The Toasters- Atlas Theatre 1-29-13

"This one goes out to you Cheyenne. Because living here must be a real *Explative*" -Bucket 

The Atlas was empty Tuesday evening, save for about 80 people who braved the weather on a school night to see The Toasters. Still, I'm not sure there would have been a bigger crowd even if Cheyenne wasn't an ice rink already. While they are ska legends, the Toasters are hardly name brand, especially in a place like Cheyenne.

Their case wasn't helped by a string of incoherent local openers, which were often terrible and mostly unlistenable. In their defense, when some 60-80 people (in a room built for hundreds) are there specifically to see one act, any opener is going to have a hard time  Of course that doesn't excuse the terrible NOFX ripoff set (complete with incoherent yelling and swear words) that Ackrite put up or the random collection of over-energized/unintelligible covers and originals that locals It Gets Worse put together. Touring opener Mrs. Skannotto out of New York were the one highlight of the early sets, and I have to commend them for playing with such class and skill to a room which mostly just stared and leaned on the railings.

Upcoming shows of note in the area

The music scene is going pretty well in SE Wyoming these days despite it being the dead of winter. Here are a few shows to mark on your calendar in the upcoming weeks.- JJ

1/29 The Toasters @ The Atlas Theatre, 6 p.m. $10 in advance or $12 at the door. 
The Toasters are a legendary ska band that have been making music for more than 30 years. The lineup is in constant fluctuation as there is only one original member, Bucket, but that's not a bad thing. Bucket invites his friends, often ska legends in their own right, tour with him. The result is a heck of a good time from some real pros. Check out my story here  and the Facebook invite here.

Review: "How to Survive A Plague"

Directed by David France
Written by David France, Todd Woody Richman, Tyler H. Walk
2013 Best Documentary Nominee (Academy Awards)
Currently streaming on Netflix

"PLAGUE! A PLAGUE is upon us and all you can do is argue with each other? That's what this is. Over 40 million infected is a plague! And what have we done, what have we done to stop this? Till we get our acts together we are as good as dead." 

I didn't know this story.

At 26 years old, I am too young to remember the AIDS crisis and have never really looked into. Why should I? AIDS doesn't draw the same fear and visceral reaction that it once did. It is still a scary disease that can and does kill, but we know about it. We know famous people with it. We know how it spreads and how we can protect ourselves. There is little left to the imagination about what it can do.