PUNK ROCK BOWLING AND THE IMPORTANCE OF LIVE MUSIC
”HEY, CAREFUL, MAN, THERE’S A BEVERAGE HERE!”
Something is just different about live music these days. There are myriad reasons as to why that is and, sure, the easiest scapegoat is Covid [though, in reality, it’s our sacrilegious overlords at LiveNation // Ticketmaster]. From the cost of the ticket alone to the cost of the Lyft, from the overpriced beverages to a shocking lack of access to water, and so on, I think we can all agree that it’s all just… different now.
But when you’re neck deep in the pit covered in beer, sweat, and Freya knows what else, there’s not a whole lot you’re actively thinking about. Well, other than trying to dodge the dude in the banana costume crowd surfing over your head, anyway. You’re there with who knows how many other people watching that frontman yelling their heart, soul, and maybe even a little blood out onto the stage. Behind them is the chaotic cacophony of perfectly synchronized anarchic anthems against, well, everything establishment.
For a brief moment in time, for the length of the band’s set, you’re a part of something bigger than yourself. Covid, the cost of a drink, the cost of the ticket aren’t really things you’re thinking about. Because you’re not really thinking about anything. You’re simply feeling everything. And honestly, for that moment, it doesn’t matter. Nothing does. That’s the point. Music is about feeling and connecting.
Over the Memorial Day weekend, my wench and I made our annual pilgrimage to Punk Rock Bowling in Las Vegas. It’s a safe haven for all the misfits, the freaks, and the runts to get together and celebrate what brings us all together - the feelings we get from the music we listen to (this specific case being punk rock) and the connection it brings us. PRB is like a strange soul sonic recharge. Something transcendent happens when you’re with that many like-minded people on this weird little island you’ve all collectively carved out of this shared almost-Orwellian capitalistic reality we call home. There’s a certain type of connection you get from live music, that you can only get from live music, and it’s something we all so desperately need. Whether we know it or not.
Live music is one of the oldest traditions in the world. Music was our first form of communication with each other and it’s how so many other species on this planet (and maybe other planets?) communicate with each other. Music, the connection we get from it, and our shared experience with it are essential to our core being. They are fundamental to how we interact with each other and perceive the world. Music is inescapable, and integral to who we are as a species. It’s so easy to lose sight of, and not have time for, that basic and essential human necessity - let alone going out and doing it with other people and spending money we don’t have.
Live music has the power to reconnect you to that oldest, and probably most fundamental, aspect of humanity. Punk Rock Bowling does that for me. I know it wouldn’t do that for everyone. I can’t fathom my own mum at PRB, though, that’s one sight I’d love to see. I hope you all have your own metaphorical PRB, a place to recharge yourself from the inside out.
So anyway, here’s May.
“MISCHIEF AND MAY-HEM”
MAY 1 - GARBAGE - NO GODS NO MASTERS, “THE CREEPS”
MAY 2 - THE BEATLES - HELP!, “TICKET TO RIDE”
MAY 3 - MOTÖRHEAD - BASTARDS, “BAD WOMAN”
MAY 4 - PARLIAMENT - GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 2 [OST], “FLASHLIGHT”
MAY 5 - THE DISTILLERS - SING SING DEATH HOUSE, “CITY OF ANGELS”
MAY 6 - METALLICA - KILL ‘EM ALL, “THE FOUR HORSEMEN”
MAY 7 - EDGAR WINTER GROUP - THEY ONLY COME OUT AT NIGHT, “FREE RIDE”
MAY 8 - DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE - TRANSATLANTICISM, “THE SOUND OF SETTLING”
MAY 9 - QUEEN - NEWS OF THE WORLD, “SHEER HEART ATTACK”
MAY 10 - THE WHO - WHO’S NEXT, “BEHIND BLUE EYES”
MAY 11 - RICK DERRINGER - ALL AMERICAN BOY, “ROCK AND ROLL, HOOCHIE KOO”
MAY 12 - HARRY BELAFONTE - CALYPSO, “DAY-O (THE BANANA BOAT SONG)”
MAY 13 - THE ROLLING STONES - UNDERCOVER, “TOO MUCH BLOOD”
MAY 14 - THE GUESS WHO - ROCKIN’, “GUNS, GUNS, GUNS”
MAY 15 - EARL SWEATSHIRT - DORIS, “MOLASSES [FEAT. RZA]”
MAY 16 - LINDA RONDSTADT - LIVING IN THE USA, “OOH BABY BABY”
MAY 17 - NORMAN GREENBAUM - BACK HOME AGAIN, “TITFIELD THUNDER”
MAY 18 - NOFX - NEVER TRUST A HIPPIE, “SEEING DOUBLE AT THE TRIPLE ROCK”
MAY 19 - ANDY WILLIAMS - DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES, “CAN’T GET USED TO LOSING YOU”
MAY 20 - QUINCY JONES - THE DUDE, “THE DUDE”
MAY 21 - BLUEGRASS BLAST - A MIXED BAG OF OL’ TIMEY MUSIC, “MOUNTAIN DEW”
MAY 22 - FOGHAT - FOGHAT LIVE [1972], “FOOL FOR THE CITY”
MAY 23 - CARLY SIMON - NO SECRETS, “YOU’RE SO VAIN”
MAY 24 - RANCID - INDESTRUCTIBLE, “FALL BACK DOWN”
MAY 25 - TEEN MORTGAGE, “OLIGARCHY” [SINGLE]
MAY 26 - DEVO - Q: ARE WE NOT MEN? A: WE ARE DEVO!, “UNCONTROLLABLE URGE”
MAY 27 - PLAGUE VENDOR - ROUGHER THAN ROUGH E.P., “TOUGH FUCKER”
MAY 28 - SIRAT - HI-FI IN AN ORIENTAL GARDEN, “MOON OVER THE RUINED CASTLE”
MAY 29 - KOOL & THE GANG - EMERGENCY, “FRESH”
MAY 30 - THE DOOBIE BROTHERS - LIVIN’ ON THE FAULT LINE, “NEED A LADY”
MAY 31 - DOGSTAR - SOMEWHERE BETWEEN THE POWER LINES AND PALM TREES, “BREACH”
You know the drill by now. I’ll surface again sometime next month with yet another rambling and playlist. As promised, here’s that playlist of savory savvy selects from this months albums. Enjoy blasphemously.
Skål, scalawags.
In Hesh we trust,
S. Jones
