Friday, May 19, 2017

Bash & Pop @ The Bell House AKA The Night Tim Kaine Came to Town with Tommy Stinson

Bash & Pop; Jason Loewenstein Band
@ The Bell House
Brooklyn, NY - May 19, 2017

Tommy Stinson recently reformed his brief mid-90's Replacements-"hiatus" project Bash & Pop, with notable help from, among many worthy others, Steve Selvidge, once of Lucero and more recently of the Hold Steady, thereby establishing a firm Minnesota connection between two iconic bands if you're into the whole iconic punk-inspired bands from Minneapolis spanning a bridge of 20 years type thing.

Last year, when the fate of the Republic seemed assured, it came out, as an unexpected delight, that the Democratic Party Vice-Presidential nominee, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, kept his birthplace of Minnesota in his heart by telling the world (in a way) once upon a time that his favorite album was Let It Be of the above mentioned Replacements.

After the Calamity which appears to have fallen, maybe, said Republic, Tommy Stinson investigated this claim and found it to be true. The fellas recently jammed together down in the Commonwealth.

So it had to be on this night, with Tommy sending the word out early on the social media, that the good Senator would be present and he was, breaking out the harp with Bash & Pop upon them taking the stage, with crucial help from a local boy done good, Jesse Malin to sing Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land". They got everyone together right off to say a few things: first, to mourn the loss of Chris Cornell, a blow so hurtful one cannot dwell upon it much now here except to acknowledge the loss; second, to recognize that the man on stage in this extremely stunningly surprisingly intimate setting even by the standards of the Bell House, that if all things were right, should be the one on call to lead the whole damn civilization if unfortunately need be and who would have, in absence of that, ably assisted in shepherding the ship of state; third to celebrate said man's daughter graduating from a local institution of higher learning; and fourth and not least, to recognize that Woody Guthrie of Oklahoma wrote that truest of true songs "This Land is Your Land" but did it not out of Oklahoma but here in Brooklyn.

And if that wasn't enough, Tommy led his Bash & Pop after that through a pulverizing set of rock n roll glory.

And if that also wasn't enough, witness Tommy rally the audience post-set, after piss-break, to look you in the eye and say "we're not done yet!" and then storm the top of the front bar to do an acoustic number, then walk back, bump into the Senator who insisted their respective daughters meet each other and then it's the Senator who sticks around for pictures and handshakes, overwhelmed by the love and support from the intimate crowd, while the non-rock-star-rock-star goes back to the dressing room.

And it happened in Brooklyn.

Which is to say it happened on this planet Earth. For as immense and staggering you may think the world is, you will occasionally get a reminder like this that there are only so many people who are or have been. And whatever perceptions one may have of roles and one's place in the grand scheme of things, remember: it is one beautiful little blue and green ball in a vast universe and you never know when the state of everything and the state of a little old thing called punk rock n roll may become entwined. And all you have to do is nod your head, drink it all in, and remember you were there.

Jason Loewenstein of Replacements-peers Sebadoh (which is to say pal of Lou Barlow, member of legendary Dinosaur Jr) led his band in an opening alt-rock set of some renown it must be said.