceptance at shows. I’m not saying people held hands screaming Kumbaya or anything, but the fights were over things other than the uniform you wore.
Anyhow – whether it was Cabaret Metro, The Cubby Bear, The Iron Rail or some dive bar Roach always put on a lively engaging performance. If memory serves correct, I think I saw Lungbrush at Circuits on Cicero when they were starting up – Good stuff, just more metal than I was hoping for. The Plague was fast, strong & in your face … and that’s what I dug about ‘em.
The scene is gonna miss you Roach! If you’d like more in-depth info … check out www.rockforroach.com
2009 gets off to a crappy start with the discovery of Ron Asheton, dead in his home on Jan. 6th. If you’ve come across this entry from a google search, then you’re already aware of Ron’s importance in the world of rock-n-roll. If you’ve stumbled across this post & are not familiar with Ron Asheton – I’ll keep it brief.
Ron Asheton had a style & tone that challenged the established guitar world in the late 60′s. He created a sound that would bore through you and electrify your senses. It was down dirty & huge … and it probably frightened a fair amount of the general public.
Iggy gets most of the attention when The Stooges are referred to, but without Ron’s monstrous guitar & his brother Scott’s thundering drums, as well as Dave Alexander’s driving bass … The Stooges would have been just another garage band.
Although too young to see them in the late 60′s/70′s, I’ve seen 2 of the shows with Mike Watt on bass … and I’m saddened that I won’t be seeing any more.
Between the Stooges demise & the re-union, Ron was in Destroy All Monsters & Dark Carnival (both w/ Niagara), The New Order (no not the Blue Monday one), New Race (w/ Radio Birdman & MC5 members) and The Empty Set. And in the mid-90′s he was in a wonderfully “B” horror movie called Mosquito (w/ Gunnar “Leatherface” Hansen from The Texasa Chainsaw Massacre).
Here’s one of my favorite Stooges clips, from the television broadcast of The Cincinnati Pop Festival in 1970.
A few years back, my wife & I honeymooned in Honolulu. I love it there … it’s so beautiful and you can emmerse yourself in the tranquility of nature or the hustle & bustle of Waikiki … it’s up to you. We had a wonderful time exploring Oahu, dining on awesome fish, being tourists and we got addicted to this drink at Tiki’s Grill & Bar called a Tikirita – martini version of a top shelf margarita with Li Hing Mui powder on the rim instead of salt (oh GOD those were good!) – Anyhow …
We planned a day where we’d hit the Aloha Tower Marketplace to visit Don Ho’s restaurant and hopefully have the chance to see him perform. Well, Don wasn’t performing that week because he was in Vegas for vacation (at least that’s what the hostess told us). We were bummed, but figured there’d be another chance to see him. And, besides … the Mai Tai’s were goin’ down so smoothly that we were feelin’ fine without his velvety crooning.
Well … that chance is now gone … Don Ho passed away on Saturday (04-14-07) from heart failure. Although I can’t say I listen to him alot, I really wanted to see him perform. He was one of “The Great Showmen” of our time. He was the type of singer that talks with the audience, flirts with them, makes them laugh and sing along … he was a true performer and will be greatly missed.
