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It’s a Reatarded name for a post, but I’m playing on the word “creep” which in any of its forms often appears in Jay’s lyrics and it’s also a play on the name of the song mentioned in the video; a good tune at that.
Chris
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It’s a Reatarded name for a post, but I’m playing on the word “creep” which in any of its forms often appears in Jay’s lyrics and it’s also a play on the name of the song mentioned in the video; a good tune at that.
Chris
Children of the KLYAM, in exactly one week Glen and I will be attending the Sonic Youth concert at the Wilbur Theatre! Yes, I know you’re envious. Well, to make you even more fucked in the head, totally outta your mind, crazy, a mere five days later we will witness the glorious Pixies, as the below post notes. And with opening acts like The Feelies and the one and only Jay Reatard, all time favorite shows could and should be expected!
P.S. Kim is sexy in that pic. Yeah, I know she’s like my mom’s age. So what? Excuse me for having blood pumping through my veins!
Chris

Yee Ha!
Like Glen’s list these artists I have not seen live yet or I am not scheduled to see. Another criteria is that they must be currently active in some way, shape, or form. If an artist appears in more than one group, then they are listed together, for the most part. Also, the artists featured are my favorites except where noted and they are enumerated in order of how high they rank as my favorites.
1) Rage Against the Machine/The Nightwatchman aka Tom Morello/ Street Sweeper Social Club (not a favorite)
2) Australian Pink Floyd (technically PF is the favorite and not this cover group)
3) Tool
4) The Who
5) Bad Brains
6) Leonard Cohen
7) Against Me!
8) The Pogues
9) Arcade Fire
10) Nick Cave
11) The Almighty Defenders/ The Spooks (not fave)
12) Simon & Garfunkel
13) David Bowie
14) Beach Boys
15) Alice in Chains
16) Anti-Flag
17) Glassjaw
18) Descendents
19) Wu-Tang Clan
20) Ween
21) Lou Reed
22) The Stooges/Iggy Pop
23) Daniel Johnston
24) Kimya Dawson
25) Faith No More
26) Jesus and Mary Chain
27) Janes Addiction
28) The Kinks
29) The Vaselines
30) Incubus
31) Primus
32) New York Dolls
33) Black Sabbath
34) The Buzzcocks
35) X
36) The Mabuses
37) The Smashing Pumpkins
38) R.E.M
39) Rolling Stones
40) Neil Young
41) George Jones
42) Mudhoney
43) Bjork
44) Alice Cooper
45) Pharcyde
46) Immortal Technique
47) KRS-One
48) KISS
49) Strange Boys
50) Wavves
51) Devo
52) Beastie Boys
53) Shellac (NF)
54) Mika Miko (NF)
55) Vivian Girls (NF)
56) Cypress Hill
57) Paul McCartney (how could I forget him!)
58) Tom Waits
59) Mewithoutyou
60) MC5
K, I’ll stop here. There are plenty more I could name. I’m not exactly sure how active some of these bands’ statuses are, but basically if they weren’t on hiatus or completely disbanded, or dead I allowed it.
Chris
Chart Attack – Kate Harper
Hey, kids. Just for the record, a Harvard degree might not get you employed right away when you’re finished with school.Tom Morello knows that much, since the Rage Against The Machine guitarist and former Audioslave member says he worked as a male stripper after he graduated from Harvard University with a bachelors of political science degree and moved to Los Angeles in 1986.
“When I graduated from Harvard and moved to Hollywood, I was unemployable,” Morello wrote in a new guest column for NME.com. “I was literally starving, so I had to work menial labour and, at one point, I even worked as an exotic dancer. ‘Brick House’ [by The Commodores] was my jam!
“I did bachelorette parties and I’d go down to my boxer shorts. Would I go further? All I can say is thank god it was in the time before YouTube! You could make decent money doing that job – people do what they have to do.”
Morello also explained how working as late California Democratic Senator Alan Cranston for two years in the 1980s politicized him… but made him never want to go into politics.
“I never had any real desire to work in politics but if there was any ember burning in me, it was extinguished working in that job because of two things: one of them was the fact that 80 per cent of the time I spent with the Senator, he was on the phone asking rich people for money. It just made me understand that the whole business was dirty. He had to compromise his entire being every day.
“The other was the time a woman phoned up to the office and wanted to complain that there were Mexicans moving into her neighborhood. I said to her, ‘Ma’am, you’re a damn racist,’ and she was indignant. I thought I was representing our cause well, but I got yelled at for a week by everyone for saying that! I thought to myself that if I’m in a job where I can’t call a damn racist a damn racist, then it’s not for me.”
You can see Morello perform as The Nightwatchman at a benefit for The Pablove Foundation, an organization that works to improve the lives of children with cancer, at Los Angeles’ Avalon Ballroom on Nov. 21.
That’s right boys and girls, Tom Morello used to be a stripper! Well, it doesn’t change anything, but it sure is hilarious. I wonder if he said “Fuck You, I won’t do what you tell me!” when ladies asked him to get naked haha.
Chris

Artist: Kimya Dawson
Full Title: Remember That I Love You
Label: K Records
Year: 2006
1) Tire Swing*- 10.0- One of my top ten favorite songs of all time! Very powerful for such a simple song. The guitar is merely a few plinks on a guitar, really just background sounds to Kimya’s ever endearing vocals. The lyrics provide great images of riding back and forth on a tire swing and forgeting “everything that had ever hurt our feelings.” I listen to this song almost every day and I never get sick of it, either I am crazy or it’s that catchy; I think it’s both.
2) My Mom- 9.7- Not quite as uplifting as the premier track, but certainly shares it’s catchiness. There’s a nice little bell sound, perhaps it’s a xylephone? I have no clue, but I dig it. Once again passionate vocals from Kimya. Lyrically this number describes, wait for it… Kimya’s mom and her state of health: dying in a hospital bed, “and there’s something in her blood, and there’s something in her leg, and there’s something in her brain.” You really feel for her and her genuine concern for her ailing mother. She naively commands ghosts to stop haunting her mom, so she can get strong; this is sad and humuorous all at once, a microcosm of Kimya’s discography (at least what I have heard).
3) Loose Lips*- 9.5- A cool protest song of sorts. “Fuck Bush and Fuck this war.” I can picture peaceful anarchsits screaming this song in the streets and dancing around burning flags, trying to persuade bystanders to join them. And when the cops come, they simply will start up again and “pretend nothing ever happened” as the song proclaims. It’s a moldy peachy version of an early Against Me! track I suppose. A fantastic sing along, to say the least. The “dupe” (or doop) thing tickles my fancy quite a bit.
4) Caving In- 9.3- The theme of her mom’s deteriating health arises again amongst other scattering thoughts. There’s a cool eastern guitar (probably not, but sounds sorta like it) in this track. This is sound, but not as good as the three that preceeded it.
5) Better Weather-9.3- Catchy as most of her tracks. In terms of music, for Kimya, as I have said before and she, herself as claimed, it’s all about the vocals. Most of the music is the same, not to say she doesn’t have range. In this tune, she delves into fatherhood, specifically her brother, who is now successfully raising his child. Uplifting :)
6) Underground-9.3- I think of 1960s radicals when I hear this song lol. One of the funniest lines appears in this song: “So, I tattoo instructions on my ass that say don’t ever put this body in a casket.” Kills me every time. She stresses that she DOES NOT want to live underground and who does?
7) I Like Giants*- 9.1-Nice and simple and catchy, like the others. I don’t have too much to say about this track. It’s a solid recording. I will note though, that there seems to be more going on then just guitar, or it’s better guitar playing? I don’t know. That xylephone (?) is back too lol.
8) The Competition- 9.2- Postive track about being special and saying “fuck you, I’m awesome, I don’t care what you think.” At some points, you feel sorry for the, young, poor, Ms. Dawson. Like, when people used to call her “fat” and told her that “she was better off dead.” Assholes. Well, it motivated her to make great music, so she proved them wrong. Yippie!
9) France- 8.9- Decent track, but nothing really stands out here to me. Though, I adore the lines, “David put that seven inch on…” “he said silly ass bitch that’s my favorite song.” David, you showed that silly ass bitch! Since, you got your song.
10) I Miss You- 9.1- An extremely brief, but really catchy tune!
11) 12/26*- 9.4- One of the sadder tracks about a massive earthquake in Indonesia on December 26. 2004. She then delves into the Iraq War and how it’s impossible to understand what these victims go through: losing their families, homes, etc. “A tragedy is a tragedy, no matter where it happens.”
12) My Rollercoaster*- 9.5- A superb finale about the ups and downs of this wacky world. Another fabulous sing along, well towards the end anyway, when abunch of folks sing the chorous and it gets real silly, but that’s the point. Just every day folks making music with their friends. Which brings me to my next point, where she incorporates lyrics from other famous songs like Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again” and ” Metalica’s “One.”
Overall, I highly recommend this “Outsider” album. I always appreciate ass kicking alternatives to traditional pop music. Remember that I LOVE YA!!! ;)
* appeared in the terrifc film Juno (2007)
Chris

Artist: Mark Sultan
Full Title: The Sultanic Verses
Label: In the Red
Year: 2007
Rating: A/ 9.3/10
Fun Fact: Mastered by Jay Reatard!
1) Beautiful Girl- 9.4- Ahh here we go BBQ here we go! A strong opener about Sultan’s fine lady. I dig the little bell sounds and the lyrics are really catchy. Typical BBQ guitar/drum work.
2) 100 Little Women- 9.2- Sounds great to me! Sultan effectively utilizes the start/stop technique (get your mind out of the gutter Glen!) in which he sings and plays the music then suddenly stops then starts again. Highly reminiscent of late 50s/early 60s rock and roll, like Chuck Berry. Good poppy rocker.
3) Cursed World- 9.5- Introduces the spooky/bizarre theme to this album, which appears from here on frequently. This could be the soundtrack to an old school horror flick, like zombies and shit or Scooby Doo haha. The old school cartoon, not the modern shitty versions. Which now makes me want to watch that show. Anyway, I love how he pronounces cursed as KER SED. Like the first couple tracks this has strong hooks and the BBQ’s vocals are so exquisite it feels like you are taking a stroll through this KER SED World with him. The ending has this cool, noisy, feedback to it. I dig.
4) Spinning Ceiling- 9.3- A real rocker for this album; heavier and more in your face than the previous tracks. This song is more akin to King Khan & BBQ tracks such as “Treat Me Like A Dog” and “Hold Me Tight.” Solid stuff.
5) Two Left Feet- 9.3- In addition to 100 Little Women and Spinning Ceilings, we now come across gals with Two Left Feet. In this catchy, love number, the BBQ describes his love for his double left footed baby. I can imagine this track being great live (I wonder if he played it last May when I saw him?) because it’s a real feel good dance track in the neighborhood of “Shake Real Low.” (of course, not with the same caliber, but still great) and I can picture Sultan getting the crowd goin when he shouts, “everybody clap your hands.” It almost seems funny that that line is in a studio album Haha, well I guess you and your normal footed woman can have fun at home too.
6) Je Ne Savais Pas- 9.0- Sultan pays tribute to his Montreal roots and properly pronounces the phrase at that! Good tune, catchy, only weakness: reminds me of French class :(. P.S. you also think this song is over like three times before it actually is haha.
7) Mortal Man- 9.6- I really dig this rocker! Great guitar and pumping drums. I can picture people pogoing/moshing to this live, I know I can’t stay still when it comes on. His vocals really stand out on this track and demonstrates his (somewhat) range: straight up BBQ vocals to rawer, screaming vocals.
8) Something Wrong- 9.7- My favorite track! It’s a simple little diddy and technically doesn’t sound unique or different from any of his other material, it just works really well. Brings me back to the 1960s Garage Rock era, back in my past life. Shit simply sticks in my head like gum sticks to mah shoes. Just won’t go away.
9) Warpath- 9.1- Fast rocker and as the title indicates Sultan is on a warpath in this track. I dig the pile driver drum work here
10) We’re Sinking- 9.5- The bell noise I dug before has returned! This is a classic and is one of the album’s catchier tracks. Lyrically it describes people who are sinking, but don’t give a damn cause they are in love. Perhaps the poor lads on the Titanic sang this as they were going down….
11) Unicorn Rainbow Odyssey- 9.5-Dayemm this came outta nowhere. Can you say a EPIC CLOSER. When you have a title like Unicorn Rainbow Odyssey, you better live up to it and the Captain certainly does so. The drums sound like hearts beating as I’m sure this was the intention a la “Heroin” by The Velvet Underground. The vocals sound like early 60s doo wop/soul sisters of the Motown persuasion, such as The Supremes. The finale is this pulsing noise; he must have recorded that part at the Lowell Cotton Mills.
Overall, one of my favorite albums and certainly worthy of it’s high grade. I will admit it’s not the same without King, but Mark still delivers. For y’all who bought The Satanic Verses, you’re wasting your time. The real Sinister, Supreme, Supreme Genius lies in The Sultanic Verses.
Chris

Artist: Jay Reatard
Full Title: Singles ’06-’07
Label: In the Red
Year: 2008
My Rating: A/ 9.4/10
1) Night of Broken Glass- 9.3- Solid opener. I love the shattering of glass as the first thing you hear! It’s pretty damn catchy, simple guitar, nothing groundbreaking, but an overall sound recording.
2) Another Person- 9.1- Even catchier than the first track, but not as rocking, still great though. It’s an upbeat track musically (odd for Jay I suppose). Lyrically, this person gives him the “creeps” haha. He loves that word. The guitar is really catchy and I dig the mini solos. There is also great use of vocals (all Jay) in which he sings the lead and then he takes a separate set of his vocal and throws it in the background cool stuff! I’m not sure, if this is the first instance of this, but it’s certainly not the last. I guess that was an unintentional reference to the previous number haha.
3) All Over Again- 8.8- A good tune, but it doesn’t stand out that much from any of his other material, though I have said this before about other Jay tracks that I now love, so clearly early impressions do not dictate offical tastes. I will say I like the raw “Jay” drum work in this song. Simple, but not reatarded.
4) Feeling Blank Again- 9.6- One of the compilation’s better offerings and one of my new Jay favorites! Another excellent use of the aforementioned vocals tactic. The backing vocals are simply “uhhhh” but, they are certainly creepy and perfectly complement the lead vocals in which Jay describes how it feels to feel blank: “can’t breathe.” I feel a tad bit claustrophobic when listening to this, that’s how effective the music/lyrics are.
5) I Know A Place- 9.8- Amazing pop song. It’s too bad I didn’t recognize this song when I saw him perform it at Harpers Ferry (I only know he played it because I have the set list). I would have definitely sang along, but anyone who has seen Jay live knows that even if you know one of his songs, you can still miss it, that’s how fast and furious the Jay Reatard Colossius is live! But, I digress… Anyway, back to the song; superb, soft, vocals. This is a love ballad of sorts. Kinda sounds like it is crawling outta an 80s soundtrack, but good lol. That’s the best way I can describe it without insulting it, cause typically 80s pop blew massive 80s Alf spunk! Lyrically, the tune captures Jay’s “soft” almost romantic side; he attempts to persuade some girly into escaping “away… away from here” to a place he knows, where they can be alone. Most likely he is referring to some shady, uncomfortable place, like the back of a Volkswagon somewhere in the middle of Memphis. Then strangely in the next verse, the tune loses it’s love ballady sentiment and transforms into a suicide note about escaping said lover: “I know a place, where I can go to be alone, I know a place where I can crawl to die. Away… away from you.” Odd, but kind of cool.
6) Don’t Let Him Come Back- 9.8- Another Softie, but Classic! It gets stuck in your head easily. I really enjoy the slow beginning which I think is a guitar?! Haha, I’m not really technically sophisticated. It sounds like keyboards are ramblin’ in the background, either way it all works.
7) Hammer I Miss You- 9.7- Terrific sing along and extremely uplifting! If Glen can recall I was singing the lyrics on the way to the Jay concert and have been since. It’s not a rocker like “It’s So Easy” and it’s not a softie like “No Time,” it’s simply a pumping pop number about missing some Hammer dude. Gay Reatard cough cough. In terms of Garage Pop, you can’t touch this…
8) It’s So Useless- 9.6- Heavy and very very catchy. I love the loud guitars, one of the comp’s heavier tracks and yet still has it’s hooks. It’s more akin to Blood Visions tracks, I suppose, but it still has this comp’s poppy/lovey dovey flavour. This track stands out because it doesn’t have soft vocals like most of the other tracks, but rather they are screamed and shouted. You can headbang and mosh and do your thang.
9) All Wasted- 9.0- Cool track about zombies. But, not the kind of zombies you want to walk around at night with. Nah these guys are “all useless…all wasted.” A decent guitar solo (haha, you know what I mean) toward the end. This one lacks the catchiness of it’s buddies, but nonetheless has strength.
10) In the Dark- 8.7- This doesn’t stand out that much to me. It’s a good song, but just doesn’t bring anything new to the table and isn’t particularly catchy. But, yeah if you like Reatarded music you will probably like it.
11) Searching For You- 10.0- This makes the hair on my testicles stand up and do the tequila! For those of you Blood Visions devotees out there, this track is an acoustic version of BV’s “Fading All Away.” BELIEVE ME, you haven’t heard “Fading All Away” like this before. Sure, since it’s acoustic, it’s not as angry or heavy, but it is infitnitely more malignant. This psychotic, musical madness is completely unpolished, noisy and sounds like some amateur, lonely, melancholy, Jay fan lying on his bed covering the song, warning his listeners of his menacing plans of murder and torture. This callow sounding approach in no way hinders the song, it only adds to its eeriness, a feat I did not think was possible!
12) Haunting You- 9.7- This is pretty much like the above track in style and sound: raw, acoustic, unpolished, version of a Blood Visions song. This time it’s “Nightmares,” a classic in it’s own right. I really dig this track for similar reasons to “Searching For You,” but it’s not quite as strong as the former and I prefer the original (unless this one is the original and the BV version is the second? Release dates? Shit, now I’m really curious about this and the last track).
13) Let It All Go- 9.4- Yet another hooky love number! I really dig the poppy guitars, pulsing, but steady drums, and best of all the repeated lyrics, “And now I need you, and now I need you, and now I need you… say that’s you want me, say that’s you want me… you never loved me, you never loved me….” He finished the show we saw with this song and I can definitely see why, it’s a powerful closer and overall pop song.
Tracks 14-17 are pretty much the same versions of their Blood Visions counterparts, but weaker and of poorer sound quality, in my opinion anyway. Although, “Turning Blue” is an exception; it’s not better thant the BV track, but basically on par. Here they are without ratings:
14) Blood Visions
15) Turning Blue :)
16) It’s So Easy
17) Oh It’s Such A Shame
Overall, this is an exceptional CD and is truly underated. Some of Jay’s strongest pop songs appear on this compilation and it makes me realize that his Matador Comp wasn’t as big of a transition as I thought it was. His latest release, Watch Me Fall, is definitely his biggest leap, though it’s my least favorite, but that’s a whole other story. This singles set ranks behind Matador Singles ’08 and Blood Visions as my favorite Jay work, but it still receives a well-deserved A. I hear through the grapevine that these tracks are nonexistent online, well then I highly suggest shelling out some dough for this one, you won’t be disapointed and if you are, oh it’s such a shame!
Chris

Full Title: Paranormal Activity
Year: 2007 (just reaching mainstream theaters now)
Director: Oren Peli (debut)
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Length: 86 minutes
IMDb Rating: 7.2/10
My Rating: B
Here’s Why:
This is a solid movie, not quite as frightening as the over hyped media it’s received, but still worth watching. Basically, the premise is a young couple buys a spooky house suffering from a classic case of a haunting: whsipers, loud noises, objects moving on their own, such as a door closing randomly, amongst other unexplainable phenomema. So, the husband purchases a digital camera to document this “paranormal activity,” and thus you have your movie. The entire film is little house disturbances every night that keep building and building up becoming more and more unsettling until the jaw dropping (to an extent) finale. The movie is fairly slow and is pretty much a build up to the last ten minutes, much like old school horror flicks, a tactic rarely executed in modern horror cinema. Another tactic effectively employed by the director was the documentary style in which the movie is shot, giving the audience the impression they are viewing raw footage of actual events. The entire movie is the footage captured on the characters’ camera and it all takes place at their home, making the viewer feel as confined and claustraphobic as them.
Chris

Artists: King Khan & BBQ Show, Dum Dum Girls, Downbeat 5
Location: Middle East Downstairs, Cambrdige
Date: Thursday, October 29, 2009
Rating: A +
Downbeat 5 –
Glen: I don’t really know how to describe them. For starters, I was standing right in front of the lead guitarist and he really knew what he was doing. He had some great solos. Definitely, they mixed some components of “southern” rock, country-rock, and garage. The lead singer and rhythm guitarist, she reminded me of Debbie Harry. During their set all I could think of was the song “One Way or Another.” So yeah, just listen to that and you’ll get a pretty good idea.
Chris: Country rockers, I suppose. The lead singer/guitarist was really sexy blonde and rocked out! One of the best guitar strummers I’ve ever seen! It doesn’t seem like I’ll hear them again, but I enjoyed their energetic performance.
Dum Dum Girls –
Glen: Hey guess what! The Dum Dum Girls (which I found out is only the front-woman Dee Dee) played the same lo-fi set as they did the night before in Northampton. So I’m going to say the same thing: They are smarter than they look! Okay, I stole that one from King. They really rocked out with their psychedelic Jefferson Airplane-esque sound. They built their vocal repertoire off of this old sound and it flat out works. My favorite part of their set was when they jammed the chords of “Don’t Talk To Me.” “Just button your lips…DON’T TALK TO ME.” The utterly amazing girly harmonies make me love their version better than G.G’s or No Age’s or whoever’s. Edit: I still like the bass player, but she is sort of motionless. Haha.
Chris: The sexiness continues! Very sexy in their all black wardrobes. Musically, however, for some reason, they didn’t connect with me. Perhaps because I was anticipating one of my favorite bands hitting the stage next. But, like Glen, I dug their cover of GG’s “Don’t Talk to Me,” (which seems to be a popular cover these days) and I liked the new feminine light they brought to the tune, though I prefer the original.
King Khan & BBQ Show:
Glen: Yeah! They came out and like the night before did a little warm-up (as you can see in the video below) before diving right into “Fish Fight.” Then “Hold Me Tight.” But hold on…the crowd was actually freaking out. Moshing, dancing, and screaming abound, the atmosphere was altogether different from what I experienced at the Iron Horse. This was some serious concert. People knew that greatness was on the stage. Then what? No technical difficulties! Hell no. None of that shit. Mark and King practiced for twenty minutes earlier that evening (even though the tour manager said “hours”…I’ll take BBQ’s word for it) to make sure shit wouldn’t happen. So yeah. “Invisible Girl,” “Tastebuds,” and “I’ll Be Loving You” off of Invisible Girl. “Treat Me Like A Dog,” “I’ll Never Belong,” “Zombies,” “Dock It #8,” “Too Much In Love,” “Into The Snow,” and the encore “Why Don’t You Lie” off of What’s For Dinner? “Waddlin’ Around,” “Love You So,” “Pig Pig,” “Mind Body and Soul,” “Shake Real Low,” as well as the previous two mentioned at the beginning were the tunes played off of their LP.
Chris: Fuck yeah! As seen below, they opened with a long, but worthwhile instrumental, while King did the duck walk a la rock and roller Chuck Berry. Following the instrumental, they blasted into two fiery rockers with “Fish Fight” and “Zombies” (not HMT lol). Then they slid into the soft, sensual “Into the Snow,” this was somewhat awkward considering the fast paced first two numbers and then this sensitive, love song. Glen already listed off the other classics they amazignly performed for the remainder of the evening. I was highly pleased that they played my favorite, “Too Much in Love.” “Shake Real Low” was a wise closer and everyone abided by the title, espeically some real fine hunnies on stage! Overall, a good mix up of soulful, doo woppy ballads, fast, moshing, punk rockers, and in between. So, this enters the echelon of amazing concerts, ranking number four in my all time favorites. Though, I will note, I prefer KKBS over Jay Reatard, who headlined my third favorite show, but that concert was better overall. In other words, KKBS is my third favorite live band, after the Black Lips and King’s other band, the Shrines. I mean, you know if you see a concert where an entire room of adults are screaming, “tastebuds on your cunt, so you can lick my booty from the front!” it has to be special.
Chris and Glen
I hate making these posts, but I use it more as a heads up for upcoming posts that I have not forgot about; it helps me remember to do them. I have some homework to attend to today and other duties. Yesterday I was out nearly all day. I have concert, cd, and film reviews on the way, and I’m sure others too. So stick around!
Yeah, I know some of my sentences ended in prepositions, but I DON’T GIVE A FUCK! (look out for the King Khan & BBQ Show concert review part II to Glen’s exciting review of their first Mass concert this week.)
Chris