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THE SOAPBOX | 11.13.03 WARNING
Hi and welcome to the soapbox page. This is generally a space for us to disseminate irrelevant information and blab about stuff, including reviews and the occasional editorial.
- Your Friends, The Grubbys
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THE SOAPBOX | 10.07.04 Bob Log III
The Sun-Ra of Scum Rock
One thing you gotta give Bob Log, he certainly knows what he’s doing. From the moment he walks on stage until the moment he swaggers off and the house music signals the end of the night, the man behind the mask (in this case a 1980’s era sci-fi space helmet with a plastic phone attached to the mouth-hole) is controlling everyone in the room like so many marionettes on a string.
This is a man who on a nightly basis convinces women he’s never met before to spruce his scotch with a dip of their boobs, a little concoction he’s dubbed “boobscotch”. This is a one-man blues punk band that rolls over you like a locomotive (maybe that’s cuz he used to drive a school bus), pounding out blues riffs with his hands and bass beats with his feet. This is one of the best guitar players in the country, singing through a plastic telephone attached to his face, caterwauling like a demon and laying down some of the meanest deep Mississippi licks you’re likely to ever hear. Demonstrably on speed, a mad scientist of the blues, he is Bob Log III, and it’s too bad you missed him.
He shows up, as always, wearing a blue reflecting jumpsuit, and communicating with the audience directly through his helmet-telephone, which contains a cordless microphone and swings around like an erect elephant’s trunk. There is something about his guitar playing that is mind-bending, powered by alternative tuning and octave pedals, giant like a Pink Floyd crescendo but carved out of John Lee Hooker’s guitar-work. There’s a point in the evening where he switches to a broke-ass lackluster acoustic that looks like it may have been buried underground for a few years, and declares “I bought this guitar for $16, people, but tonight I’m gonna make it sound like $18.50!”. Rest assured the explosive riffing that ensues puts that puppy well past the $20 mark.
The set draws mostly from his latest “Log Bomb” and its predecessor “Trike”, and he is joined on this tour by the buxom and beautiful Town Bikes, a pair of Australian burlesque dancers who keep the night hopping and add to the frenzied stage show. Log plays foot-drums while bouncing a lucky volunteer girl from the audience on each knee, there is the obligatory boob-dipping in his scotch glass by a perky fan, and all the while he shreds mean-ass sweaty rock-n-roll guitar with a space helmet on his head.
Like the Sun-Ra of scum-rock, Log III is boldly exploring territory no man has dared to go before him, and kicking some mighty ass all the while. You would do well, Philadelphia, to be there the next time his orbit brings him through your neighborhood.
(Review by Patrick McHugh)
Experience Mr. Log for yourself at his website.
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THE SOAPBOX | 02.04.03 D.P Bettencourt Profile
This month features a profile of a friend of ours:
D.P. Bettencourt.
Shooter/editor and friend of Grubstake, D.P. worked
with the band to create three music videos, one for
each of the following songs: PLAYING SOUNDS AND GRANOLA, CIRCUS SONG, and T.T.S. He's also in charge of the multi-media mayhem that
takes place during select Grubstake shows (mostly it's
just the shows he can get to with his multi-media
mayhem-making machinery.)
Go and see two of his short films, RAPTOR MOVIE and
CHUN SHIH: FROZEN DEAD, at www.siteofpower.com.
Contact him by e-mail at film643@hotmail.com and he
can send you copies of other stuff, too.
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THE SOAPBOX | 11.04.02 Album Reviews
Houndog - Houndog
This album emerges from deep within the subconscious of what is rock and roll, with creative minimalistic arrangements that could have been recorded last week or 100 years ago. David Hidalgo of Los Lobos fame teams up with Mike Halby, whose voice almost sounds slowed-down but always rings true, to create this ingenious collection of low-fi folk rumbling, dotted with virtuoso violin passages (a la Hidalgo). So sweet and subversive you may not even feel it going down, this is one for the ages.
(Columbia/Legacy records, © 1999. http://legacyrecordings.com/houndog)
The Takers - Never Get Out of These Blues Alive e.p.
Oh how I wish the Takers were still doing it. This collection of 6 screaming rock cuts that explode and offend and somehow edify, stands as a reminder of this truly great Boston 4 piece which has since passed on. From the catchy profanity of "the only reason" to the seemingly Six-Finger-Satellite-inspired "tight rope walker", there's a constant reinforcement of roots-rock basics thanks to bassist Nick Blakey and guitarist Mike Hibarger holding everything together. Never before have good taste and bad taste commingled so harmoniously.
(Rubric Records, © 2001. http://www.the-takers.com)