Michelle Malone with Ashleigh Flynn

I remember the first time I saw Michelle Malone.  My friend and Americana genius Ashleigh Flynn was opening up for a show in a small all-ages club in Portland. I had heard of "Moanin' Michelle Malone," but it was the first time I saw or heard her music.

Ashleigh had to stall the crowd, as Michelle and her crew were running late. Their van broke down somewhere between Oregon and California.  When Michelle and her drummer finally walked into the venue, they looked tired and cranky.  "This show is going to suck," I said to myself.

Instead, I was treated to one of the best rock-n-roll shows I have ever seen.  Michelle Malone is the real deal, a full time rocker with a dozen studio CDs and almost as many live recordings. 

Billboard magazine calls her "criminally underrated." Why she hasn't achieved more commercial success if beyond me.  The only reason I'm grateful is that I get to see her in small clubs, like my favorite Mississippi Studios.

If you're in Portland on Friday, come and check out Michelle Malone with my pal Ashleigh Flynn.

Mississippi Studios

Friday May 15
3939 N. Mississippi
Doors at 8, Show at 9
$12

If you don't see her in Portland, Michelle Malone is going a lot of places. Be sure to check her out.

Dipstick & The Plumbing Problem

If you thought Dipstick only knew how to change tires and dish out sassy advice, well you’d be wrong. Turns out she has quite a skill with a pipe wrench too. When I was visiting my family, my sister and I accompanied my Dad up to his summer place to turn the water on. Dad injured his hand and Mary and I had to do all the work. Actually, I did all the work, because Mary didn’t want to get her pants dirty.

The winter in Upstate New York gets fucking cold. So when you leave a place in the Fall, you have to drain all the pipes of water and shut down the plumbing. Otherwise, the pipes will freeze and burst. Come Spring, after the ice has gone out, you check the pipes for leaks, reconnect everything, turn it on and pray that there’s not a leak.

But every year, there is a leak. Which I was actually kind of happy about, because it meant I got to crawl into the cob-webbed pump house, poke around the mouse droppings until I found the leak and repair the broken pipe. After a quick trip to the hardware store for parts, I was cutting and reattaching my first pipe. My sister documented the whole thing. Here are a few clips.

Killer Music Coming to the Pacific Northwest

Christine Havrilla will be in the Pacific Northwest this week! Be sure to check her out. She'll be doing a handful of shows in the Seattle area and then she'll head down to Portland!

Come support our friend!

Woo hoo,
Lip

DETAILS
Wed 05/13
7:00 pm

Eddie's Trackside
214 N. Lewis St.
Monroe, WA
#360.805.5305

Thu 05/14
8:00pm

Conor Byrne
5140 Ballard Ave. NW
Seattle, WA
#206.784.3640
w/ Leanne Wilkins & Josiah Johnson

Fri 05/15
9:00 pm

Green Frog
902 State St.
Bellingham, WA
#306.756.1213

Sat 05/16
7:00 PM

Olalla House Concert
Olalla WA
Please conctact www.olallahouse.org for reservations!

Fri 05/29
8:00 pm

Renegade Pilgrim Productions
Portland, OR House Concert Series
heather.knight.pdx@gmail.com for reservations!

Calling All San Franciscans

A friend of mine, Christine Havrilla, is performing tonight at the Delores Cafe. She's an amazing singer/songwriter.

If you're in the SF area, go check her out!

DETAILS
Fri 05/08
7:30 pm

Dolores Park Cafe
501 Dolores @18th
San Francisco, CA 94110
415.621.2936

w/ Heather Combs!


If you miss her tonight, you can catch her tomorrow night:

Sat 05/09
7:00 PM
KC Turner House Concert Series with Heather Combs
San Rafael, CA 94901
For Reservations: KC@KCTurnerMusic.com

PS: Found this photos of Christine and Kelly McGillis on her Myspace page. Too funny! Two blogs collide!

She's Lost that Lovin' Feeling ... For Men

Teen dykes during the 80s, hold onto your knickers--Kelly McGillis, who we all fantasized about when Top Gun was hot, has officially joined our team. To read the article about her coming out, which she did through Curve, go here.

As you can see, Dipstick already knew Kelly was a dyke from when she was in flight school. Rumor has it--although Dip is pretty tight-lipped about it--they hooked up. The proof is in the aviator-jacket pudding.

Enjoy this YouTube homage to Kelly and Tom to Berlin's Take My Breath Away (just pretend he is a drag king):

Kissing Tree

When I was in Syracuse last week, my sister and drove around town reminiscing about our days growing up. We went up to the university and found that the bar we used to hang out at is now a Thai restaurant, the ice cream place is now a bank but there's still three pizza places on the one block.

One place I really wanted to go, though, was up behind a dorm where I used to live. See, it's behind this dorm, under a tree, where I first kissed a girl. Lori was her name. She was a feminist, musician, activist who drove a motorcycle. I thought she was pretty darn cool. She had just returned from a month in the Soviet Union, where she was working on a documentary film. She's smuggled in a few bottles of vodka and we were celebrating her return with a bunch of friends.

Lori and I slipped away from the party made out until her roommate came looking for her. She wouldn't believe me when I said it was my first time kissing a girl. I guess I was a natural.

Anyway, all the dorms up there look alike, so I can't be sure, but I think this is the tree where I had my very first girl kiss.

Hanging Out in Dive Bars

I was away all last week visiting my family in Upstate NY.
One of my high school buddies is an amazing musician and whenever I’m in town I try to see if he’s playing. Sure enough, he was playing a happy hour show in a bar in a small town just outside of Syracuse. My sister and brother and a few friends drove out there on a beautiful warm Friday evening.

There we met this guy. His one claim to fame, besides requesting Harry Chapin songs, is balancing a beer bottle on his head. He thought he was really something special. Dipstick just had to show him, it wasn’t that hard to do. Poor guy, I think I really deflated his ego.



Regardless, be sure to check out my friend Jamie Notarthomas, he’s a great talent and a great guy. Here's one of his music videos.