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The Legend of Ol' Rapey
Tuesday we rolled into Columbus (Capital of Ohio!) casually, but with purpose. We were greeted at the door to The Treehouse by the sweet sound of the guitar-accompanied ballad of a local legend, Zombie Dog. The tales of Zombie Dog were, in turn, told in song by every patron in the bar. That dog gets around.
It was then that we discovered the other legend, the more important one, the legend of OL' RAPEY. Ol' Rapey is the ghost that haunts The Treehouse. He is about 2' tall and hangs from a string that suspends him about the same height as your head. The line is pulled across the entire interior of the Treehouse. He runs back and forth on a motor (kind of like this GI Joe figure I had, except there is also the option to have Rapey go "AUUUUUUWOOOOOOOOOAAAHHHHHHHH... AUUGHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHH..." like canned-Scooby-Doo-ghost style).
Rapey.
Anyhow, Rapey starts and stops when he wants, where he wants, and then kind of just chills there for a moment or ten minutes and then starts again on his ponderous journey, back and forth across the room.
The "Ol' Rapey" part comes when you switch off his voice and he just silently travels to and fro, creeping up on you and molesting the back of your unsuspecting head as he comes by. It gets funnier as the night goes on, I promise.
So there's this band Jaguar Club from Brooklyn that freaking rocks and they did so this night, on command. They're very well trained to provide sweet beats and atmospheric guitar and extremely good bass playing at a moment's notice.
Next up were the Seedy Seeds, and we played to a warm reception of smiling folks, nestled happily around the giant tree that grows up out of the middle of the club. We like the Treehouse. There really is a tree and it's pretty big. I think I might be slightly allergic to it.
We were followed shortly thereafter by our pals Wing and Tusk. They are the artist-in-residence at the Treehouse for September and this was the last night of it; W'N'T pulled out all the stops. They are a very talented and engaging band and sweet folks to boot.
After an extremely long day we began the journey home. We stopped at a Pilot, where Brian successfully used the bathroom without being leered at by a Creepy Pilot Gas Station Bathroom Cowboy; this breaks his unbelievable streak of three cowboys in the last three Pilots in three states. Good job, Bribot!
The Jaguar Club
Wing and Tusk
—Mike
Haters : Go Hate Elsewhere
MidPoint Music Festival is awesome! It is a three-day, city-wide festival during which close to 300 bands from the city, the region and all around the world showcase their music in bars, coffee shops and makeshift venues. We Seedy Seeds were booked to play the Contemporary Arts Center opening night of the Festival with Chemic, Loyal Divide and The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir.
I love MidPoint. No other show can ever compare; each year we're in a new setting, playing to our hometown crowd with excited, anxious energy all around. I woke up on Thursday morning already practically too excited to do anything besides pace and not speak in clear and proper sentences until show time.
I was totally excited about premiering the song we'd just finished, "We Are Missing." Since our very first MPMF showcase three years ago we've made a tradition out of debuting a new song during our MidPoint set. We're all particularly excited and proud of "We Are Missing," and I was anxious to get a response from our audience on it.
Brian picked me up in Bavana shortly after 6 P.M. and we began our descent on downtown.
One of the neater aspects of our showcase this year was that we were just about as excited to see every band on our bill as we were to actually play the bill. Chemic's Scott Kirkpatrick is a personal friend of mine and a darn good musician, Loyal Divide are a band we've played with several times and are incredible live and The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir were using their slot to celebrate a new release, so basically our stage was going to be a party all night long.
When we arrived Loyal Divide were unloading their gear as well. We gave each other high fives, smiles and hugs, and got our stuff into the CAC via a very large service elevator. We were to play the black box theater, which boasts a capacity of 200 and a very large projection screen. There were some 100 or so chairs set up in the room, which clearly weren't going to make nice with a dance party—and clearly Cincinnati agreed because as soon as folks started arriving, chairs started leaving.
Brian and I began to situate our gear on the side of the stage as the first MPMF-goers entered the venue. A particularly animated gentleman introduced himself to me as our biggest fan and told me the tale of how TSS first won him over during a set of ours at the Northside Tavern. He had a nickname not uncharacteristic of a super hero, and even offered me a drink. I took him up on his offer and began setting our discs and stickers out. While I was setting our merch display up, Scott arrived and we exchanged high fives, smiles and hugs.
Right before Chemic took the stage, our stage manager informed us that The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir had been in an accident on their way from Chicago to Cincinnati and wouldn't be making it. We all volunteered to play longer sets to fill up the now-empty slot with music.
Scott nailed it. Chemic is presently going though a lineup change, and he played material from that project and from his side-project Bro. Stephen to kick the night off. Loyal Divide, easily one of my favorite live bands, took the night to a whole new level. "You're welcome, Cincinnati," is what their set seemed to say in the absence of an official statement. Next up, The Seedy Seeds. When we took the stage, the room was packed! Cincinnati had clearly taken the 200-head capacity of the room as a personal challenge and delivered what was easily 250 if not 300 in attendance. Some might say more… is this how legends are born?
My favorite shows are the sweatiest shows. If my fingers are slipping off my instruments, rendering our songs particularly difficult to play, we Seeds have done our job. To say this show was sweaty is an understatement. This show was like someone decided to shoot a fitness video in a bath house. By the end of it all my glasses were fogging up on stage, Mike looked like someone had cruelly sprayed him with a hose to get a good look at his boobies, and Brian had pounded welts into his legs. "We Are Missing" went over super well, and while we are grief-stricken that The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir were in a wreck, we had an absolute blast.
Dear MidPoint. We love you. We had the best time ever. We look forward to seeing you next year. Love, The Seedy Seeds
SYGC were seriously injured in their accident and their van and gear were destroyed. If you are so inclined, they could definitely use some help. Click this link to donate online.
Scott from Chemic in action.
Loyal Divide can't be captured by still images.
—Margaret
