I had no idea what I was in for when I showed up to the midnight show at the White Lightning Wherehouse under a full moon last night. I knew this much: Old Scratch was performing along with the amazing, ever-changing lineup of Cirque Stupendo. I stepped into the Wherehouse to find Old Scratch bathed in green light, making their painted faces seem eerily inhuman…

I will spare you my usual gushing over Will Whitmore’s witty and mischievously uplifting lyrics, intoxicating melodies, and unmatched stage presence. Instead, I will say that his free performance in the Ped Mall on Saturday evening was everything you’d expect from the inimitable performer. That man can also cover a song like nobody’s business.

I was talking with a friend of mine about a week or so ago about Real Estate. If you are not familiar, they played PS1 last year along with releasing one of the great albums of 2009. He was lamenting the fact that there had not been any new material from the Real Estate/Ducktails music organization…

It has now been three days since the 2010 Pitchfork Music Festival wrapped up, and I’m still feeling it. My skin is flaking off, leaving behind a pinkish-red nasty burn, my muscles are sore from standing for hours upon hours, and my urine is still golden due to dehydration.

Filtering through my email one day, I found a press package for a young lady named Cheyenne Marie Mize who is currently on tour to support her debut album Before Lately. While she has street cred from working with Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Mize has to be able to stand up on her own. One cannot ride the coattails of a more famous star to get ahead…

Tim Stop Trio stopped by Gabe’s over the weekend to play some music, much to our benefit. The Chicagoan quartet played a number of original tracks as well as a few covers, including Warren G’s Regulators. It’s hard to argue with Warren G, to be fair.

This Wednesday’s Lightning Bolt at Gabe’s was one of the loudest shows I’ve seen in quite some time. It was also one of the best. If you haven’t yet had a chance to read A.C. Hawley’s preview for the show, it’s still a relevant read, and perhaps even more so if you happened to attend the show itself. You’ll realize that Hawley’s proselytizing was entirely accurate.

Little Village Magazine and Nebula Was are happy to present “Nebula Was: Live at Gabe’s,” a free, high quality recording of their July 9 performance. Consisting of nine Mp3 tracks pulled directly from the sound board, you’ll be hard pressed to find a higher quality recording of a full Iowa City concert.

Living Ghosts, Supersonic Piss, and The Tanks blasted through great sets just before Lightning Bolt methodically set up their mountainous rig and blew the roof off the place. We have plenty of photos from the show inside, so come on in and check them out!

The FEVER is BACK! Oh yeah, you thought the H1N1 scare was over, but it’s back in the form of awesome happy-fun-times folk. That’s right, Illinois John Fever is back and at the Mill this Friday night with Seth Winger, Iowa Hagan Myers and Sacred Harp.