13 May 11

Fear no bad luck here, blogspot readers, on this Friday the 13th! It's another rockin' Friday to kick off a long busy weekend of music and fun (as well as no sleep) for this roving party gal. Tonight, she's celebrating with the graduates of Columbia College at their annual Manifest to see her good friends, Boom Goes The Globe, perform on the Next Up Stage. This annual day-long urban arts festival captured the creative spirit of Columbia's undergraduate and graduate students from film to exhibits and performances as well as some weirdness. Yes, SouthSide mentioned weirdness but not in a bad way - there were living dolls (fashion design students) and a Columbia professor in drag who was really showing off his mad dance skills during Boom's set.

This reviewer highly recommends taking the next shuttle flight to the universe of Euro-electro techno/disco with Boom Goes The Globe. Despite not having the glow of their wicked lighting sequences (to accompany the lively mix of upbeat percussion rhythms and remixes) or a longer performance time, this local band knew how to liven up the celebration while transporting this crowd into the planetary nebula of its amazing sound. Even the light sprinkles of rain couldn't stop them from dancing to the electronic tempos and beats off certain songs including the vibrant wave of Asian pop mixed used which had many wildly dancing. Boom made good use of their short time keeping every body energized to the spaceman disco vibe until it was time to return to earth. Don't worry, blogspot readers, SouthSide's certain Boom Goes The Globe will lift off again soon at another spacet port (venue) near you however in the meantime, visit http://www.boomisalifestye.com or http://www.myspace.com/boomgoestheglobe for more details about this rockin' space duo and their music.

Now it was off to Cubby Bear for more rockin' fun and music deep in the heart of the Wrigleyville neighborhood ...actually enemy territory for this Southsider Sox fan. Yet, with neither team making waves in the current standings this season (so far), this reviewer let bygones be bygones to enjoy hearing friends, The Passing and Trainwreck Symphony, perform on stage with Basket Case (Green Day Tribute band). However, she cannot in all honesty recommend checking out the second band on the bill, The Run Around, blogspot readers, though it was her first time seeing them. Though having potential, the band left this reviewer with the difficult task of trying to figure out what they were all about especially with its music. The Run Around bounced all over the genre map that it left her more confused during their performance despite having only one bright spot when covering a hiphop/rap song. The band does have potential (somewhere) if it works on the vocals (sounded a bit off especially while trying to reach the high falsettos), stage presentation and band gimmick (front man shouldn't have to over exert himself in trying to convince the audience into liking them ...the music should do that for the band). Plus SouthSide would like to suggest one more important piece of advice - never beg the audience/fans to move closer to the stage ...invite them to rock with you. If you want to learn more about The Run Around, visit http://www.myspace.com/therunaroundband or on Facebook.

Opening with a blast of melodic hardcore rock, SouthSide's good friends The Passing kicked off the Cubby Bear lineup with a subtle band to energize the audience. Once again, this reviewer enjoyed the epic feel and sound of this local band which was coupled nicely with front man Steve's emotionally charged vocals. Such dynamic powress from this singer made you literally feel the words besides hearing them highlighting the pain and angst sometimes woven into the lyrics. She suggests checking out Passing's song Downward Faster in which had this dark mystique enticing the ears with its haunting electro and edgy rock vibe before being thoroughly wowed by emotions in Steve's vocals. Also check out new song, Friends - a switch from their melodic side that had SouthSide instantly liking the darker, harder electro side (with some digital sampling for fx) ...Steve truly emmersed himself vocally into this song's lyrics - be careful of hearing plenty of wicked emotions as he vents ...overall, the song's a bit frightening to behold yet wonderfully enjoyable to taste the deliciousness of Passing's melodically evil dark side. With friends (as heard inside the lyrics) like these, you won't have any need for enemies, blogspot readers. Visit The Passing at http://www.myspace.com/thepassing or on Facebook.

There's a saying "...if it's not broken, don't fix it..." yet in Trainwreck Symphony's case, the negative notion here does not truly apply, blogspot readers. "Fixing" is good for this local band especially when it enhances its already vibrantly energetic music and rockin' sound. The thunderous fire off the hardcore guitar riffs and Xavier's powerfully dynamic vocals haven't changed yet it was the haunting violin rhythms that seemed to change (slightly) the band's makeup and sound. SouthSide's not saying this added "fixture" was a bad thing but it did do something to Trainwreck - it brought out more of the dark mystique never heard before by either front man Xavier or band itself. The electronic violin revealed just more than rhythms to liven up the rockin' tempo but also added unspoken vocals to highlight Xavier's style especially during one particular song about finding the right words to say "goodbye". Both violin and vocals were paired naturally and perfectly, blogspot readers. And that wasn't the only "fixture" to occur within Trainwreck's performance. This reviewer also enjoyed this band's rock/hiphop/lyrical rap fusion - very lively while blending the best of both worlds to compliment Xavier's strong vocal presence without missing a rockin' beat. One of the better Trainwreck Symphony shows SouthSide has seen even though they did disappoint their hungry fans by not performing an encore. The band's currently on hiatus from the stage (don't worry - simply resting and recording) but she highly recommends visiting http://www.myspace.com/trainwrecksymphonymusic for more music and details.

To be honest, SouthSide's not the best judge of tribute bands ...and she would like to add she's not truly an avid Green Day superfan either. This reviewer simply likes one song of theirs - Know Your Enemy. Yet this reviewer does recommend checking out Chicago's only Green Day tribute band known as Basket Case (affectionately named after Green Day's 1994 single from 3rd album, Dookie) when they rock the stage again. It's rare for any tribute band to get a recommendation from this reviewer because she's looking for not only their knowledge of the music in which the band is tributing but how they present it on stage as if they literally stepped into that band's shoes - i.e. looking and (sometimes) sounding like that said band. Basket Case passed SouthSide's test with flying colors, blogspot readers. As mentioned earlier, she's not a super Green Day but she does know their music in which Basket proved they could fill in for Billie Joe and the guys if they ever want to take a break from the stage. Basket bursted onto the stage wearing similar clothes from Green's Know Your Enemy video while energetically performing old as well as new Green songs though it received mixed reaction from the crowd but they still rocked along with the band. For more details about Chicago's Basket Case, visit http://www.basketcasechicago.com or on Facebook.


Until next time, support your local scene,
SouthSide