I have written more articles for racing papers and magazines than I can count during the fifteen seasons that I pumped out stories about our local dirt track scene. Dirt track racing will always hold a special place in my heart but advancing age and a shortage of bling forced me to abandon my weekly passion. There will be a few more races and more photos added to gotomn.com but I'm past the age of weekly attendance. Making the decision to put myself out to pasture wasn't easy but life moves on and the publications deserve fresh legs and minds. Settling for four to six races on the year isn't ideal, I could probably handle ten or twelve, but I can't "sing for my supper" anymore and the resulting tripling of expenses has priced me out of the game.
Fortunately the benefits of not being at a dirt track every free moment outweigh the disadvantages. When one door closes another door opens, time spent with family and friends continues to give me purpose as I begin my ride off into the sunset. John Denver once sang "I was born in the sumer of my 27th year" and in a sense that has been my experience as I was in my 48th year in 1999 when I started writing about racing. I chased normalcy from 1951-1968, communist aggression from 1969-1973, promises of paradise from 1974-1998 and races from 1999-2015. That's a tough act to follow but family, friends and a love of music are the light that keeps getting bigger and brighter like a train emerging from a tunnel.
Which brings me to the Battle for the Northern Invasion at Mill City Nights on Friday night April 29, 2016. Four stellar bands would take the stage to compete for the opportunity to grace the same stage as Korn at a venue not far from the shadows of the Cedar Lake Speedway where I spent the better part of the past fifteen years. I missed the opening set by Ashes From Stone, but caught most of Vaudeville's set, and complete sets by Anistar and the band nearest and dearest to my heart VIA. Before I get any further into this blog post I should make it clear that these are simply the musings of a paying fan and are not affiliated with any media source. These days people hold outsider candidates that don't answer to corporate interests in high esteem so perhaps they'll look at an outsiders rock review in the same light. I have a blog that isn't getting used, a passion for getting my thoughts out to the masses and a free Saturday morning.
I am not a professional musician nor am I a rock critic but I do have life experiences that give me the authority to put forth my observations. Standing in front of the stage at Mill City Nights I was overcome by a sense of Deja Vu. A night in 1968 came rushing back in my consciousness as I mused about standing the same distance from the stage watching Sly And The Family Stone perform the song Dance To The Music the year before they played at Woodstock. I have been playing guitar since 1965 and still occasionally create my own songs with long time friend Dan Hawkinson working his mastery on lead guitar. Check out our song In Your Head that I wrote as a commentary on the Netflix documentary Making A Murderer. My voice could best be described as Lemmy with laryngitis and our music categorized as old man metal but we're having fun and that's all that matters. Our roots and influences run the gamut from from Elvis to Evanescence with a touch of James Taylor and Dream Theater thrown in for good measure.
All of the bands were fantastic last night which underscores the quality of the Minneapolis music scene. Walking the short distance from the Green Line station to Mill City Nights I was impressed by the diversity of the throngs outside the various venues. Minneapolis is truly a melting pot of musical styles and people that conjures up thoughts of days gone by when the likes of home grown icon Prince lured the masses into these same venues. I didn't have the connections to get my camera past security but you can check out Chad Johnson's Shutter Shenanigans Photography facebook page for visual documentation of the evening. I have know Chad and and his family since 1974 so it was a surprise to find out that he's spending his free time capturing images of rock concerts.
With all due respect to the other two bands taking part in the competition from my vantage point it boiled down to the two V's on this night, Vaudeville and VIA. In my assessment Vaudeville puts out a vibe that blends Hard Rock and Pop whereas VIA leans more towards the Metal genre with a pronounced 90's influence. Your opinion may vary but that is the impression their vibes had on my auditory cortex. The competition was based on how may fans voted for each each band and there was not a panel of judges making a pronouncement based on music and stage presence. In order to attain this level of success all of the bands are receiving air play on 93x, the radio station sponsoring the event.
Vaudeville brought out their legion of fans and was declared the winner and will move on to the Northern Invasion. VIA has a summer schedule that will include clubs and outdoor festivals throughout the Midwest. There weren't really any winners or losers in the sense that anyone packed it up and went into hiding until next year's competition. All are working bands that are successful in their own right. A few days prior to the show Vaudeville front man Christopher Gummeson had reached out to me in a personal facebook message thanking me for my decision to attend and encouraging me to cast my vote for Vaudeville. I pointed out that I am in the VIA camp and in a spirit of camaraderie he thanked me for supporting the show. As a mid 60's gray haired old man I was surprised to have received a personal message and it left a positive impression. All of these bands are high caliber and are going the extra mile to reach out to every possible fan and I have to applaud them for that. Chris and Vaudeville put on an energetic set that was punctuated by Gummeson's fondness for standing on the bass drum and capped off their set by covering The House of the Rising Sun. My 60's garage band covered Eric Burdon and the Animals' 1964 version of this tune so needless to say I was pleased to hear it being covered 50 years later. I wish Vaudeville all the best as they prepare to perform at Northern Invasion.
VIA opened their set in a sea of purple light while a Prince tune played in the background which morphed into their first song of the night. They played all of my favorites including Come Find Me, Red Room, Shroomates, To Those of You With a Guilty Conscience, Closets, Room 104 as well as a new tune that I did not catch the name of. From my vantage point VIA's performance was stellar and had the look of a band with a bright future. I'm just an old gray haired man writing about music on a blog designed for dirt track racing and I haven't got a clue how to promote music but I can't say enough about how impressed I was with their performance last night. If you haven't seen these guys play you have to go check them out. VIA has opened for national acts that include Buckcherry and Saving Abel so if you catch one of their shows you know that it's going to be epic.
Thanks for reading this blog post, it was fun to spend some time exercising my writing chops for the first time since March 2015. I'm not doing any official writing for anyone or anything but don't rule out an occasional blog post on subjects as far ranging as racing, music, street rod shows or just about anything else that I have a passion for.
I would always end my racing column in the Midwest Racing Connection with the words "see you at the races" which is fitting because the races are my next planned fun destination. I plan on attending the Gale Patterson Memorial at the Cedar Lake Speedway on Saturday May 7. I will be on vacation the following week of May 9-13 so if the family entertainment budget can handle two nights at the pit gate I will take in the 360 Sprint Car special at the St. Croix Speedway as well. If there's one thing I have learned after backing off from being at the races every weekend is that there are plenty of creative pursuits to keep me busy when I'm not out chasing races. I like the racing but for me the racing was more of an outlet for creativity than a final destination. Look for a blog post on whatever races I am fortunate enough to be able to attend next weekend.
See you at the next VIA show!
