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It grew larger and larger in my vision. I was being pushed closer to the "Crash 20" logo on Mos Generator drummer Shawn Johnson's Paiste cymbal. I took it as a personal warning - I was going to crash into the whole fucking drum set if I got moshed another 20 inches. My hair was drenched with beer. I'm pretty sure my elbow played a couple bass lines. And I was about to play the drums with my ass.

No stage. Bare light bulbs. And what seemed like 600 people crammed into the Track House's 12 by 12 room.

So. Fucking. Good.  

This was the scene at a house show Friday night in Olympia with Ancient Warlocks, Black Pussy and Mos Generator. It was a true house show. The kind of house show that changes an under-ager's life and validates a grown-up's one.The kind of house show that make you wonder, "Who the hell lives in this beer-trodden rock palace?"  I vaguely remember smelling something burning - pizza, I think someone said - and had a brief paranoid driven fantasy of a house fire, how everyone would be trapped in burning wasteland of rock 'n' roll. It was a beautiful vision, in an emo way.

But I digress. What was most beautiful was the heat of the moment, the truth of the music, the two new songs played Mos Generator played, and the way guitarist and vocalist Tony Reed kept nursing a bottle of Jager, calling the roomful of rockers "Freaks," and the crowd responding with deafening cheers.

Want to see an dhear Mos Generator? Below is the first video from the band's album NOMADS that dropped Oct. 23, 2012 on Ripple Music.

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I kissed a lot last night.

My wife, Kate, and I fell in love while listening to hours and hours of Jeff Buckley songs. In the '90s, Kate saw Buckley perform at the old Backstage venue in the Seattle's Ballard neighborhood. To this day, that Buckley show, which was on his birthday, remains her all-time favorite concert.

Back to the kissing - last night The New Frontier Lounge hosted a Jeff Buckley tribute show. Besides performing in their Jeff Buckley pop-up band Wait In The Fire, producers Najamonique Todd and Del Brown asked Alex Tapia of RowHouse, Kurt Lindsay of BODYBOX and Not From Brooklyn to perform songs from Buckley's small catalog of songs. Todd and Brown couldn't have picked better bands. All musicans performed with passion, as well as showed admiration for each other. The music was so glorious we practically made out.

Highlights included Tapia's "Lilac Wine," Lindsay's "Grace" and "Everybody Here Wants You" and Not From Brooklyn's "So Real," which I caught on video.

The night was Todd and Brown's second Sound Icons show. Can't wait for part three.

ON THE SCENE >>>  

The Weekly Volcano dropped in on the Tacoma Comedy Club's soft opening this weekend. The club - embedded in Malarkey's Pool & Brew club at Sixth and Tacoma Avenue - nearly sold out three shows this past weekend, and already booked some 100 tickets for its grand opening this coming weekend. That fact doesn't surprise me. The joint looks like a dedicated comedy club space. Tables ring the stage and all seats are good. The waitresses are attractive, efficient and Johnny on the spot - all makings of a good club

Oh, and the comedians were funny.

Mike Agostini

Xung Lam emceed the opening weekend with my former history teacher, Mike Agostini warming up the crowd for Kane Holloway and Sean Anderson headlining. All comedians are known commodities around here, with Holloway and Anderson also pulling double duty for the upcoming film, Jesus4Less.

This weekend, The Tacoma Comedy Club will host Collin Moulton's fast paced mix of clever stand-up and physical comedy straight from his appearance on Comedy Central's "Best of" series.

LINK: Previously on our sister blog, Spew

Joe Izenman reviewed last night's Roman Holiday show at The New Frontier Lounge. His review is posted in the Music section under Live Reviews. I shot the crappy photos.

My favorite line from Izenman's review:

Roman Holiday looks like a bunch of indie kids, complete with the man-cleavage that comes from abnormally stretched T-shirt necks - you know the look I'm talking about, surely, if you go to many shows in Tacoma, as we are rife with indie kids, and indie kid bands, inventing their own chords and mumbling a lot.