Tag Archives: mike rep

Watch the teaser for a Mike Rep documentary

It looks as though Columbus filmmaker Mike Newman aka Mind Twin Media is working on a documentary about Ohio DIY hero Mike “Rep” Hummel called Outside Looking In. Check out the trailer/teaser for a preview, and to hear Rep talk about his music/life philosophy: “I have a hard time understanding the concept of wanting to do the thing that is most important to your soul for a living.”

Friday at Carabar: CDR VIII featuring the True Believers

Reuniting for the first time in 20 years to celebrate the eighth year of Columbus Discount Records’ existence, the True Believers are:

Mike Rep
Tommy Jay
The General
Nudge Squidfish
Carla Lust

I’ll spare you my own version of the True Believers’ back story and instead point you to a description (complete with Amrep corrections) here and a 2005 interview with Mike Rep. Suffice it to say, it’s a pretty big deal that these guys (and girl) are reuniting in two days. Leave it to CDR. Accompanying the True Believers will be the Guinea Worms, Unholy Two, Altered States of the United Snakes and Jeff Fernengel. The show starts at 10pm, and (like all Carabar shows) it’s free.

In related news, Nudge has his own YouTube channel and has been uploading all sorts of insane videos for your viewing pleasure, from an hour-long 1992 V3 show to Tommy Jay and Nudge (“JayFish”) in black hoodies covering “White Rabbit” for the video camera in 2007. You can subscribe and/or check out a sampling after the jump. According to this site, some of these videos will be part of a program at the upcoming Ohio Film+Music Festival. (ht Wumme)
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Friday: Times New Viking’s last 2011 Columbus show + roast with Ron House

Tomorrow night (Friday, 7/1) Times New Viking will play its last Columbus show of the year, which bums me out. But, a roast hosted by none other than Ron House (Great Plains, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments) should add some levity to the evening. House’s band, Psandwich, will also play (full-length coming soon), as will kindred spirits Mike Rep and Tommy Jay. If I didn’t have to travel out of town, there is no way I’d miss this. Details, tickets for the Wexner Center event here.

This weekend in Columbus: CDR VII

It’s that time of year again, when grilling meat, arm wrestling, and indie rock somehow end up together in awkward sentences (like this one). This weekend is the seventh annual Columbus Discount Records BBQ, where the local label shares the wealth and gives you a wealth of local/international talent to gaze upon for as free as possible. This year’s version of the tradition entails two star-studded rock shows (Friday night at The Summit and Saturday night at Carabar) as well as a multi-faceted get-together Saturday afternoon at CDR HQ (corner of Oak and Parsons, just up the street from Carabar). Highlights:

Friday night at Summit: Sets from local Uggs-rock veterans the Guinea Worms and the most-successful, longest-lasting Rock Potluck band ever, Sandwitch (featuring Ron House), are those most likely to slay. Omaha’s Yuppies will play the part of the noisy visitors from out of town, and the night will be rounded out by intergalactic party Mormons Outer Spacist and the sheer spectacle of the Unholy Two. You will probably leave this show wearing beer.

Saturday afternoon BBQ: Obviously, free PBR and grilled eats would be a highlight of any day. However, this party also includes your chance for eternal glory with an arm-wrestling tournament! The male and female brackets are both sure to be tough, but you still have a couple days to train. If all of this is not enough, local legends the Cheater Slicks will play a set in the CDR studio around 5:30.

Saturday night at Carabar: This is where the big guns come out, so hopefully you are not drunk enough or drunk enough to enjoy it. Local wonders (and musical inspirations to Beck) Times New Viking will headline and close the festivities. I am excited for another visit from the prolific globetrotter Dan Melchior, who will surely entertain with whoever might be backing him up, and a set from Harrisburg, Ohio’s favorite sons, Mike Rep and Tommy Jay, will lend some tuneful and grizzled character to the proceedings.

More information, conspiracy theories, and conjecture here.

MP3: Ron House – “Twenty or Thirty People”

MP3: Moses Carryout (Ron House) – 20 or 30 People

They’re always there/They’re everywhere I go
They’re the 20 or 30 people that I know
We go to talk/We go to dance
And when we get real bored we listen to the band
We argue some/We never fight
We wonder if we’re drunk or something’s happening tonight

This song has been implanting itself in my morning bedhead ever since I started listening to Blind Boy in the Backseat, the Ron House LP that was originally a 1986 cassette tape on Mike Rep’s Old Age/No Age label and was recently re-issued by Columbus Discount Records. If you’re even slightly interested in Columbus music history, or a fan of Great Plains or Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, you’d be wise to pick it up (though you’ll have to go through a local shop or distributor — CDR is sold out). Everything was recorded between ’78 and ’81, mostly with the ever-sardonic House’s former bands The Twisted Shouts (feat. Rep and Tommy Jay) and Moses Carryout, but you’ll also find True Believers backing him up on the B-side version of “Chuck Berry’s Orphan.”

It’s a must-have for House devotees & completists. And if you’re new to the House of Ron, it ain’t a bad place to start, either.

The Godz/Bootlegger/Mike Rep+the Quotas/Envelope Tonight

Normally, I keep most things seperate. But tonight is pretty special. A close friend of mine, Lev’s, and his father Eric Moore are performing at Carabar. Yes, the Godz,Mike Rep,Envelope and and the Bootleggers are sharing the Carabar stage. Read the article I wrote about it in the Alive. Guns and fucking roses dood.