Sussedtacular! @ The Varsity – November 28 - complete info

 

 

Sussedtacular! at the Varsity - celebrating the release of Ed Ackerson's Ackerson2 CD.

Friday - November 28, 2008
Varsity Theater in Dinkytown
(1308 4th St SE, Minneapolis)

(http://varsitytheater.org/webcalendar/view_entry.php?id=4396&date=20081128)

Polara / Ed Ackerson Group

Ed will be joined by longtime band members Peter Anderson, Jennifer Jurgens, Marc Perlman and Tim Oesau with special guest/soul brother #1 Jim Boquist (of Son Volt/Paul Westerberg/Good Joe fame). This killer lineup will be performing key tracks from Ed's two solo albums, selections from Polara's vast back catalog -- including faves from this year's masterful Polara offering Beekeeping -- plus whatever exciting surprises they can cook up. This is definitely a "best of both worlds" situation.

The Mood Swings

Ashley and Sallie have been working hard in recent months on several exciting new tracks. Some of this new material is the result of some serious musical exploration/experimentation and finds TMS heading off in a number of fascinating new directions, with special emphasis on journeying into the inner realms of the psych-rock spectrum as well as cranking out some inspired extended instrumental workouts. Always a reliably hot live act, The Mood Swings are progressing on all fronts at an amazing rate. If you've been fortunate enough to have experienced their recent live cover of Hawkwind's classic lost anthem, "It's So Easy," you've got some idea of the tiger in their tank that's screaming to get out. Here's what our old friend Peter Jesperson had to say about the Mood Swings: "...I think Minneapolis always has good stuff going on. I was just there last weekend and saw a band called the Mood Swings who were just a knockout." (full interview )

Colonial Vipers Attack

One of the Twin Towns best kept secrets, CVA create extremely well-crafted "smart pop," with just the right amount of rock edge, Britpop stylings and shoegaze-y elements. And they're no slouches in the songwriting and catchy melody departments, either -- "Beautiful Fall," from their 2006 self-titled debut, is a stone classic. This is a special opportunity to see a band who doesn't play live nearly enough, a situation sure to change after they finish the new record they're currently working on with Ed at Flowers.

StrangeLights

Simply one of the best new bands to hit the Minnesota music scene in some time, this bastard child/offshoot of Bridge Club and First Communion Afterparty play powerful Psychedelic Rock so convincingly that you might have to check the calendar after you've come down to make sure what decade you're in. Their long-awaited debut, Evius (limited 7" vinyl and digital EP), will be released jointly by Susstones and MPLS Ltd in mid-November. Check out an exclusive preview here.   

with special cameo appearances from:

Janey and Marc

The mesmerizing folk/pop stylings of Janey Winterbauer (Astronaut Wife) and Marc Perlman (The Jayhawks, Golden Smog, The Neglecters). Don't tell anyone, but they've not only finally completed their long-awaited studio project but there's a very good chance it will soon see the light of day via Susstones.

-and-

Farewell Continental

Featuring members of Small Towns Burn a Little Slower, To Reinvent and another "popular local rock group." They've recorded a new EP with Ed that should be coming out in 2009.

plus:

DJ The Guv'nor (of Sussed!) 

-and-

Susstones Omniphonic Orchestra with Transpositional Vibe Array

Special Offer:

Free download card for the forthcoming Susstones Winter Sampler (featuring new tracks by Ed, Mood Swings, CVA and Strange Lights) with every paid ticket!

Polara rock the…parking lot?

To prime yourself for the big Sussedtacular! bash at the Varsity at the end of the month, check out these live Polara vids from one of the many block parties that pop up like weeds during the all too short Minnesota summer. In this case, these are from the Chiang Banger Block Party, put on by nearby Chiang Mai Tai restaurant. This was the first Chiang Banger asphalt fete – and possibly the last, since this parking lot no longer exists thanks to the advent of the long-rumored expansion/redesign of the Calhoun Square shopping area.

The video quality is a bit shaky (it was actually shot by a 60>0 intern) but the audio is quite nice thanks to Knobby over at Susstones, who expertly cleaned up and mixed in a soundboard audio feed. Fortunately, there weren’t too many punters walking in front of the camera (probably had something to with the incredible volume being generated by musicians on stage!), although somebody who suspiciously looks like Phil Solem makes a “cameo” appearance at the end of a scorching if not thrilling version of Polara’s classic set opener, “Can’t Get Over You.”

Other than the stage being ridiculously cramped, this turned out to be a very successful day of great music. It was a hot, rockin’ afternoon that featured a line-up of acts who weren’t afraid to turn it up to 11 and kick ass (yes, The Mood Swings were also on the bill). It was so loud, in fact, that the beautiful people drinking and dining on the swanky rooftop of Stella’s kitty-corner across the street no doubt had some difficulty carrying on their Appletini-fueled conversations.

Polara - “Can’t Get Over You” (Chiang Bianger Block Party – Mpls – 7/20/08)

direct links:

high quality

normal quality

Polara - “Scorched Youth Policy” (Chiang Bianger Block Party – Mpls – 7/20/08)

direct links:

normal quality

More Susstones videos here.

11/28/08 - Sussedtacular! at the Varsity Theater - Mpls

Sussedtacular! at the Varsity Theater - celebrating the release of Ed Ackerson’s Ackerson2 CD

Well, it's that time of year...again! Ed Ackerson is either getting restless or his hard drives are filling up cuz he's gone and done it again. That's right, another new album - his third in the last 12 months! Coming on the heels of his debut solo album and Beekeeping, the first Polara album in five years, comes Ackerson2, released November 18 on Susstones.

The line-up so far for the Varsity bash:

Polara / Ed Ackerson Group - featuring longtime band members Peter Anderson, Jennifer Jurgens, Marc Perlman and Tim Oesau with special guest/soul brother #1 Jim Boquist (of Son Volt/Paul Westerberg/Good Joe fame)

The Mood Swings

Colonial Vipers Attack

Strange Lights

-plus-

special cameo appearances from:

Janey and Marc (Janey of Astronaut Wife, Marc of The Jayhawks)

-and-

Farewell Continental (featuring members of Small Towns Burn a Little Slower, To Reinvent and a "popular local music group")

-plus-

DJ The Guv'nor (of Sussed!)

Susstones Omniphonic Orchestra with Transpositional Vibe Array

Special offer: Free download card for the Susstones Winter Sampler (featuring new tracks by Ed, Mood Swings, CVA and Strange Lights) with every paid ticket!

Mood Swings / Strange Lights / Mercurial Rage -- Hot show this Friday!

Now here's a reason to leave the house in the sixth month of Perma-Winter in Minnesota -- a f**king kick-ass rock show! All the buzz this Friday is focused on the mighty Black Keys and their sold-out show in the First Ave. mainroom, but next door in the Entry is a truly impressive lineup: 80s electro-revivalists Mercurial Rage, Susstones poppunkrock aces The Mood Swings (pssst! don't tell anyone, but the girls are working on some very cool new stuff in the studio) and one of the best pysch/rock bands to hit the scene in a long time, Strange Lights. If the set timing goes right, The Mood Swings should hit the stage during the break in the mainroom. This is a night not to be missed -- so much great music that it has to be spread out over two rooms.

Polara CD release party - May 9 @ Varsity Theater, Minneapolis

Polara's amazing new album, Beekeeping, is being released on Susstones on May 6, 2008 (and the blogs have started to notice, too). To celebrate this mind-blowing event, a major bash is being held on Friday, May 9 at the Varsity Theater in the Dinkytown neighborhood of Mpls.

The players:

Mercurial Rage
The Mood Swings
Polara
The Alarmists.

plus

DJ The Guv'nor

and other guests TBD

Not a bad line-up, huh? :-)

Doors @ 7:30pm / music around 8
10 bucks

Recap: Sussed-tacular! @ The Varsity Theater - Minneapolis - Nov. 23, 2007

The Sussed-tacular event at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis on Nov. 23 was a rousing success on every level. A nice crowd got to see some of the best music of the season. Ed Ackerson's world-class band (Marc Perlman, Peter Anderson, Eric Lovold, Tim Oesau) made the songs from Ed's new album really come alive, capped off by an invigorating reading of the Byrd's classic "5D" with friend Gary Louris chipping in. Everbody else on the bill brought their "A game," too: the psych-rock of the Strange Lights put everybody in the mood; Janey & Marc -- featuring an expanded line-up with John Eller on guitar and vox, Tim Oesau on keys and "Louie" on bass -- were sexy, sublime and awesome; the Mood Swings turned it up to 11 and kicked everybody's ass with their smokin' rock; and The Melismatics provided the perfect night cap with their well-oiled poprock offerings.

Here's a sampling from the first batch of pix:

janey & marc





mood swings











ed ackerson & band









finale w/The Melismatics

Mood Swings & Strange Lights rock Northeast Mpls

Fresh on the heels of a smokin' Sussedtacular appearance, The Mood Swings crossed the Big Muddy last Friday and proceeded to rock the lastest NE Minneapolis "dive" bar to offer live music, Stasiu's Place. As always, the Mood Swingers looked as good as they sounded. Stasiu's -- sort of a Nordeast cousin to the Hexagon Bar and stumbling distance from other neighborhood landmarks like Grumpy's and Mayslack's -- proved to be a promising new music venue. The sound system was decent, the bar well stocked and the vibe was suitably cool.

The evening's festivites ended with the dramatic psych-trance of Strange Lights. This new band (sprung from the loins of Bridge Club and First Communion Afterparty) is definitely the sh*t; their druggy dronery is both exciting and intoxicating. Yeah, baby...

Here are a few pix...

mood swings











strange lights

Sussed-tacular photo of the week at HowWasTheShow.com

A dramatic shot of Ashley Ackerson from The Mood Swings performing at the recent Sussed-tacular shindig made the Photo of the Week at HowWasTheShow.com. Kudos to photog Sara Montour for the killer shot!



http://www.howwastheshow.com/index.cfm/action/potw.view/potwKey/110

More Sara Montour photos from the Sussed-tacular show are here

Sussed-tacular! @ The Varsity Theater - Minneapolis - Nov. 23, 2007

there's no way this isn't going to be epic!






CD release party for the new Ed Ackerson solo album + much, much more


Tickets are now available for what will surely be one of the coolest shows of the Fall:

SUSSEDTACULAR! AT THE VARSITY

Friday - November 23, 2007

Varsity Theater - Minneapolis

featuring...

Ed Ackerson (of Polara) celebrating the release of his new solo album on Susstones

with very very special guests

The Melismatics
The Mood Swings
Janey & Marc (Janey Winterbauer & Marc Perlman)
Strange Lights (new band from members of Bridge Club and First Communion After Party)
Susstones Omniphonic Orchestra

plus

DJ The Guv'nor spinning a cornucopia of Scrumptious Sounds and deep Black Friday grooves

and

other stuff that shall remain nameless for now...

Varsity Theater calendar

Ackerson and Prenzlow announce new joint venture

Surprise Rock 'n' Roll nuptials! 

 

 Ed Ackerson (Susstones poobah, Polara mainman, producer extraordinaire and Twin Cities music scene guiding light for almost 25 years) and Ashley Prenzlow (formerly of The Meg and Basement Apartment; currently rockin' with Susstones' sensations, The Mood Swings) were married on Friday in a private ceremony in Minneapolis. Technically, I guess, they "eloped" -- if driving a few minutes to the courthouse in downtown Minneapolis can be described as "eloping." :-) Even though they've been engaged since last Christmas, many of their close friends were nonetheless a bit taken aback by their entry into a state of "rock-a-mony." The wedding announcements consisted of a mass text mail message sent out early Friday evening:

Ed and I officially tied the knot today!!!

and an e-mail with the following subject line:

We got married!

Not the kind of thing you normally expect to see in your inbox or cell phone! An "informal" reception was held later Friday night at JPs in the Lyn-Lake neighborhood of South Minneapolis, and later spilled around the corner to the Bryant Lake Bowl, the unofficial "clubhouse" for the Susstones gang. The entire Golden Smog entourage + members of Soul Asylum -- fresh from a gig across the river in St. Paul -- and many friends joined in celebrating the blessed event with the esctatic couple -- Ashley was a vision of loveliness, glowing and radiant, while Ed was smiling so much that some feared he may need reconstructive facial surgery to get things back to normal. We at 60>0 wish Ed and Ashley all the best. Love & kisses, long may you run and rock on!

Mood Swings late summer rock shows

Summer is about kaput, the State Fair is upon us, the kids are almost back in school and you still haven't done half the stuff you wanted to do this summer… but you still have a chance to get your ass kicked by Susstones' swingin' sensations, The Mood Swings.

First, there's a gig at the Uptown tomorrow night:

Saturday - August 25
Uptown Bar
Minneapolis, MN

featuring
The Julie Puppets
The Mood Swings
Action vs. Action
The Hard Left

$5 cover
Mood Swings @ 11:30

Uptown Bar

Then, on Friday, September 7, The Mood Swings return to Mankato to wreak further destruction on this sleepy little college town down the Minnesota River an hour or so. Anybody who hasn't checked out the What's Up bar in Mankato should really think about doing so; this place rocks in every defintion of the word. Load up the cooler and book a champagne flight down Hwy 169 -- a perfect mini-road trip.

Friday - September 7
What's Up Lounge
Mankato, MN

The Hard Left
The Mood Swings

$3 cover
Mood Swings play first @ 10pm

What's Up Lounge

Susstones

The Mood Swings

Mood Swings rattle some bones at scooter rally

The Mood Swings played a nice, rockin' show last weekend at the Bedlam Theater on the West Bank of Mpls -- an extremely likeable venue located directly across the freeway from the Metrodome, walking distance from the 400 & Triple Rock and right next to a ped/bike bridge and a LRT stop.

Formerly a bar called "Knickerbockers" back in the day, The Bedlam usually books live theater, but it was turned into a rock venue for this annual event, which attracts scooter-ites, mod aficionados and music fans alike. The staff was supernice, there was a nice selection of beer & wine, the theater-turned-music-hall worked out fine and there's an upstairs outdoor deck with an absolutely stunning view of the Mpls skyline. Oh yeah, the best thing about this place -- lots of friggin' OFF STREET PARKING! Anybody who's ever been to the 400 or Triple Rock on weekends knows just how golden this is.

The MooEd Swings -- playing their 3rd gig in their new incarnation with Susstones poobah Ed Ackerson filling in on bass -- turned in a typically smokin' set in this strange, somewhat non-rock setting. Things began with an unexpected opener ("Generation Y") and culminated with an incinderary reading of an old garage nugget, The Gentlemen's "It's a Cryin' Shame." Everbody looked swank, the music was su-pah and a great time was had by all in a "new" setting right smack in the middle of the city.

Mood Swings heat up the Stone Arch festival in Mpls 6-17-07

The weather was hot and stifling, the ground was parched and it was near impossible to get a f***ing beer at this relatively new outdoor fest down by the river in Mpls. And the Mood Swings didn't do much to help the situation -- the temp seemed to go up even a few more degrees after their scorching set.

I get thirsty just looking at these pix. :-)