One of Minnesota's most precious musical resources, The Slim Dunlap Band, returned to action a few weeks ago in remarkable fashion, playing 2 extraordinarily cool gigs in the unlikeliest of settings -- the Minnesota Zoo amphitheater and, the next night, a magical road house on a forgotten highway in the wilds of extreme Western Wisconsin.
The SDB had a remarkable residency at the Turf Club in St. Paul for almost a decade. When long time drummer Brien Lilja decided to relocate to California a few years ago the chemistry changed and, despite some able skins work from the likes of Dave Weigardt and Billy Dankert, things were never quite the same. The departure of SPMC guiding light/all-around great guy Rob Rule from the Turf proved to be the nail in the coffin for one of the coolest things to hit St. Paul on a Saturday night since…well, since forever.
Well, never say never. An opening slot for Son Volt miraculously appeared on the horizon and before you could say "Times Like This," Slim and the boys were back in action to rock another day. Brian was summoned and, as it turned out, he was headed back to the midwest anyways; apparently he'd had enough of La-La Land.
The opening set for Son Volt at the Minnesota Zoo was only 30 minutes long, but the band made the best of it. Glorious versions of many faves were offered up -- "Girlfiend," "Hate This Town," "Cozy Little Hideaway," "Times Like This," "Big Star Big," etc. The growing crowd ate it all up and then some -- the band received an enthusiastic ovation at the end of the too-short set, something of a rarity for the opener in this kind of setting.
Fresh on the heels of the Zoo buzz came a trip out to Rob Rule's wonderful new joint, The Bar Chord, in Knapp, Wisconsin, about an hour east of the Twin Cities. With no time constraints, the band played for well over an hour - they sounded great without a hint of any rustiness. A good chunk of Slim's two albums were played, along with some "newer" material (man it was good to hear "Breeders Cannonball" again!), a luverly cover of "Ridin' in My Car" and an uplifiting finale of "Times Like This" with fellow traveller Terry Walsh chiming in on harmonies. With friends, family and familiar faces in attendance at the Bar Chord, it was almost like a trip in the WayBack machine to University Ave. in St. Paul. The whole set definitely evoked bittersweet memories of all those (80, 90, 100?) shows the SDB played at the Turf over the years. People danced, people laughed, people rocked out and people simply soaked up the joyous sound emanating from the stage. To quote Neil Young -- and the sign above the door at the Bar Chord -- "live music is better." No shit, sherlock!
The trip down memory lane was over all too soon, even for a 2 show "tour." If we're lucky, Slim and his band will be playing again somehow, somewhere -- hopefully sooner rather than later. Now that Brien lives in the same time zone...
Slim's myspace page
2 comments:
Its nice to know Slim is doing well and still in action. I saw him with the mats and solo in Atalnta, the mats were lucky to have him. His music is absolutely timeless and gutsy and blows Westerbergs off hte map. GOD BLESS SLIM DUNLAP.
Its nice to know Slim is doing well and still in action. I saw him with the mats and solo in Atlanta Years ago. His music is absolutely timeless and blows Westerbergs off the map.
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