Waaay back in November of 2014 I hosted the first night of monthly comedy and music variety show. It was at a brand new venue in Astoria, Queens, run by Kambri Crews, a writer, storyteller, and manager of Occhi’s Lounge at Comix, a comedy club in Chelsea. When pressed to come up with a name for the show I hastily chose “Don’t Feed the Musicians” as kind of an inside joke about being a musician hired for a fancy gig that made sure the musicians were kept away from the fancy guests.
In 2017, after 3 years, I realized it would be super helpful to have the word ‘comedy’ in the title of the show so I could stop explaining that it was, in fact, a comedy show. I played with a few ideas but once I thought of The Odd Rock Comedy Hour I knew it was perfect, for so many reasons. First of all, ‘odd rock’ is a great way to describe what I do. The name I used for the record label I released my early albums on was Xenoltih Records, and ‘xenolith,’ a term I learned in Geology 101 back in college, literally means ‘strange rock.’
But the name is mostly inspired by a short-lived music venue in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where my old band The Steppingstones played our first ever gig. It was called the Odd Rock Cafe, which Shepherd Express, a Milwaukee alt-press paper, described as “a roadhouse with a CBGB pedigree.” The tiny club hosted bands like GWAR, Fishbone, Soundgarden, and more. It’s where GG Allin got arrested for pooping on stage and throwing it on the audience (yeesh!), and it’s where, in 1988, when a Social Distortion show got cancelled, there was a bit of a brouhaha with cops! Check out this newscast from the night!
We don’t expect any kerfuffles at our anniversary show, but ‘punk rockers’ are more than welcome!
