Five bucks, five bucks, five bucks

Whooo/ugh. That's the sound my body makes the morning after having fun at a kick ass show, but one which also kicked my ass. Partied it UP last night at the RFT Showcase, and though I had some reservations it definitely turned out to be a win. As I awaken, recover, and put the pieces of myself back together into some semblance of normality, I figure the best way to make sense of things is to do a run down of my own awards. You know, for posterity.

Best Bar: Hair of the Dog is what I would have to affectionately call a "rough in the diamonds". What concerned me most about the showcase's move from the Loop down to Wash. Ave. was the areas lack of pure venue spaces an overabundance of upscale snooty places. (More about that shortly.) HotD, on the other hand, is the kind of bar that wants you to come in and make yourself at home, no need to worry about taking off your shoes or spilling things on the rug. It's lived in. And they have shuffleboard!

Worst Bar: Lucas Park Grille - I've been out to the Showcase for a few years now, and like any good festival the beauty of it is the carefree come (and go) as you are vibe. This place was way too highfalutin. The first clue was the hostess asking people just ahead of us if they had reservations. Then the patio where the bands were meant to set up had almost no space for folks coming in to watch the bands; most of the tables in the place were set up for diners. That would be fine, if you want to be a restaurant. If you want to be a venue (even for a day), be a venue and let people come hang out. If you want to be a venue AND a restaurant, that'd be fine with me too, Cicero's and Blueberry Hill both have a system down with separate spaces to suit your tastes whether it be eating or rocking out. There are many different right ways to arrange things; this was an example of the wrong way.
Honorable mention in this category goes to Lola. The space is fairly new and nice, but I'm turned off by the fact that they also seemed to not have a sense of their own identity. I think more people were there to eat than to hear music, and I didn't really get the feeling that the music revelers like myself were welcome. Also the waitress with the frou-frou artsy trendy hairdo did not excite me. I just want to go to a bar for some tunes and drinks, not look at you attempt to be a runway model. (I didn't think of it until just now, but she kinda totally reminds me of Helen Strangé from Boomerang.)

Best Band to Get Me in a Dancing Frame of Mind: The Dive Poets came along at just the right time. Their set was the first at a venue as opposed to an outdoor stage, and being inside / in the evening it had finally cooled off enough for me to start drinking. I miss the fiddle, but they still brought it.

Best Band I've Seen Tons of Times: Jumbling Towers, how I've missed you! I used to kick it at their shows fairly often way back in the day, but it's been quite a long time. They rocked some new shit, they rocked some old shit, and I rocked my shit all over the floor right up front. People came in and packed the place during their set, which was great, but no one was dancing! That just wouldn't do. So, me being me, I scooted my behind up to the stage to help with the motivation. I only made small strides with the folks who were up there, but I did find a few possibly old school fans who knew their songs. Definitely going to have to get back into them.

Best Band I've Seen Tons of Times, But Missed: The Feed.

Best Band I've Never Seen: The Monads - Going to see them was a hard choice. They played at the same time as The Feed, and in this case I elected to go with new-and-potentially-awesome over tried-and-true-goodness. I wasn't sure to make of them while they were setting up. Upright bass, banjo, electric violin, giant bag of beach balls... Okay? They turned out to be real lively. I could see myself getting ragin', footstompin' drunk to this band in a good ol' Irish bar. ...if only I could find the perfect Irish bar in which to do it. The floor is open to suggestions.

Best Band I've Still Yet to See: Art Majors played after Jumbling Towers and I heard a little bit of them, but by that point I was tired and tapped out. It'd been a long day, and I no longer had the ability to properly cleanse my aural palate to differentiate between bands. It didn't help that no one in the crowd was into them enough to start moving, that might have convinced me to stick it out a bit longer. Gotta make a mental note to see them properly at some point.

Best Band for a Funky Good Time: Teddy Presberg kills. Literally. I saw someone drop to the ground of a funk attack, and I don't think they pulled through. DOA. Funkamedics could not resuscitate. The man is cooler than anyone has any right to be. My name is Teddy Presberg, and I'm gonna lay some riffs with this guitar in my lap for a lil' bit, izzat okay witchoo? Yes, please, Teddy. Gimme some more. And who else could pull of playing a show barefoot in such a shiny new bar? (He was at the aforementioned Lola) Bonus points for his man maiming folks with the bongo / drum solo funkassault.

Biggest Letdown Band: UG Project - From what I'd read about this group's style and genre-bending, I was really looking forward to something interesting. I ended up only catching maybe the end of one song at the end of their set, but my snap judgment from what I heard was underwhelming.

Best Friend: I didn't go very far out of my way to promote this thing ahead of time, and so did not attempt to bring a big crew down to check things out. I suppose it could have been fun having a pile of people to hang out with, but it also would have been a logistical nightmare. Almost seems better to go solo, or nearly so. I did invite Julie, who was awesome enough to come down, hang out, and pretty much follow me around to whatever band I wanted to see. I think she had a good time, so things worked out well for all parties involved.

Update: Official fotoes.