Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts - August 25

     Among the reasons my wife Val and I chose to visit the Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts Saturday, August 25, was that we preferred the musical acts scheduled to perform that day. The performers we caught did not disappoint, even with the strikingly hot temperatures that day.

     The first band we witnessed was the Backpeddlers, led by singer/guitarist Mark Norris, appearing this day in a three-piece lineup with Norris' former girlpope colleague Tom Stanford playing bass and Jeff Pietrzak on drums. The band smartly opened with the rip snorting "Turn the Tables," the lead song from the Backpeddlers' most recent "Songs of Guilt and Revenge" (Harvest Sum Recordings) CD, containing some interesting references to past bands, songs and events and some betrayal (nice nod to girlpope's "Teenage Jesus"). The band next launched into "We Know (Who We Are)," another rocker with a slightly poppier approach, and continued the onslaught for one more song with a rugged cover of Nick Lowe's "Heart of the City."

     Norris and company slowed things down a bit for "It's All True," a raw, bluesy song with some twang describing some difficult patches and family troubles, but listeners had better have caught their breath, because next up was an amphetamined version of the Shag/the Shags' "Stop and Listen," a fantastic 1960s garage rock song from the Milwaukee band. After the song, Norris smiled and, looking at Bernie Kugel, singer/front man for The Good, said, "sorry for any flashbacks that may have occurred, Bernie." As if on cue, Norris then drew a blank as to who performed the song, to which Kugel yelled to the stage, "the Shags." The Backpeddlers then continued their power pop/punk direction for a few more songs before the sweat-drenched Norris and company were finished, including a garage/moddish "(Do the) Crying Shame" from the new CD.

     After visiting some of the art exhibits, rescue dogs and food and drink booths, we returned to the main stage to catch the Alison Pipitone Band, who, as usual, did not disappoint. Pipitone and band deliver straight up, basic, four-to-the-floor rock and roll, often with messages of romance sought, acquired and lost, and the wonder and lust accompanying it. The band opened with "Hello Is Not the Word," a punchy song on which Pipitone sings to her topic of attention, a woman (possibly uniformed) she is attracted to who either won't openly return her affection or hesitates due to one bad reason or another (religion), and has Pipitone singing for her to come clean once and for all. The band followed this with another rocker "Crocodile Tears," where Pipitone is tired of drama and lies, and even if she gets the truth, realizes that this relationship is over. The two songs open "Me and Miss Grimes," the band's excellent 2009 CD.

     The band continued through its sets combining the basic, tough rock approach with some poppy and bluesy touches, highlighted by a crunching version of "When Down Comes Tumbling Down," a story of a relationship unable to keep going, and a rollicking blues rock cover of the Rose Bond song, "Dime Store Blues," featuring some nice, tasteful lead guitar from Graham Howes. It should be mentioned that most bands would be thrilled to have a drummer as good as Pat Shaughnessy (ex-SplatCats) is with Pipitone.

     Thanks to the 95-degree heat, we left before any other bands played, and unfortunately, we missed the Canal Street String Band's set; on the other hand, we did catch several songs at the Elmwood-Auburn intersection by a man in mime makeup and a suit, but singing songs such as Queen's "You're My Best Friend," and coloring one tune with a kazoo solo. It appears that this performer is Jimyn the Singing Mime, who you can catch at the annual Artists and Models Affair Saturday, September 29.