ColaVision / Real Lulu / 5 Chinese Brothers @ Canal Street Tavern, Dayton, OH 5/22/1994

This was evidently the final show for ColaVision which featured Pat (the Oxymorons / Heike), Dave (Liquid Draino, Larry Brrrds, The Barnhills) and Daphne (Heike) they had one 7" out on Mutant Renegade Records and played in the area for a few years.

Real Lulu was also a trio from Dayton that featured Katie (Pure Plastic Tree), Sharon and Jim (Killjoys, The Breeders, Guided by Voices). They released a CD and 7" on Big Beef Records and gained some notoriety in part thanks to Kim Deal who was a big fan.

I know nothing about 5 Chinese Brothers even though I know I was at this show. I do see from the flyer that they were from New York...who knows maybe they didn't even show up?  Regardless I'm sure it was a great show and a good sendoff to ColaVision.

Fugazi / Nation of Ulysses @ The Wherehouse, Green Bay, WI 8/11/1991

This flyer comes all the way from Green Bay, Wisconsin, one of my most favorite states. I have so many great memories of Wisconsin that I had considered moving there several times in the past.

Anyway this was a great tour I'm sure, with the amazing Fugazi and one of my favorite Dischord Records bands Nation of Ulysses. I wasn't at this show and I missed this tour back in Dayton, but I did get to see them a few times and once had the thrill to open for them in Indy.

Fugazi was known for being sXe, trying to always play all age shows and keeping the door charge at $5. In addition they always put on a great show and Ian Mckaye is a total inspiration. Between the music he has written and the way he has run Dischord records I think he has been one of the most influential people in DIY / Indie / Hardcore. Most likely his influence has waned since the late 80's and 90's, but young punks of today would learn a lot from looking into the way he did things.

Haunting Souls / Scorched Earth @ Canal Street Tavern 5/8/1992

Haunting Souls were a long running Dayton band fronted by the ever entertaining Jamy Holliday. There's no way I can recall the lineup at this show since HS had about 20 people pass through the band during their existence. However, they always put on a great show and the one constant was Jamy. Here's a link to an interview with Jamy back in 1994 from a back issue of Mutant Renegade Zine

The other band on the bill, Scorched Earth, was also known as Scorched Earth Policy and gained a decent following during their two years in existence. Their members wandered off into other bands such as Workhorse and Nostromo but not before sharing their heavy Soundgardenesque sound around town.

One of the oddest things about this flyer is the mention of it being a Spookycore Production. I've traded mail many times with Spooky and even got a great mix tape from him but can't recall ever meeting him. Of course that was all back in the 90's, I have no idea what has become of him now.

Bloodline / Planet Ed / Tribal Nation / Stronghold @ The Newspace 1/4/1992

This just seems like an odd mix to me. If memory serves me Stonghold and Bloodline were both sXe bands and it seems safe to say that Tribal Nation was as well. That leaves Planet Ed who I knew well and were more in the punk-pop / indie rock realm. But an all-age underground show should be a bit diverse and I think Planet Ed threw enough beer drinking and smoking into the mix. I know I have a Stronghold 7" along with Planet ED's two 7"s somewhere in my stacks of vinyl.

This was another show at the NewSpace in wonderful East Dayton. I'm sure most of the Planet Ed fans stood out fairly well in the sea of sXe kids. But it was a hell of a show anyway. Hey, I finally posted a flyer from 1992!

Scrawl / Ugly Stick @ the Distillery 8/3/1991

This was a Columbus show at the Distillery, also known as Bernie's Distillery. You can still see great shows there and it's now owned by Tony Painter of the great 90's band Pet UFO and Burnt Sienna Records fame.

Scrawl was a great indie rock band out of Columbus that I think was one of the best from our state. Along with them were Ugly Stick who were a great alt-country band before it became a worn out phrase.

Killust @ Canal Street Tavern 7/31/1989

I had forgotten that Killust was ever in the battle of the bands. It just doesn't seem to fit in my mind. I always saw them as a warehouse band and had actually seem them at several practices in the warehouse. From what I recall they used to practice in the same area where Paul lived.

Back in the late 80's the Front Street Warehouse was a great place to go. Many bands practiced there and a few ever lived there. If you knew the bands you could catch a few practices almost every night. There was two places that threw shows (Zike's Eye 1989, plus later the Gutter Center 1990-91), a room full of a skate ramp structure, a few recording studios and tons of places that people lived in and built lofts. It was great for a while, but I think somehow cops got called since none of the units were designed for living and everybody got kicked out. Later a lot of artists moved in and kicked out the rest of the bands. It was nice while it lasted though. I heard there is a new group of people, The Dirt Collective, trying to set up band space downtown.

Anyway, the flyer was for one of the many summer battle of the band shows at Canal Street. I can't recall how Killust did or if I actually went to this show. They were a great local metal band with punk leanings, but I don't even recall who was in the band now. If anybody can fill me in that would be great.

The Oxymorons / The Obvious @ Canal Street Tavern 1/12/1990

Yes, I've missed a few days due to being sick and not being able to look at a computer screen. However, to make it up I've posted the infamous flyer with a big cock on it.

The show itself was fairly typical with both The Oxy's and The Obvious playing a long set at Canal Street Tavern. The big news was the flyer which caused quite a stir everywhere it was hung. Being bright green it attracted attention and the cock seemed to draw the eye. These were plastered all over Wight State, Sinclair, Canal Street and the Oregon District along with various music and record stores.

Pat and Gail had created the flyer one day at Wright State which you can read about on his blog I remember Dayton. What happened after the mass posting was that police were called due to them being obscene or something. So, luckily Canal covered for us and said they didn't know how to contact the band then they got a hold of us and mentioned the police were involved. So we went out and removed many of the remaining offensive flyers with one of two new censored versions. One had a large flap of paper over the penis saying "Censored for the protection of your delicate eyes", The other just had the whole image section blacked in saying "Censored by your friendly local police department who are scared of the human body". Juvenile yes, but hey we were all 20 and 21 and it all seemed like a good idea at the time.

I can say that I still haven't seen a local band put up a flyer that caused as big of a curfluffle as this one did.

Mean Melissa @ Canal Street Tavern 3/29/1991

Mean Melissa was a short lived trio that was comprised of Gregg Spence and Ian Uppstrom from the U-Dogs and Pat Hennigan from the Oxymorons. All that I recall of their music was that it sounded a lot like the U-Dogs since Gregg did most of the singing and writing. I really wonder who they played with because there's no way Mick would have let them have a Friday night for their debut.

I think my favorite part of this flyer is the simple listing of 2 Parts Dog 1 Part Moron...

Sloppy Seconds / Dryrot / Darknes @ V.F.W. Hall Richmond, IN 10/27/1990

A great show that I missed in the small but amazing scene that is Richmond, Indiana. This is a small town right near Ohio that is just over an hour from Indianapolis, Dayton, Columbus and Cincinnati. The scene was great for quite a while thanks to bands like Dryrot and Kid With a Stick who brought fans of every genre together to see all age shows.

This show featured the Indy legends Sloppy Seconds who played raunchy Ramonesish songs with lyrics that lived up to their name. Dryrot were local favorites who always put on a great show and promoted the hell out of their local scene. I really don't recall who Darknes were.

The V.F.W. Hall was one of at least three places they had all ages shows, plus they had a great college radio station WECI at Earlham College.

Kaptain Karl's Wizbangs / Minus One @ Canal Street Tavern 12/19/1990

This was after the end of the Tooba Blooze and before they became known as simply The Wizbangs. Yep, it was all about Kaptain Karl. The Wizbangs featured Kaptain Karl and Deni Wilson (from Tooba Blooze) plus Tim Taylor and Juan Monasterio who went on to form Brainiac. I'm assuming it was one of their first shows, but I could be wrong on this point. The other band on the bill was Minus One one of Eric Purtle's many, many bands over the years. I can't recall who else was in the band, but I know they had a sound that was similar to Ministry, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult and others of their ilk.