If you’ve enjoyed a show at Harlow’s anytime in the last 10-plus years, chances are John Carlson had a large part to do with that. We’re sad to report that earlier this month, the beloved sound engineer who had worked at the popular J Street club for more than 20 years, passed away. John was damn good at his job and was adored by anyone who had the pleasure of meeting him. He was a bit of a legend in the music community, seeing as how he spent so many years helping countless local musicians hone in their sound. Rumor has it he was an amazing keyboard player, too, though I never had the privilege of seeing him get down.
I will personally miss running into John during my afternoon meetings with the venue’s owner, Jim. John would frequently be the one to greet me at the back gate to let me in, and he was always so jolly, smiling and quick to make me laugh.
Upon hearing the sad news of his passing, tons of locals took to social media to post memories about John, so I wanted to gather a few snippets from some of my favorites and post them here, to help show how important he was to so many in our music world. There will be a memorial show for John Carlson at Harlow’s on Thursday, April 27 at 6:30 p.m. Details on the show can be viewed HERE. Visit Gofundme.com/johncarlson to help with funeral expenses and anything else his family needs.
Tyler Campbell, Arden Park Roots: “John was my friend even more so than he was my sound guy … He had an amazing sense of humor and an even better ear for sound. My favorite part about showing up at Harlow’s was catching up with him.”
Stephen Nikkel, Swell Productions: “We will miss John’s great expertise as the master of sound, his cutting sense of humor and just his general presence. Thanks for all the great work on the many shows we have presented here over the years.”
Adrian Bellue, Guitarist: “John Carlson was one of the first people to embrace my music in Sacramento. He always encouraged me, and always made me feel at home, and made me sound great.”
Drew Walker, Gentleman Surfer: “He mentored us … John listened to our band, he gave advice and riffed with us at shows when we made stupid jokes … He influenced me more than I knew, and he helped engender a deep respect for artists of audio craft.”
Jessie Abbey, Musical Charis: “The last conversation we had just a week ago, you told me that you loved Blake [Abbey] and I like we are like your kids … I’ll always remember how you used to let me play around with the light board at shows, how you were the first one to jump up on stage and jam with us on the keys, and you always knew just how to dial us in juuuust right … You are a legend and you will be missed.”
*This piece first appeared in print on page 8 of issue #238 (April 24 – May 8, 2017)**
One thing that’s for certain about Sacramento’s music scene is that when something unfortunate happens to one of its own, the community bands together in a strong way to help out. Such is the case for the three local musicians who were the victims of a recent stabbing in Midtown.
In case you somehow missed this story, sometime around midnight on Sunday, June 21, local musician Blake Abbey (of the band Musical Charis — pictured above with wife Jessie Abbey) was walking near 21st and O streets with his brother Bradley and two other friends (Alex Lyman and Wes Richmond of the band Slaves) when they were confronted by a man with a large knife yelling homophobic slurs at the group, taunting them for wearing “skinny jeans.” Despite the group’s attempts to get the assailant to drop the knife, things got ugly real fast. Lyman was stabbed in the side and got a 4-inch cut that nearly hit his spleen, Abbey was stabbed in the arm and received a 12-inch-wound; Richmond broke his hand and ended up with minor cuts. None of the injuries were life threatening, but the victims were hospitalized.
The attacker, later identified as Timothy Brownell, 25, was arrested later that night but got out on bail the following morning. Outrage about the incident spread like wildfire on social media the following day, and the Sacramento Police Department soon reclassified the case as a hate crime because of the alleged homophobic slurs and issued a new warrant for Brownell’s arrest. He eventually turned himself in, and according to the Sacramento Bee, Brownell’s latest court appearance was scheduled for July 2, and he remains at the Sacramento County Main Jail in lieu of more than $1 million in bail.
In the meantime, the local music community immediately rallied and started planning benefit shows to help raise money to offset the insanely large medical bills these local artists have incurred. Many of the events have already passed, but at least one still remains, so if you’d like to show your support, be there on Sunday, July 19, 2015, at Blue Lamp when a number of local acts including James Cavern, Madison Ave, Blaquelisted, Denver J Band and many others will come together for an epic all-day show that’s been dubbed #SacramentoStrong. The cover is $10 and there will be a raffle and silent auction, as well as stand-up comedy and poetry readings. The event runs from noon to 7 p.m. Here’s to a full and speedy recovery for the victims!
When the beloved and much too-short-lived Midtown venue Witch Room (ex-Bows and Arrows) shut down late last year, they sure did go out with a bang! “Sac Go Home Fest” was an epic, two-day, mostly local music free-for-all, and if you were there for any of it, you know how special the vibe in the room was. It was a little bit celebratory, a little bit mournful, with a shit ton of great music and craft beer to wash down the bitter feelings. If you weren’t there for some dumb reason, the next best thing would be to listen to sound guy Drew Walker’s live compilation album that he recorded during the fest. The comp, which is available for free right now online at Sacgohomefest.bandcamp.com, features 20 live recordings from locally tied bands like The Kelps, Lite Brite, Honyock, Pregnant, Appetite, Dog Party, Instagon, Musical Charis, PETS, DoofyDoo (Walker’s project) and a bunch of others. If you’re a local music nerd like us here at Submerge, looking down the list of tracks might give you a little ADD, as we really just wanted to listen to all the damn songs at the same damn time. “I really appreciate every band that took part,” Walker (who also plays in the rad local band Gentleman Surfer) recently wrote on Facebook. “This is definitely one of my favorite projects ever.” We’d like to thank Walker for putting this thing together, because years from now we’ll still be able to listen back to this live album recorded at Witch Room and remember the days the venue was alive and well. RIP, Witch, you’ll always be missed!
Local folk/rock group Sea Legs are one of the newer bands on the scene that we here at Submerge have been particularly excited about. Three of the members used to be in local band The Inversions: Adam Varona (guitar/vocals), Scott McConaha (drums/vocals) and Will Comstock (keys/bass/vocals). They are joined by fellow seasoned locals Blake Abbey of Musical Charis (guitar/vocals) and Todd Weber of Blame the Bishop (guitar). “Sea Legs came together lookin’ to do something completely different,” Varona wrote on the band’s Facebook (Facebook.com/sealegssac), saying that they mix “‘60s Brit-rock influenced melodies and riffs with a modern folk backdrop. Think The Kinks meet The Decemeberists at a Talking Heads concert.” Sea Legs are currently expediting the recording of their debut EP Slow & Steady so that it will be ready for their big July 18 gig at Concerts in the Park where they are opening for !!! (Chk Chk Chk). Later that same night starting at 10 p.m. they’ll host their free official release show at Pour House. Varona says they are making 100 copies that they’ll give out for free at the shows and are also debuting new merch at the gigs.
You know your group is tight when you can enter a studio, press record and with everyone playing all together in one room make an awesome sounding live album. Local indie/pop group Musical Charis recently did just that and they’re releasing the songs, along with DVD footage of the session, at Harlow’s on Friday, Dec. 6, 2013 when they will be opening for Dishwalla. The Charis recorded seven songs in Los Angeles on Nov. 11 at Velveteen Laboratory, a studio owned and operated by Taylor Locke from the band Rooney.
“Taylor is a genius. It was an honor to work with him,” Blake Abbey, one of the founders of Musical Charis, told Submerge.
“It actually sounds better than all of our CDs,” he said of the live recording, which features Abbey on acoustic guitar/kick-drum/tambourine and his wife Jessie Abbey on the Rhodes/synth/hi-hat (they both sing), as well as Joe Kye (violin), Sam Barlow (electric guitar), Colin Vieira (bass) and Marc Del Chiaro (electric guitar). JMB Records is putting out the release on Jan. 1, 2014 via iTunes (both DVD and audio), so the Dec. 6 show at Harlow’s is your shot to get your hands on the physical release. If you head over to Facebook.com/musicalcharis, you can check out a video the band posted of a song called “Anatomy” to give you a feel for how fantastic the audio sounds. Musical Charis is one of the best sounding live bands from Sacramento, and this live EP/DVD combo will only further prove that point.
One of our favorite midtown bars (they’ve got Big Buck Hunter AND free popcorn, um, fuck yes), Pine Cove Tavern, is turning 60 years old. To celebrate, they are throwing a three-day bash from Nov. 15 to 17, 2013. There will of course be live music: Whiskey Dawn will play starting at 9 p.m. on Friday; on Saturday, catch Musical Charis, The Denver J Band, Savvant and TJ McNulty all starting at 1 p.m. There will be a massive karaoke competition all weekend with cash prizes, with the finals going down on Sunday at 9 p.m. Expect killer drink specials all weekend too, like on Friday from 3 to 6 p.m., where they will offer “Rollback Prices,” or the $1 Jello shots all weekend and $5 bottomless mimosas from noon to 2 p.m. on Sunday. Pro tip: if you’re looking to have a “Sunday funday” with your bros and/or girlfriends but don’t want to cough up a week’s salary to get a buzz going, why not hit up Pine Cove from 2 to 6 p.m. on Sunday for their progressive drink prices? Beers will be only $.50 and wells just $1.50 starting at 2 p.m. and every half hour the prices increase by just a quarter. I’m not too good at math but that’s, like, really cheap. Certain stars of the local food truck scene will be on hand throughout the weekend to help soak up all that booze, such as Drewski’s, Chando’s and more. Pine Cove is even raffling off a beach cruiser, so if you’re feeling lucky, and/or if you need some new wheels, pick up some raffle tickets at the bar. For more information, visit Facebook.com/PineCoveTavern
If you’re even slightly interested in Sacramento’s music culture, you’ve more than likely heard, or at the very least heard of, the beloved local indie-pop group known as Musical Charis. The prolific group of young artists sure does play around town a lot, but even so, it’s impossible to get sick of their catchy, harmony-rich tunes. There’s just something about the soon-to-be-married lead vocal duo of Jessie Brune and Blake Abbey that works musically, over and over again. The band is currently readying the release of their fifth full-length album, Cherish the Charis, on Thursday, July 18, 2013 with a celebratory release show at Harlow’s.
“We’re still going strong and working harder than ever,” Brune recently told Submerge of the group’s non-stop work ethic. Brune pointed out that the new album is special not only because it’s a whopping 23 tracks combining songs from the past five years (including some covers and new material), it also has a unique “hands-on” element to it. Brune explains: “The track listing will not be revealed except to those who actually have the album in hand because the titles are each covered with a diamond scratch-off sticker that must be scratched to reveal the songs on the record.”
Pretty sweet! Cherish the Charis is also different in that the band has opted not to release it on iTunes right away like they have done for their past records, because, Brune says, “We want people to invest in the tangible element of the album instead of just an instant download.” Submerge is down with tangible things, that’s why we make a paper! If you want to hear some tunes off the new album, visit Youtube.com/musicalcharis, and if you’d like to pre-order it for $12 (the CD will be $15 at the show), visit Musicalcharis.com. Doors open for the release show on July 18 at Harlow’s at 8 p.m., and there is a $6 cover. 21-and-over only. Opening acts will be Jesi Naomi and the Trippers and Orion Walsh and the Rambling Hearts.
Musical Charis’ band members discuss their penchant for collaboration and their mission to bring “real gold” back to the music scene
Two of the core members of local indie pop band Musical Charis are in separate rooms of the same apartment engaged in the same conversation. I am on the other end of the line. We’re speaking together on a conference call. It is a new experience for all of us.
I am talking to Blake Abbey and Jessica Brune, the band’s vocalists, and guitarist and keyboardist, respectively, about their upcoming Oct. 11, 2012 release of FOOL$ GOLD on JMB Records. Despite being miles away, I feel like I am dealing with a family.
They soon will be, I later find out. In addition to being band mates, they are engaged and live in the same apartment, along with the band’s bassist Colin Vieira, guitarist Bradley Abbey (Blake’s brother) and a bunny rabbit. It’s the apartment they are in now as they field my questions. Like family, they are talking over each other, and to make matters worse the reception is lousy. Despite the hiccups, we manage to carry out an engaging conversation as they fill me in on the album, touring and their musical values.
“It seems like a lot of things in music and art, fashion, and pop culture, a lot of it is like fool’s gold,” Abbey says, explaining how they came up with the album title. “It’s just shiny and bright, people want to hold it and touch it, but it doesn’t have the same value as gold.
“But the more that we grow in character and as a band, I think the closer we get to realizing how hard it is, how deep you have to dig for gold and the value of it when you get it,” he says.
Abbey, Brune, Bradley and Vieira spent about a week total, split before and after this year’s lengthy spring tour, recording with music engineer Joe Johnston at Pus Cavern. Now they have an album they hope will stand out against the bounty of overproduced, unoriginal material put forth in the music industry.
It was a collaborative process, a coast-to-coast exchange, Brune suggests. Others, including Jarrod Affonso on drums, Brian Brown on the keys and Shawn King, contributed. “Sunlight Stalker,” the last track on the album, was a joint effort between musician Chris King in Florida and Musical Charis. In a Postal Service-like exchange, King wrote the music, and the band wrote lyrics to accompany it.
The result was an album that Abbey says is quite unique, an attempt to produce “real gold.”
“I don’t think this CD is epic, but I think it’s one-of-a-kind, I haven’t heard anything like it,” he says.
Their fourth release following their 2011 album Ace of Space, FOOL$ GOLD is seven tracks of soothing indie pop and lush harmonies with progressive underpinnings.
It is somewhat more technical sonically than their previous albums, Abbey explains, and the rhythms are more intricate, adds Brune.
Since their formation in 2008, following the Abbey brothers’ and Vieira’s relocation from Florida to Sacramento, Musical Charis has been recognized for their folk appeal. In fact, they have been told on several occasions that they are living in the wrong generation. Brune and Abbey don’t dispute this.
“I think that musically we would be received better 30 years ago. Old people love our music, the folk stuff that we do,” Abbey says. “It’s dubstep nation now, dubstep is taking over the world.”
Whatever they have done musically, it seems to be working. They were nominated for Sammies in 2010 and 2012, for Best Album of the Year and Best Indie Band of the Year, respectively, and in 2011 they won the Best Indie Band of the Year Award.
While this album strays somewhat from that folk sound, Abbey and Brune agree that it is one they will likely revisit in the future. After all, it’s easy to switch up musical directions, Brune says, like whipping up a new batch of cupcakes.
“Some people might not like [the new album],” Abbey says. “But it was fun for me, which is the most important thing.”
If you want to produce something relevant in the art world, or bring back ‘the real gold,’ then you have to get your priorities straight, the way Brune and Blake see it.
Which simply means, “Do it because you love it,” Brune says, even if it means collecting pennies.
The drive, patience and desire all have to be there to move a band beyond the five-year mark, they say.
“The real dream is just living it,” Abbey adds.
The fourth track of the album, “The Gift,” is an ode to friends back in Kansas who are doing just this–living the “rock n’ roll” lifestyle of loving, having fun, being broke and not caring. It’s a fancy-free philosophy the members of Musical Charis put into practice as well.
They primarily work for themselves, sometimes working “under the table,” to make ends meet.
The same love of music inspired the band mates to open the Musical Charis Music School in 2009 in the building next to the Colonial Theatre. It started by just spotting the vacant building and asking the question, “What if?”
To this day, they teach music lessons out of Beatnik Studios, mentoring youth in playing guitar, piano, singing, songwriting and performing. Sometimes they will let their students open for the band.
Those who haven’t seen a Musical Charis show should know that no two performances are alike, partly because they are just as willing to share the stage with anyone who wants stage time. Thus they have become known for their high-energy, unpredictable performances.
“We never plan anything,” Brune says. “We’re not like, ‘Oh, it would be so epic if we did this and that.’ We just kind of roll with it and have fun.”
During a show, the stage is treated as a shared space. The band rotates auxiliary drummers and guitarists onstage or invites other bands to join in. Brune may take Abbey’s guitar mid-song, or Abbey might get on the drums. In any given performance, there might be a trumpet, saxophone, accordion, harmonica, congas or xylophone thrown in the mix. Additionally, just about anyone (with exception of belligerent drunks) from the audience is invited to come up and play an instrument.
“We consciously try to make it about everyone,” Abbey says. “It sucks being in a band playing the same show every night, especially in a small town.”
“I want people to go to [our] shows and be like, ‘We’re going to go have fun tonight and we’ll get to play an instrument,’” he says.
The invitation to participate is an intentional attempt to encourage local community-building, they explain, though they never force their audience members to participate.
So during any given show, 12 bodies might end up on stage. On one occasion an audience member was so engrossed in performing he fell off the back of the stage, Brune recalls.
“Sometimes it’s a train wreck, but [it’s] a beautiful train wreck,” Abbey says.
It’s worth mentioning that this band plays a lot of shows, as many as 150 per year. This includes a 65-day national spring tour they plan annually, in addition to smaller tours throughout the year.
Playing so many shows and tours, including SxSW, it’s no surprise that the band has grown a distaste for the predictable party-goers looking to get blitzed. It’s a common pattern the band has noticed, and it inspired one of the tracks on the album. Against a dreamy, circus-y tune, “Fortune Teller” takes a stab at the molly kids, who equate their live music experience with popping pills.
“It became about a culture of just partying, waking up the next day and starting all over,” Brune says.
No doubt they’ll run into more of that during their West Coast tour following the Oct. 11, 2012 album release at the Townhouse Lounge.
Pill poppers aside, right now the four are contemplating house sitters to look out for the apartment and the rabbit while they are gone. The last tour they went on, their turtle died.
Hop on stage and have a blast at The Townhouse Lounge on Oct. 11, 2012 at 9 p.m. when Musical Charis celebrate the release of FOOL$ GOLD. Also performing will be Autumn Sky, Hey Zeus and James Cavern… And maybe you? Pre-order your copy of the album at http://musicalcharis.com/, and if you’d like to babysit a rabbit, drop them a line.
Lite Brite distills the energy of their high-powered live show on a brand new album
A rock concert might be the only place in the world where it is acceptable to thrash around with full force, scream at the top of your lungs and push random people to the ground. If you tried this on the street, a grocery store, or a restaurant you will be kicked out and given the cold shoulder by society. Whether it’s moshing in the crowd or playing guitar on stage, rock concerts welcome your inner beast with open arms. There is one local band that produces this kind of high-energy show that can make anyone want to jump around. Submerge caught up with brothers Eddie and Matt Underwood, members of Sacramento rock-trio Lite Brite, in front of Peet’s Coffee to discuss their new self-titled album and rocking out on stage.
“If we have any underlying rage, [performing] is a good way to release it,” said vocalist and guitarist, Eddie Underwood.
“Instead of stabbing each other in the face,” continued drummer Matt Underwood. “It’s an expensive habit really.”
Eddie, Matt and Robert Lander, bass, are ready to bring their high-energy show straight to your living room. Their goal was to make their new self-titled album as close to the band’s live show as possible, making Lite Brite’s stage-fueled passion completely mobile.
The opening track of Lite Brite’s new album are recorded sounds from the band having fun with an analog phaser, creating eerie sounds that set the stage for their 12-track rock album. “We had an idea that it was going to be a theme in the record. I don’t think it ended up being exactly the way we thought it was going to be but it was a good way to tone the record,” Matt said. “I like the way that it turned out. It’s a noisy record.”
Lite Brite is excited to unleash a record that it can completely claim as its own. There is only one track, “Heaven,” on which the band collaborated with a musical engineer.
“We did it all ourselves. We mixed it all ourselves. We recorded it all ourselves. It was exactly what we want,” explained Eddie.
“It’s going to be really cool though, getting our music done, because we never really had a whole album that is just the way we wanted it to be,” Matt added.
Lite Brite hopes to give the new music as much exposure as possible, including a tour in the near future and to make the tracks easily accessible and sometimes free online. Matt Underwood wanted to adopt a business model that was made popular in the ‘60s by bands such as The Rolling Stones, where they would release numerous singles at a rapid pace.
“It would be really timely,” Matt explained. “It’s sort of this idealistic vision that I had, get something out and get it out on the street really fast. It would be the right song at the right moment.”
So far the Underwoods have been very successful in getting their music out quickly even though they have only played music professionally for the past few years. While in high school, Matt and Eddie would jam out to cover songs in their parent’s garage with their friend Bob.
“We just started playing covers and stuff. It was fun playing stuff that we like and Bob came over every day. He didn’t do homework. That worked out well,” joked Matt.
Since then, Lite Brite has been on two West Coast tours including one with Middle Class Rut. During their past tour, life on the road never seemed to get dull for them. Every city had a new adventure waiting for them. While stopped in Minneapolis, they had their van broken into early in the morning.
“What really pisses us off is that they stole our lunch meat,” Eddie said. “All of the equipment was in the back, and they could have easily gotten thousands of dollars worth of equipment, but they just went though our ice chest and downed 10 Red Bulls and ate our lunch meat on the spot.”
But missing lunch meat wasn’t their only problem that day. The thief decided to break in through the passenger window and crack the windshield causing Lite Brite to rush to get it fixed before a show. While on the same tour but this time in Wyoming, Eddie and Bob almost landed in a bar fight over the topic of Nickelback.
“I might have said something like, ‘Nickleback sucks,’ and one guy said, ‘Hey, hold on a second, I like Nickelback. I’m about to knock your teeth in.’ And then all of a sudden someone comes in from another room where Bob was playing pool and he said to me, ‘You better come quick… Your friend is about to get his teeth knocked in,’” Eddie said.
They decided to leave the bar before anyone would have to make an emergency trip to the dentist. But the highlight of their previous tour was the high-energy and jam packed shows, full of people who have never heard of them before but loved every minute of it. “The last two U.S. tours that we did were awesome,” Matt said. “Pretty much every show was just tons of people to play for.
“We completely sold out of CDs really early on our last tour. We had to burn thousands of CDs so we had something to sell.”
Recently, you might have caught them at Friday Night Concerts in the Park in early May. That night was one of their most memorable performances because there were over 7,000 people watching them at Cesar Chavez Park.
“You can’t really beat that,” Eddie said.
Before playing a high-energy show, whether it’s in front of a huge park or small venue, there isn’t much that Eddie needs to get himself pumped up to jam on stage. “The best way to warm up is to have a couple of beers. You don’t want to overdo it but not too little, because we don’t want to stand there like a couple of stiffs,” Eddie joked. “And not too much or else Bob and I will start yelling at each other on stage.”
But now Lite Brite is ready for Sacramento to join them at Ace of Spaces on July 6, 2012 for their CD release party.
“The music scene has been ridiculously awesome to us in Sacramento, and if it wasn’t, we probably would have quit doing it a long time ago,” Matt explained. “Recording an album is stressful and everything but pay off is definitely worth it, it’s very gratifying, just having this giant project for months at a time come to an end. What’s cool about an album is that it’s always going to be there. It’s always going to exist. It’s always going to be around. And you will always have that work that you did.”
A stacked lineup will help Lite Brite celebrate the release of their self-titled CD. Stuck, Musical Charis, Simpl3jack, The Hungry and The Trees will all join Lite Brite at Ace of Spades in Sacramento on July 6, 2012. Tickets are $10 in advance/$12 at the door. For ticket information, go to http://aceofspadessac.com/.
Mall walkers had reason to pause during their power walks last Sunday at the Westfield Mall. And no, it wasn’t to watch Santa Claus taking photos with crying babies or ice skaters taking falls at the rink. They paused to see the first Non-Drummer Drum-Off. The event is exactly what its name implies, people attempting to drum like Taylor Hawkins from Foo Fighters but they end up sounding like Animal from The Muppets. In fact, the only qualification of the drum-off was that you were supposed to suck. Even the Facebook event page said if someone was caught practicing before the show, then they would have been automatically disqualified.
Just like American Idol, the non-drummers had to face judges, listen to a sarcastic host and battle to win a prize. The eager non-drummers were going head-to-head for a chance to win a new drum set. At around 3 p.m., a small crowd gathered around a mini stage and bleachers on the second floor of K Street mall in Downtown Plaza that stood in-between the retail stores Express and ZuhG Life (organizers and sponsors of the event). When the show got rolling, most of the audience members ended up being random holiday shoppers, curious workers, or mall walkers who wanted to see what all of the ruckus was about.
The judges, including Matt Mingus from Dance Gavin Dance and Kevin Martinez from Tha Dirt Feeling, had to rate the non-drummers on a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being the highest) and on “charisma and performance.”
The bad drumming started off with Charleeé Wheeler from the local band ZuhG and his attempt to hit the drums like a rock star. Most of the contestants were familiar faces because they were from local bands or people who are active in the Sacramento community, such as Steph Rodriguez from Sacramento News & Review, Alexander Ayers from Prieta, a local photographer named Dennis, Michael Sean Flanagan, Dean Haakenson from Be Brave Bold Robot (who accidentally broke a drum stick while playing) and even our own Jonathan Carabba gave his shot behind the drums. After almost every performance, the host of the event (Blake Abbey from Musical Charis) would make funny, sarcastic remarks about their performance such as, “It’s so bad I want it to keep going,” or, “It wasn’t even entertaining to watch.” After Bryan Nichols, owner of the ZuhG Life store, gave his all playing the foreign instrument, Blake said, “I would rather listen to a whole Nickelback album than listen to that again.” Although the show was not exclusively awkward drumming, the audience members got to enjoy riffs from the professionals like Matt Mingus.
But the show stopper went to a small audience member who was eager to get a whack at the drums. When Blake asked if anyone from the audience would like to drum off, a young boy named Liam not only raised his hand to volunteer but stood up on the bleachers to be seen and heard. After he pulled a rampage behind the drums, he received a perfect score from the judges and huge cheers from the audience. And every time the host would mention his name he would stand on top of the bleachers and give an arm wave of victory. When he found out that he won the contest, he told his proud mom that they are going to need a “bigger truck” to carry his new gift home. Although little Liam arrived as a casual mall visitor, he left as a drumming champion.
Dean Haakenson
Wes Davis
The Non-Drummer Drum Off
Westfield Downtown Plaza Mall, Sacramento – Sunday, December 4, 2011
Jesi Naomi
Steph Rodriguez
Dennis “the photographer”
Jonathan Carabba
Doug Riggs
Michael Sean Flanagan
Alexander Ayers
Liam
Blake Abbey
Matt Mingus
