The Bollard Bulletin: July 22, 2024
Local Music Monday: Picking up Transmission Drop
LOCAL MUSIC
Maine’s indie music scene is taking a big hit with the closure of Sun Tiki Studios on Forest Ave. in Portland. The venue’s last local show was last weekend, and its final show will be a visit by New Orleans guitarist and songwriter Alex McMurray, of Royal Fingerbowl fame, on Aug. 3. Members of Mouth Washington, amiright?, Midwestern Medicine and FonFon Ru thanked venue owner Ian Smith for his years of support last Saturday between songs delivered with the power and passion only possible in a small hall.
But, you know, Sunrise, sunset; Hope springs eternal; Hey, hey; my, my, and all that. The DIY spirit is uncrushable and, indeed, it lives on around here at new venues like Prism Analog in Portland and BAND/SAW in SoPo. The Apohadion Theater in Bayside predates Sun Tiki as an accessible stage for what X called “The Unheard Music,” and kids these days are still finding oddball and “underground” places to crank up the amps.
This week’s Local Music Monday selection celebrates the scrappy spirit of Maine indie rock by highlighting Transmission Drop, a short-lived (but potentially ressurectable — make an offer!) band that was basically a renamed version of The Hot Dogs, fun-punks who played and recorded in the Aughts and early Teens. Led by singer-guitarist and songwriter Jeff Badger, who’s also an awesome visual artist, Transmission Drop includes Bollard contributor and Apohadion proprietor Pat Corrigan on drums, Tom Abercrombie on bass, and Adam Bean, with whom Badger still occasionally gigs, on lead guitar. The hilarious and hooky “Enough,” from 2011’s four-song EP Past Tense, Future Perfect, perfectly expresses the mix of humor and bash-n-crash garage rock that defined the group, which never aspired to play too far from home.
I saw Jeff at the Sun Tiki show on Saturday and he’d brought his son, Ernie, who’d recently played his first indie-rock show. It’s wonderful to imagine Ernie, 25 or 30 years from now, recalling the time he saw a show at the legendary Sun Tiki from the stage of some grimy hole hidden in the industrial section of Emperor Elon’s Mars colony gulag bubble. Long live rock!
MUSIC
Flask Lounge
“Monday of the Minds” CommUNITY Hip Hop Showcase
8 p.m., light cover (21+)
The Porthole
Jonah Bruce
6 p.m., no cover (all ages)
Portland House of Music
Gina & The Red Eye Flight Crew (funk and soul)
9:30 p.m., $12-$15 (21+)
Portland Lobster Co.
Elise Testone & Erika Van Pelt Trio
6:30 p.m., no cover (all ages)
Vinegar Hill Music Theatre
Jim Messina (rock)
8 p.m., $75-$87 (all ages)
DON’T WORRY, OUR CLUB GUIDE KNOWS WHERE VINEGAR HILL IS
HAPPENINGS
Author and poet Jane Wong speaks as part of Maine College of Art & Design’s Summer MFA Visiting Artist Lectures series at 522 Congress St., Portland, at 5:30 p.m. Free. 800-639-4808. meca.edu.
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival Shorts Tour comes to SPACE (538 Congress St., Portland) with seven selections at 7 p.m. Tix: $10. 828-5600. space538.org.