Chauncey and Chumley's Dad

I have to elaborate a bit more on my recent attendance at The 99ers show at First Avenue/7th Street Entry in Minneapolis and connections to The Replacements and Riot Fest. In 2013, I knew nothing about Riot Fest. Having started in 2005, it was originally an indoor, multi-venue festival that took place at various clubs around Chicago. In 2012, the curators decided to turn it into an outdoor festival with it’s original home in Humboldt Park on Chicago’s West Side. So in 2013, I’m reading one of the local Chicago newspapers on line and I see a short article that states that The Replacements are reuniting and will be playing a concert in Humboldt Park. This is stunning news! The “Mats,” a Minneapolis band, had infamously played their last show in Chicago at Taste of Chicago in Grant Park on July 4, 1991. The show was broadcast live on WXRT as each band member left the stage one at a time, replaced by roadies who finished the show for them. By all accounts, the breakup was acrimonious and there was virtually no chance that they would ever reunite as a band. The other strange part of digesting this article was; Humboldt Park?  Who plays a concert in Humboldt Park? It’s a beautiful park on the West Side of Chicago, but it had never been a concert venue.

I love The Replacements so I looked into this further. It was then that I discovered that they were playing at a festival called Riot Fest. The Mats had gotten back together to record an EP entitled Songs For Slim. Slim Dunlap was the lead guitarist for The Mats for their last two albums, having replaced original member Bob Stinson who had been fired from the band. (Reportedly, in part due to his resistance to the evolution to the band’s more Pop oriented sound and perhaps also due to his alcohol habit that was affecting his ability to show up for work.) In 2013, Dunlap suffered a debilitating stroke, and The Mats reunited for the Songs For Slim EP to raise money for Dunlap. At that point, the curators of Riot Fest convinced them to play a live show, headlining Riot Fest 2013.  I had already committed to working that weekend, but I would be done with work by noon on Sunday, so I looked at the Sunday schedule for Riot Fest. In addition to The Replacements, the Sunday schedule also featured another great Minnesota Punk Rocker, Bob Mould, and my favorite Alternative band Pixies. It was a no-brainer. I had to go to Riot Fest. That rainy Sunday in September, 2013 started a passion for me, and I have been to Riot Fest for all three days of the festival each year since then. (Including this year’s festival which happens in a few weeks.)

Now it’s July 2017, and I’m in Minneapolis on business and I go to First Ave./7th Street Entry for a Punk rock show that is a CD release party for The 99ers and also includes Punk bands RuDeGiRL, The Silverteens and Ripper. I am impressed with one of the band members, Emily Bee, who is in both The 99ers and RuDeGiRL plays back-to-back sets with both bands, and is smiling and having fun the entire time she is on stage. The next day, I receive an email from Dr. Stephen Brookfield, guitarist and principal songwriter for The 99ers. It is an email thanking everyone for attending the show. The email includes the email addresses of everyone that attended, making it a bit more personal and community-minded than the typical email from a Rock band. I responded to say how much I enjoyed the show and that I think it would be really cool if The 99ers played at Riot Fest. I also mentioned that while doing some internet research the day after the show, I discovered that 99ers guitarist and vocalist Emily Bee is the daughter of Slim Dunlap! I told Stephen that I was at the 2013 Mats reunion show at Riot Fest. I noted that I had not known at the time of The 99ers show about the connection to The Mats, but having found out after the fact, I was proud that I had worn a Riot Fest t-shirt to The 99ers show. Dr. B.  responded to me with a very nice email. And guess what? He said that when they asked Emily to join the band, they did not know that she was Dunlap’s daughter either! That’s pretty amazing considering the tight community of the Punk Rock scene in Minneapolis. From the website http://slimtownsingles.com, Emily notes, “People have asked me what it was like having a dad in The Replacements. It was kind of weird yet really exciting for me because The Replacements were my favorite band. I went to every all-ages show they played in Minneapolis starting with a show in September of 1984, when I was thirteen. My mom worked at First Avenue so I had the great fortune of being exposed to a lot of great music at a young age and went to every all-ages show I could. I loved The Replacements best of all and when Bob Stinson left the band I cried because I thought it was all over. Then one night my mom came in my room and said ‘You’ll never believe this – Dad is the new Replacement!’ It was incredible. I was thrilled.” Although The Replacements continued to play some live shows over the next couple of years after Riot Fest, their plans to record more new material and continue on as a band collapsed. Said bassist Tommy Stinson, “We dipped our toe in the water, and it didn’t feel so good." We may never see The Replacements again, but bands like The 99ers will continue to keep the Minnesota Punk scene alive and well.

I’m kicking off the weekend with the song that The 99ers opened with when I saw them at 7th Street Entry a few days ago.

No more Kyoto, he burned it to a stump, it’s official that Godzilla’s a Punk!

Minneapolis Live Music Triple Play - 3rd Night

The 99ers CD Release Party at First Avenue/7th Street Entry - This was the third and final night of my Minneapolis live music trilogy. Damn, was this show a lot of fun! Just a great collection of local Punk bands getting together for the release of The 99ers new CD, Pop Punk Girl. I’ve been to the legendary First Avenue a few times, but I’ve never been in the main room. Every show I’ve been to has been at 7th Street Entry. It’s a small, intimate venue that is starting to feel like “home.” Although the show was loosely billed as a Pop Punk show, it was not Pop Punk in the contemporary sense of the word. It was more early straight-up Punk in the vein of The Ramones when bands were playing Pop Rock with a fast, stripped down sound. The bands all rocked hard and the crowd had a lot of fun. 

The 99ers were the headliners but actually played third of the four bands on the bill. They played all the songs from the new album and included a few older songs along with some cover songs. They invited several guest singers on stage including, Anthony Shore, a.k.a. The Minnesota Elvis and also the emcee for the night. He sang the old Elvis song Burning Love . From their new album, they also brought up a singer for their song Roller Grrrls. I wasn’t clear if the singer was from a band or actually a roller girl, but she was a very good vocalist and had a very entertaining stage presence. They also have a song on the new album dedicated to RuDeGiRL, Rude Girl T-Shirt, and they brought up the band members from that band to sing the song and another song dedicated to the band Ye-Ye Pow and they brought up the singer from that band to share vocals. The 99ers band members have very interesting background. Punk Rockers by night, they are the antithesis of Punk Rockers during the day. Guitarist and principal songwriter Stephen Brookfield is a professor at University of St. Thomas and an author of several scholarly books.  Bassist Doug Heeschen is an attorney working for the state of Minnesota, drummer Chris Schoonover is an endocrinologist, and guitarist Emily Bee is the director of planned giving at Minnesota Orchestra. Emily is the newest member of the band and she is also in the band RuDeGiRL. (So, yes, she did double duty at this gig, playing back-to-back sets with each band.) Emily is also the daughter of former Replacements guitarist Slim Dunlap. 

The Silverteens started the show and overall, I would say they were my favorite band of the evening. They are a Garage Punk band that started in 2012 but the members have all served in various Punk bands since the early 80’s. I was really impressed with guitarist Eric Pierson. He played some fine guitar and for my money, is the driving force behind that band’s sound. Bassist David Moe evokes the energy of the animated Tasmanian Devil. He gets his mojo working on stage and it’s amazing how much he can move around within the confines of a small stage. (During the other bands’ sets, he was up front at the stage, dancing, jumping and occasionally leaping up on stage to add back up vocals.) Singer Mark Engebretson and drummer round out this talented band. They played a great set including a wonderful cover of the Ramones’ song I Wanna Be Sedated that included a couple of guest vocalists.

Ripper was 2nd on the bill. A relatively youthful power trio, their brand of Punk was more Hardcore; very direct and brash with Noise Rock leanings. They played a fine set with contrasting sound that added some diversity to the evening.

RuDeGiRL topped off the evening. They are a six piece Clash tribute band, all female (except for the drummer). I’m rather ambivalent about tribute bands, but I did enjoy this band. The Clash is a band I’ve always liked and London Calling is one of my all-time favorite albums, so it was fun to here the songs performed live. The band make up is a lead vocalist, two guitarists (including Emily Bee), bass and a multi-instrumentalist who played several instruments throughout the set. I particularly enjoyed watching the bass player. She rocks hard, plays a fretless bass guitar, and moves her fingers faster than anyone I’ve ever seen on the bass. At times I wasn’t sure if she was actually playing notes or just scrambling her fingers along the neck, but whatever she was doing was done with complete vigor and total aplomb. The show started at 9:00 and it was after 12:30 by the time it wrapped up. It was an extraordinary evening of live music. The band’s performances, the guest singers jumping on and off the stage, and the enthusiastic crowd made this a priceless show. And all for the bargain price of a $5.00 ticket. Punk Rock still lives in Minnesota!

Up Next: Triple Play Live Music in Minneapolis!

Once a year, I get an extended rotational assignment in the wonderful metropolis called The Twin Cities. Outside of my hometown of Chicago, there is no better Midwestern locale for a rockin’ music scene. So on my first weekend here, I am going for a trifecta of live music. The trilogy will start Thursday night at Schooner Tavern in Longfellow for an open jam Blues night. Friday will be at the Triple Rock Social Club in Cedar-Riverside for Waxahatchee, Cayetana and Snail Mail. I’ll round out the triad on Saturday in Downtown West at First Avenue/7th Street Entry for a CD release party with local Punk band The 99ers and guests The Silverteens, Ripper, Rudegirl, DJ Barb Abney and host Anthony Shore, a.k.a., The Minnesota Elvis. It will be a rockin’ good time in Minnesota!