by Ruth Milne

Some farewells and greetings are in the cards for Rapid City.

Dusty says it’s final: Keyboards and Computers will play their last show ever at a festival the weekend of July 13 in Aberdeen.

Dusty, who goes to school in Mitchell, is planning a move far away from bandmates Jon and Andy Martin.

They don’t plan any more Rapid City shows, either, so it’s Aberdeen or bust for fans of their giddy, Star Wars-influenced synth-pop.

We’ll miss you.

On the other hand, there’s a completely unrelated hello in store as well.

This is Matt, drummer for Disorderly.

This is Matt’s arm. When Matt shaved his beard recently, I only recognized him by this tattoo. It’s the work of Bill Barrett, who — after many years in Texas — has returned and, as of this week, is working at Lakota Ink downtown.

Bill has a lot of friends in the music scene, so stop by and say hi if you’re in the area.

Tattoos are fun things, whether it’s a pretty little pink heart, or a skull with tentacles sprouting from the top, or even the logo of a band you’re pretty sure you won’t hate in 10 years.

So how’d that New Kids on the Block tattoo work out for you?

by Ruth Milne

Six dollars, more specifically: the admission charge for last night’s punk show. And the concert provided a real bang for your buck, let me tell you.

(I wore earplugs.)

A mystery band, a cover band, an unknown out-of-towner and a reunion: Oh Yeah!, American Heavy Metal Weekend, Creosote and Disorderly played last night at the Imperial in downtown Rapid City.

The flyer described “Oh Yeah!” as containing members of several local bands — the Reddmen, Keyboards and Computers, Imaginary Girlfriends and Disorderly.

Imaginary Girlfriends is a one-man band, so that part was easy, but the others had me intrigued, mostly for the variety of the bands involved. From ’80s pop to hardcore punk, they ran the gamut. How on earth would they mix?

And here they are: Oh Yeah!, in all their glory.

It was no surprise that Luke of Imaginary Girlfriends notoriety — where he does solo ’80s-revival music karaoke-style — jazzed it up like David Bowie.

Trevor, who plays bass in the Reddmen and showed up recently as bassist for the new band Old, took over on drums for Oh Yeah!’s set. Yeah, we all know you’re Superman, don’t rub it in.

Darrell, formerly of Disorderly, usually plays hard-and-heavy punk rock/hardcore. The whole time Oh Yeah! was onstage, he looked like he was trying real hard not to laugh. (more…)

by Ruth Milne

I don’t know if you caught Dan Daly’s “Talking Business” column this morning, but it included this little gem:

Van Nuys has rented space at 524 Seventh St., in the Buell Building*, and he plans to open James Van Nuys Gallery there next month. He will sell his own paintings, prints and sculpture work.

The storefront space will also serve as his studio. And it will be an informal music venue for Van Nuys and other musicians.

Van Nuys is a top-notch musician, and if this leads to more concerts featuring him and others in his general genre — folk, blues, jazz, etc. — this could be some of the best news I’ve heard in a long time.

*That building on the corner of Sixth and St. Joe with a gold onion on top

by Ruth Milne

Two fine local solo acts and two excellent touring bands were featured last Saturday at TREA.

Local artist Dear Chechnya, up first.

The band features Jestin, his computer, and various samples he found who-knows-where. He also plays guitar and keyboards at times.

I could identify some of the samples — Jim Jones persuading people that death is more fun than life, Charlie Manson’s followers chatting about the apocalypse — but some were less well-known, such as one very disturbing song that features what seems to be a recording of a very young child calling 911 after finding his parents dead, chirping, “There’s bwood on the bed, and bwood on the floor.”

It’s the contrasts that get me. Jestin takes what horrifies and disturbs people the most, and positions it within some absolutely beautiful music.

It’s like nothing I’ve ever heard before.

Dear Chechnya doesn’t play often, and his live show isn’t as flashy and high-kicking as, say, the Reddmen, but I really enjoy his music.

I just don’t listen to it alone late at night.

Then came the star of the evening, Amanda Conway — it was her CD release show.

She’s a local singer-songwriter, still just a teenager, who plays acoustic folk music. She has a breathy, earthy singing voice and a ready laugh, and she’s a fun person to spend time with.

Although she has been known to wail out some Dylan-esque numbers on harmonica, she forgot to bring it, so it was just a girl and a guitar onstage that night.

Conway only played a few songs.

Her CD, which sells for $10, is available at Ernie November and Borders, she said. It features 15 original songs, by turns heartbreaking and hysterical, young and wise.

Then came Hex, an instrumental group from Minneapolis that features members of Garmonbozia, the now-defunct punk band on Profane Existence.

For a band with a tuba, a violin and drums, they played some amazingly heavy music.

The tuba took the place in music that bass normally would, and it sounded very nice.

Last was The Pharmacy, an indie-rock band from Seattle.

I didn’t take any photos of them, but I did enjoy their set. I’m generally happy to devote a lot of my free time to this blog, but sometimes it’s nice to just sit back and enjoy a show, and not be a blogger for a little while.

Maybe next time I’ll take photos… maybe not.

By Ruth Milne

The first thing I noticed, upon entering the civic center lobby a little before 7 p.m. last night for Lindsey Buckingham’s concert, was that the place was nearly empty.

The second thing I noticed was the “Lindsey Buckingham Tour 2007” T-shirt on sale… with Rapid City nowhere to be seen on the list of cities.

That’s not promising.

Also, the balcony entrance was totally roped off, and the doors to the theater were not yet open. “The doors will open at 7 p.m.,” one of the ushers said. I settled myself at a table to wait. About 10 minutes after 7, she told someone, “The doors will open in a little while.”

Ooh, they better not cancel this concert!

They didn’t, but there were some changes, apparently due to lack of ticket sales. It seems low concert attendance isn’t a problem for punk shows alone. The balcony would not be open at all; those people would be seated on the floor. As someone who paid just $25 for the absolutely cheapest seat in the very back row of the balcony, I found that good news.

Not so for Buckingham and the venue, presumably.

My good news got even better when, out of the blue, a spunky redhead from Minnesota offered me an extra front-row ticket. She and her family had flown to Rapid City just for this concert, and as a lifelong fan of both Lindsey and Fleetwood Mac, she was giddy with anticipation.

And that’s how I ended up in the front row of a half-full theater waiting to see a musical legend.

There was no opening act; Lindsey Buckingham just came out and started playing with little fanfare. (more…)