Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Wait, is that John Lennon?!

The Subsidies are heading back to their old stomping grounds, O'Gara's, in St. Paul. Normally, we team up with our good pals Summit Ave., but we're switching things up on you (and just when you were getting comfortable).

We're splitting the night with a Hard Day's Night, a Beatles tribute band. These guys really get into it with the full costumes, personas, gear, and questionable hair styles that the Beatles sported 40 years ago.

This is going to be a blast folks, so come on out early for some Beatles tunes, then your beloved Subsidies will finish things off with songs from, well, every decade since the Beatles.

The Subsidies with A Hard Day's Night
Friday, July 25
Music starts at 9:30pm
O'Gara's in St. Paul (on the corner of Snelling and Selby)

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Cougar Hunting

COUGAR: pronounced "Cou-Gar"
–noun, plural -gars, (especially collectively) -gar.
Attractive, older woman, usually, but not limited to, someone who has been divorced, with small to moderate sun damage (visible around the eyes from spending too much time at Maynards, Zorbas in Brainered or other outdoor establishments brimming with attractive young men) who seeks out the company - usually sexual in nature - of younger, attractive men (preferably those with "popped" collars).

With the modern proliferation of Cougar attacks in and around the metro area, three members of local cover band the Subsidies attended a week long conference and training seminar on not only how to spot a Cougar, but how to render them useless. It was an eye-opening event.

Recent scientific studies show that there has been a 74% increase in Cougar attacks in and around music venues in 2008 - an increase of 24% over 2007. With the recent, well documented attacks on Clairvoyance's lead singer, Steven Smertle, and Destiny's Awareness guitarist Bill "Killer" Bode, the younger, more attractive members of the Subsidies (Collin, Grant, and Joe) wanted to find out what defensive spells, charms, and/or leg kicks were available should these raisin-titted women happen to attack one of or all of them.

"I was a bit apprehensive at first, being that I have been burned by these so-called training sessions in the past," explained the farmer-tanned Subsidies guitarist as he recalled the infamous 2005 conference on mitigating the chant for FREEBIRD by local concert-goers. "What I've learned in the past is you pay money, show up, they hand you a binder with worthless info and ask for another $100 for a series of DVDs."

With a bit of hesitancy, the men left for the seminar, which took place in beautiful Tampa Bay, Florida - home to a reported 12,430 Cougars.

"The training was crazy!" explained Lover as he reflected upon the intensive, some would say barbaric, training sessions the trio immersed themselves in. "Not only did they offer me valuable ninja-moves to compensate for these Cougar's attack moves, but we were taught how to spot a Cougar WELL before they would even attack."

In Tuesday's HOW TO SPOT A COUGAR FROM A COUNTRY MILE AWAY session, Collin, Grant, and Joe were shown slides and video of actual Cougar attacks on musicians. Among the telling signs of a Cougar:
  • The aforementioned sun damage
    Married women have no need to tan as they've already given up hopes of being attractive.
  • Animal print clothing
    Women who are NOT desperate have no need to camouflage themselves as animals. They know this is a horrible, horrible look
  • Visible NON-taupe colored bra straps and/or thong
    Married women ONLY wear taupe. Period. Younger, non-Cougars (aside from those one may see riding on a crotch rocket) have moved on to boy short-style underwear and high-assed jeans.
  • Humorous screen printed t-shirts
    Cougars who missed this exciting trend of 2005 are now seen sporting tees ranging from:
    "Boy Toy"
    "With a shirt like this, who needs pants"
    "I'm kind of a big deal around here" based off of 2003's Anchorman
    "I like it on top" complete with image of bunk bed
    "If found, return this shirt to my ex husband - and the condoms"
  • They only travel in packs
    If you see a group of middle-aged women, dressed in Target-brand clothing, those are Cougars (or the wives of the band)
  • They'll feign interest in the newer tunes, such as The Killers and The Fray, but will go ballz crazy over the classics; anything Journey or Rick Springfield related. It's impossible for them not to go berserk over these.
  • As a default, her clothing will skew as close as possible to that of a stripper.

With their training behind them, the men feel much more confident in being able to not only spot Cougars, but fend them off.

"I'm much more excited for this week's show at The Haze (a bastion for Cougars) knowing I have this knowledge and skill set," said Wright as he sharpened a set of ninja stars.

"If a Cougar steps up and tells me about her and her girlfriends' hotel room, I won't simply have to make up some story about having to drive back home. I can kick her in the legs and make a clean getaway."

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Purple Haze

Good evening, my little chickens. Let's have a talk about Mankato. Mankato is a town south of the Twin Cities metro area that is known for, well, I guess the Minnesota Vikings training camp? Speak up, Mankato-ites if you guys did something cooler like invented lawn jarts or make award-winning key lime pie.

Anywho, Mankato shall be the host of The Subsidies on Saturday, July 12. We're headed to The Haze, which, from what we've heard, is a big ol' college hangout. We love big ol' college hangouts. There is usually a lot of booze tossed around, an excess of expendable energy, and scantilly-clad women waving their arms in the air like they just don't cay-yah. All three = fun show.

Honestly, there can't be a TON of good options for the weekend after the fourth of July, so get the H over to The Haze and get silly with us. We promise to, in return, get silly with you.

The Subsidies @ The Haze in K-town
July 12 at 8:30pm (early start!)

Friday, June 27, 2008

Uircle (pronounce yur-cul)

The infamous urine-circle (Uircle) is back and better than ever! Made famous in my 2007 blog entry titled "You've either got a really long dong or terrible aim or both or are an idiot," the uircle has made a wonderful re-entry to the lower floor men's bathroom (home of the wall booger and non-flushed log of amazement).

Upon entering the urinal area I was immediately met by a large, circular wet spot. While most human men are able to tap-tap-tap their way to a drip-free pee, we have a few men who seem to have the aim of Michael J. Fox (too soon?).

A few drips may be one thing, but due to ones not wanting to step in said drops, each subsequent pee'er backs up in hopes of staying clear of the ever-growing uircle. As this continues throughout the day, the uircle continues to expand.

See the image to the right for an artist's description. That's some Bob Ross art right there.

By day's end I am forced to stand a good 7 yards away from the urinal - basically against the back wall - as the uircle has become a pee lake, complete with little boats made out of tissue paper and pen caps. This makes me and the gentleman standing, waiting for me uncomfortable. My power is decent enough to make the distance do-able, but after a couple coffees, my aim is very much not. Perhaps this is why many days there is a puddle of pee ON TOP OF THE URINAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!?


Anyway - nothing else to say. It's more of an observational piece.


It's good to be back...

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Her heart continues to go on...



god she's so old and Canadian - like Molson Ice that's been sitting in your trunk since last summer. It's still good... it's still good...

"c'mon girlfriend!"

This can't turn out well for anyone.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Dave Barack's the vote!

Subsidies drummer Dave Lover can be seen here waiting in line to meet Obama during his recent historic visit to downtown St. Paul:

Full story and more pictures here

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Super Delegate Vote


Well, we waited until ALL Primaries were finished and are now prepared to support a nominee for President ...

The Subsidies (given the official Super Delegate monicker after playing the 2004 DFL convention) officially support and throw our weight (both figurative and proverbial) behind Barack Obama.
If you hate that, well then suck on it!

Barack's history of supporting cover bands, his optimistic views on our country and its future, and his relatively hot wife make him the perfect candidate for us to go bonkers over. Plus, George Lucas supports him and we fukin' love Star Wars.

In other news, local band and Summit Ave is supporting John McCain based on his firm stance on all things war-centric. Go Figure.