[Brian Krashpad]

So last night Crash Pad played a very fun show at my favorite venue in town. It's small, with only 4 or 5 employees/owners all together. Last night, of the 3 people working the place, I knew 2 of them for over 10 years, and the other for at least 5 or 6. The soundguy there is an ex-bandmate of mine from back in the mid-'90's (band preceding Crash Pad), the guy running door and the gal tending bar are in a band that's gigged with Crash Pad many times. So gigging at the venue is like playing at a friend's house.

Being the middle of summer in a college town on a Wednesday night, the crowd was somewhat sparse, though actually better than I expected given the conditions. My daughter Hannah, who's almost 16, came with. She really likes Celt-punk like the Pogues and Flogging Molly (as do I, which is how she found the music in the first place), and the touring band on the bill, Swaggerin Growlers (from Boston) play that sort of music.

First up was our bass player Ronnie's band, Audrey Rose. They play this indie-metal-synth mishmash with vocals ranging from Cookie Monster to a shriek that's probably supposed to be very goth/metal or something (probably tongue-in-cheek, as they have a good sense of humor), but just sounds like a very frightened 9-year-old girl. Which of course ends up being even more funny. Not my cuppa but very amusing and certainly entertaining nevertheless. Here's them, Ronnie plays guitar with them, and is playing the black SG (sorry about the grainy photos, couldn't find a digital camera beforehand and had to revert to plan B, the infamous disposable camera):







Much more to come-- don't say I didn't warn y'all.