Blake’s Picks

Music and more from the Valley and beyond

Betcha didn’t know there’s a band with roots in the Lehigh Valley that’s signed to the legendary Sub Pop Records. Pissed Jeans is four guys from the area who have recently released King of Jeans, their 3^rd album and 2^nd for Sub Pop. The sound is a noisy, heavenly (to my ears) thick soup of garage-punk/post-hardcore.  The legacy of LV bands is just a tad bit cooler now. For you mainstreamers, Sub Pop is the label that introduced Nirvana and Soundgarden to the world. (www.subpop.com/artists/pissed_jeans)

Classic rock-leaning cover band Daily Grind have a 9/11 tribute show planned for this Saturday, September 12^th at the Seemsville Tavern in Northampton.  Anyone showing military, police, fire, or EMS ID gets in free.  For details check www.myspace.com/dailygrindmusic or call the Seemsville Tavern at 610-837-1799.  Daily Grind is getting known for supporting worthwhile causes and singer Mike Klingler is a local EMT.  The band plans to assist our injured members of the US Armed Forces through The Wounded Warrior Project with a dog tags fundraiser at upcoming shows.

This Sunday, September 13^th brings an early 6pm show to Crocodile Rock in Allentown that has so much local backstory it’ll make your head spin.  On the bill is Easton-bred  Settle (now signed to Epitaph Records), Westland (a well-connected Boston band with ex-Settle guitarist Jonathan Cornelius), and Dear Anna (a new trio featuring Tim Frank and Troy Ritter of Blue Sees Red with ex-39 Goodbyes singer/guitarist Lorenzo Bubba).  Also scheduled are The Click Clack Boom, A Golden Era, Krista, and When East Meets West.  Tickets are $12 at the door. 

I’ve heard preliminary mixes of a few Dear Anna songs.  The songs are closer to the pop-rock of Lorenzo’s former band 39 Goodbyes than they are to the angular, Queens Of the Stone Age-meets-The Experience sound of the rhythm section’s other band Blue Sees Red.  The songs are well-written and interesting.  The playing and vocals make this project more than the sum of its parts.  I am very excited for these guys to start going public.

www.stuffunemployedpeoplelike.com is for anyone who has ever been out of work. If you have a steady paycheck you won’t understand, so just move along and let the rest of us have this. If you’re currently unemployed, you must visit this site. Not only will you relate to these blog entries intimately, you’ll also not feel so alone. Gotta laugh to keep from cryin’.

Sept. 27^th is the date of the 2^nd Annual Guy Ackley Memorial Kruise 4 Kids, a motorcycle and classic car poker run that starts at Scott Powersports in Coopersburg and ends at the Main Gate in Allentown.  Enjoy giveaways, food, oldies music, and lots of motorcycles, classic cars and antique trucks. In Guy’s honor, his friends and fellow members of the local media community have organized this event to raise funds for the benefit of several non-profit organizations dedicated to helping children on a local level. This all speaks to the spirit of the late Guy Ackley, who was an avid motorcyclist, radio professional, and philanthropist in the Valley for 30+ years. For registration, details, and a list of the charities, visit www.kruise4kids.com.

“The average is the borderline that keeps mere men in their place. Those who step over the line are heroes by the very act. Go.” - Henry Rollins