The Geek & Rock Tour 2010:
Acoustic Pop Punk & Live Zining

The Geek & Rock Tour brought together writers Mike Faloon and Joe Evans III (the geeks), and a bunch of pop punk bands (the rock,) for a three-day weekend jaunt through the Greater NY area (Brooklyn, a New Brunswick basement, and the Lower East Side, respectively.) I caught the Sunday and final show, at the Cake Shop in Manhattan, which featured Joe reading a humorous anecdote (not sure if it was actually from one of his "Like A Bowling Ball Through The Door" collections or something he wrote just for this,) and Mike Faloon (punk rock drummer and editor of Go Metric zine) who read from his new collection of short stories, "The Hanging Gardens of Split Rock" (Gorsky Press.) The music was provided by acoustic versions of some well known pop-punkers - Asbury Park's Black Wine, who dressed up all spiffy and polished their harmonies too; Grath and Ace of House Boat, who as usual entertained by acting as if they didn't know what they were doing, banging on two way-out-of-tune guitars and playing songs they only sort of knew, but of course we loved them anyway; and finally, Lauren and Fid of The Measure (SA), whose acoustic treatment of their own songs helped bring out the usually indecipherable lyrics. There was a time - I'm talking early Nineties here - when spoken word (as it was called back then) was a big part of the punk scene, and nights like this wouldn't have been at all unusual. I say, let's bring them back.

Z
Black Wine



Mike Faloon



Black Wine



Joe Evans III



Ace and Grath



Mike Faloon



Lauren and Fid of The Measure (SA)