Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Favorite Bottleneck Shows: A Very Special Crossover Episode With I Heart Local Music


 At the LC, we write extensively about the LFK music scene, but our reporting is usually covered by a thick exoskeleton of snark and irony.  So when we're craving a sincere and loving tribute to the local scene (accompanied by terrific photo and video documentation) we turn to our buddies over at I Heart Local Music .

This summer we're teaming up with I Heart Local Music for a multi-part series about our favorite all-time shows (not necessarily local) at five different venues in town, starting today with The Bottleneck.

Our picks will be posted over at the I Heart Local Music site:  check out the first installment over there now.  And their picks will be posted right here.  It's like one of those wacky sitcom crossover episodes where the stars of one show appear on another!

So here it is: I Heart Local Music's pick for favorite Bottleneck show!  (Chip was won over by the "side-boob" reference).


"Seeing shows at the Bottleneck is a real hootenanny. The venue has a large dance floor area, and keeps anyone wanting to sit down up against the wall. That's why it was such a hoot to see IMA ROBOT and The Sounds play there together in March of 2004. 

I was a major fan of IMA ROBOT  back then, and who wouldn't be? Alex Ebert (now better known as Edward Sharpe) was the frontman from the synth-heavy band, and bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen frequently served as Beck's bassist. At the time of the show, I was just a teenager, and the band humored the fan in me by chatting it up for nearly an hour after the show. The event was an early one, because the Bottleneck was making room for the weekly dance party "80's Night." After the show, both Alex and Justin let me convince them to stick around for at least the first portion of 80's night.


The Sounds are a Swedish indie-pop band, also heavy on the synths. They were on tour in support of their debut album "Living In America." The best part about this band was their frontwoman, Maja Ivarsson. She came out onstage wearing a very shredded white little number, and flashed plenty of side-boob all night. You couldn't get too close to ogle her though, because she constantly spit on the crowd all night. She was so full of attitude you couldn't help but adore her, hate her, and even be a little jealous of her. The woman bled confidence all over that stage, and we were lucky to scoop up what was left of it when they left. What a woman! For a young teenage girl who was happily immersed in the music scene, I couldn't have asked for a more thrilling show (or a stronger female figure onstage)."




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