Magic Trick - Weird Memory

From HAR-053, Ruler of the Night, out on Hardly Art

~Tim Cohen beltin out some tunes at Flywheel Monday night~

~Sonny!~

~Hangin with Noelle, the rest of the Magic Trick crew + Sonny and the Sunsets, swiggin back some wine & cheap beer on the church steps in between sets~

Got to catch the absolute best Flywheel show I’ve seen yet last night, with Tim Cohen’s band Magic Trick, along with Sonny and the Sunsets.  For those of you unawares, Flywheel is an all volunteer based church basement venue in Easthampton (like Northampton, but more in the middle of nowhere).  And yet they usually are able to pull some serious acts for midweek shows (Previously: Grass Widow, Coasting, Brilliant Colors…).  I’ve never seen more than 50 people at a given show, but with that intimate a crowd and the right people, it can make for the best shows.

Such as last night.

So Magic Trick put on a fuckin excellent show, I don’t wanna wash over that fact, but what stands out most for me was my conversation with Tim after.

Tim lapses into this anecdote about their last tour through North Dakota.  Apparently the band was piled in a van on the road looking for a motel to crash.  Eight miles down, first town is all booked for some recital.  Thirty miles later, the next town has no vacancy either, a pageant or somethin?  Next town is fifty five miles away, and yep no fucking rooms in the goddamned town.  Finally they drive like another 80 miles, just to get to a new town.

Remember this is North fucking Dakatoa; a friend of mine who visited all 50 states confirmed for me that North Dakota is the very worst state. 

The suns comin up, they’ve been driving all night, and they pull into a motel lot.  No one has the energy to seek out a room, so they pass out in the car.  They awaken a few hours later, the sun beating down on them, covered in flies.  So covered, Tim’s describing spitting flies out of his mouth, puh puh puh. Which is when he looks up to see two leather clad biker dudes, kinda peering in the window to see if anybody in the car is alive.  Tim looks up, puh, makes eye contact and they shrug off.

Tim: And that’s the first time I ever woke up to someone peering into a car to see if I was dead or not.

So after Magic Trick, we took a field trip to the local liquor store with Tim & Sonny for red water and tall boys.  Being a church basement venue, it’s bone dry, and our cooler supplies were dwindling.  No corkscrew? Just push it in.  Sonny Smith is a freakin rockstar in all the best ways.  So we brown bag it on the church steps until Sonny’s up.  They had played a terribad show in Montreal the night before; unanimously no fun, and made no money, so I think they were xtra happy to have a pumped crowd.  

The show involved Sonny dancin through the crowd like a madman, organizing a few square dances, riding a tipped over chair while playing guitar, and finally him stripping off his pants in a frenzied sweaty moment.  The only thing that could have made it better, was Flywheel not cutting them off with no warning at midnight, cause I know they weren’t done.

Sonny’s got too many albums to count, but you should especially check out Sonny Smith’s 100 Records Vol 3, the third installment of Sonny’s 100 fictional bands each complete with fun band names like Danny Dusk & the Twilights, unique album art, and each with their own retro hit sound.  Ltd to 500 copies with 150 on solid gold, which you can grab on tour or from Glitterend Records here.

Magic Trick - Ruler of the Night LP is out on Hardly Art here, or check out out Tim’s other two albums on Captured Tracks here.