the hum / By Bob Doran

A Burning Thing

(July 12, 2007)  It was one of those parties. A wild one. My friend Gregg was moving out of a ramshackle place in Blue Lake into classier digs elsewhere and had a backyard bash to celebrate. Gregg has definite pyromaniacal tendencies and included a flaming limbo dance as part of the affair, followed by fireworks and a bonfire to dispose of leftover firewood and scrap lumber around the yard. My job was to keep the festivities festive by providing a soundtrack using an old-school record player set up on the porch of the back shed (and by old-school, I mean one with a built-in speaker that came from a school). Flipping through boxes of LPs in the shed I dug out songs with a fire theme: “Fire,” both the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and the Jimi Hendrix versions, Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” and others.

Someone asked Gregg if they could burn his wooden ladder. He agreed. When I put on Social Distortion ’s cover of Cash’s classic the revelers began something akin to a mosh circle around the fire pit. Some of the crazier partiers had stripped to nothing but their boots. A few naked crazies climbed up and over the ladder until it collapsed into the flames and someone literally “fell into a burning ring of fire.”

Social Distortion

GALLERY >

The memory of that night came back when I heard that legendary O.C. punks Social Distortion are coming to the Eureka Municipal Auditorium Saturday, July 14. That’s what the band’s music is like. Led by the intense Mike Ness , Social D was part of the late ’70s wave of Cali punk alongside bands like Black Flag, The Dead Kennedys and Bad Religion.

Comrades have fallen by the wayside, but, with a few breaks for rehab and the like, Ness has been at it ever since. At 45, the thoroughly tattooed guitarist is no longer a young punk, but that didn’t keep him off his skateboard, and last year he fell off and broke his arm rendering him unable to play guitar. No worries: His friends stepped in as the band continued touring, first Ron Emory from TSOL, then Bryan Small from another fiery punk outfit, The Hangmen . They’ve just released a new EP, The Hangmen In the City , produced by Ness, and they’re part of the current Social D tour. Also on the bill at the Muni: The Heart Attacks , a “scuzz rock” five-piece from Atlanta described by lead singer Chase as “a gang of pirate gypsy crackhead smart-mouthed snot-nosed rock & roll misfits.”

Meanwhile, across town, it’s The 5 Browns, who could be described as a classical novelty act. The family band, two brothers and three sisters, all play piano and all of them are pretty good. What’s novel is they all play at the same time. That’s right, five pianos on stage at once. They do some duo numbers and solos, but the main deal is pounding out warhorses from the classical repertoire all together on five Steinway grand pianos. What occurred to me was the fact that there probably are not five concert-ready Steinway grands in the county. No problem — the Browns travel with a truckload of them and will bring them to the Arkley Center Saturday evening.

Vocalese jazzman Bill Allison leads Redwood Jazz Voices in their first performance Thursday, July 12, at Muddy’s Hot Cup with Dave Wilson on bass and Mike LaBolle on percussion. The young vocal ensemble includes Bill’s son Clay Allison , Lorenza Simmons (Madi’s daughter) and Calista LaBolle (Mike’s daughter). “All kids who grew up in households with pro musicians,” Bill points out, adding, “They’re all in tune to it.”

Seattle nerdcore semi-star Matt Kenall used to call his one-man-band Capital Steps, but the similarly named comedy troupe complained, so now he calls himself Square Wail . He’s at the Jambalaya that same Thursday on his “I’m Not Listening” tour playing loopy dance tunes he creates with a pile of gadgets, but mostly with a Nintendo Gameboy. No, really. Dj[hexWarrior] opens, playing out for the first time.

Friday at the Jam, it’s yet another band from Portland, Wooden Nickle , a trio with guitars, drums and a laptop who craft cool, dark, haunted alt. folk/rock/country songs intermittently spiked with guitar feedback, hand claps and digital trickery. Deejay Jen Savage offers a preview on KSLG that afternoon at 1 p.m. Locals Laden Swallow open the show at the Jam with songs from their Awaken CD.

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