Friday night, I was already wiped out by the time I made it to the Ken Club. Nate defended his thesis at 3PM, which was followed by a celebration that included his band playing at Porter’s Pub. It was 9PM by the time I left campus.

I somehow made my way out though, in order to support Cat Dirt and the local bands. I’m glad that I did, even though I was too tired to be my normal bouncy self.

No photos, once again due to the lack of lighting at the Ken.

I got there shortly before The Dirty Novels started playing. Ran into Matt from Vinyl Radio and Elizabeth straight away, and hung with Elizabeth for most of the night.

The Dirty Novels played a really good set. I was getting all sorts of Mick Jagger vibes from their lead singer, and the sound of the band supported the Rolling Stones image. This was a band that I wish I had had more energy for – any other night I would have been up on the floor, dancing my butt off. As it was, I watched from the comfort of one of the Ken’s booths.

There was a decent amount of people fluttering in and out of the band room during all three bands’ sets. I feel like it was more crowded on that side than when I saw Republic of Letters there last week, but that the bar side was less crowded. Weird how that happens.

The second band of the night was Fifty on their Heels. I really like their version of punk rock, and I like that Junior Metro, the singer/guitarist, is all over the place when performing. I’m talking about up on tables and things. Although I feel like he always has microphone issues as well – this time it kept falling while he was singing. The sound in the venue is less than desirable, but it still makes for an enjoyable evening.

After Fifty on their Heels, Vinyl Radio was up. I haven’t seen them since I shot their show at the Belly Up, and at that show I was more focused on taking photos than listening to the music. This time around, it was all about their songs. I mustered up the energy to stand up and even shake it a bit. Matt is a very charismatic frontman, and it’s always interesting to me to see how people’s personalities change when they step on stage. They played a number of classic rock-styled songs, and ended with “Messin Around” (love the Journey riff, guys!), during which their guitarist created a fireball. I’m not kidding – he took a swig of, and then dipped his fingers in, some Barcardi 151. Matt lit his lighter (and crouched down on the floor to protect himself), the guitarist caught his fingers on fire, and then spit out the alcohol into the flame. I was standing a good number of feet back from the stage, and I could feel the heat off of that thing. Impressive, but ummm, slightly unsafe. Also, the one instance the whole evening where I really regretted not bringing my camera.

After the show ended, I stuck around to hear Rosey’s experience at the Band of Horses show at Cane’s, and then headed back home to bed. The next day involved a drive up to LA, and seeing as how I had nothing packed for the trip at that point, I didn’t want to make it too late of an evening.